Several students have taken their back-to-school colds to the old student infirmary for treatment, only to find empty rooms and deserted hallways.
The Duke University Medical Center's student infirmary and Pickens Health Center closed this summer as part of an overhaul of Student Health Services. This fall, the Student Health Center opened its new location on the edge of West Campus just off Flowers Drive. The new 9,200-square-foot space, closer to Main West Campus, is 50 percent larger than the one in Pickens.
The new facility houses a student clinic with extended hours, the Healthy Devil program, office space and a new pharmacy exclusively for students.
Dr. Bill Christmas, director of student health, said even though the clinic is not completely set up, the move is going smoothly. "The facilities here are much better. All the equipment is new," he said. "It seems, in the first month, to be working quite well."
Students have also reacted positively to the clinic's move.
"It was a really big pain to get to the old health services," said sophomore Chris Paul.
Although it is possible to access the clinic through the Medical Center, Christmas recommended students use the entrance on Flowers Drive because it is easier.
"[The new clinic] is a quieter, nicer space than Pickens," said junior Devin Slesicki, who visited the health center earlier this week. "It's an easier wait because there's more space."
Since the student health overhaul also closed the student infirmary, the nursing staffs from both Pickens and the infirmary have merged. Members of the new staff said the move allows for closer collaboration between doctors and nurses.
"We've worked together before. It's better now because you don't have to wait for phone calls and doctors," said Diana Celenza, a nurse who worked in the infirmary.
Christmas said that although the 24-hour infirmary is no longer open, the clinic will feature longer hours and has also contracted with HealthLink, a 24-hour health hotline based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for when the clinic is closed.
"The reality was that student admittance [to the infirmary] had been dwindling in the last five years," he said. "Students were coming to the infirmary because it was more convenient. It was becoming an ambulatory care clinic."
Some students said they were unaware of the infirmary's existence and felt unaffected by its closure. But some students who have used the infirmary in the past expressed concern about the new system of student health care.
"I'm not happy about it," said Slesicki, who had spent several nights in the infirmary with a high fever. "It was just nice to have a place to go and be watched over by nurses and have them take your temperature rather than having your roommate do it," he added.
Head Nurse Sharon Henricksen said the closing was an opportunity to take advantage of other support networks.
"It gives people a chance to turn to the community: residential counselors, [resident advisers,] roommates," she said. "You don't have a place in real life where you can go and have a nurse watch over you."
Henricksen encouraged people to call HealthLink or go to the Emergency Department for serious injuries or illnesses. Emergency trips are not covered by the student health fee as were infirmary visits.
"People who come from privileged backgrounds have a much easier time going to the emergency room," said Johanna Pemberton, a junior who spent several days in the infirmary last year with severe dehydration.
"It's just like the health care system of the real world," she said.
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