Augustana Observer

Augustana Observer

Augustana Observer

Student options for medical services in the QC area

With the chorus of coughs emanating throughout the quad, many students have or will experience getting sick around this time of year, whether it be from changes in the weather or to exposure to hundreds of different people throughout the day.
Home remedies can only do so much, and even though Augustana has no on-campus medical facilities, access to medical treatment is not something difficult to find, according to Dean of Students Evelyn Campbell.
“What we’ve tried to do is provide access to everything- our goal is to take students to any medical facility in the entire Quad Cities,” said Campbell. The college has connections with Trinity Medical Center, as well as the Trinity Express Care Clinic to meet the care for it’s students.
The shuttle service also offered by the college takes students free of charge to any of the facilities around the area, which would have more options to meet the needs of the students than one clinic on campus. The service is offered Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Augustana website also gives information for the Lucky Cab Co. service, which can transport students to a medical facility with an Augustana student I.D. free of charge.
“Way back we used to have a doctor on campus that would come up two days a week… they were general practitioners so if you needed a specific treatment it wasn’t going to help”, said Campbell.
The first floor of what was known as Iva Pearce Hall (located where the Carver Center is now) was used as the College Health Service in 1958, and was relocated to Carlsson Hall in 1968 as the campus health center and speech pathology department.
Even with all of the access around the Quad Cities, it is still difficult for those students who are unaware of the services that are available to them, and whether or not these services provide actual treatment.
First year Crystal Salazar said that she and her friends had no knowledge of where to go until they looked online to find the walk-in clinic. The visits to the clinic would often take awhile because of the amount of community members also awaiting assistance, and that one trip to the clinic “was around three hours”.
Salazar said that her experience would have been improved if there was an on-campus medical service. “It would save so much time and take some stress off of driving and waiting for so long at the clinic,” she said.
Campbell said that it is very unlikely that Augustana would have an on-campus medical service in the coming years because of the difficulties of finding a facility that wants to move onto campus.
“Augustana is really trying to prepare students for success once they graduate”, said Campbell, referring to all aspects, not just academically. “Even negotiating the Quad Cities medical options is a skill worth knowing”.

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Student options for medical services in the QC area