<p>D1 got bit by a goat today while at the school barn. (she’s pre-vet). She got back to her apartment and realized it was a bit worse than expected and called us for advice. Turns out her large state school only has campus health center hours M-F from 8:30am-4:30pm. Campus security said to go to the ER. (off topic - this is how NOT to use an ER, which is for life-threatening emergencies, not lacerations.)</p>
<p>Does anyone have experiences with any schools having evening or weekend hours in health clinics to treat cuts, sprains, or illnesses? Given what we pay in fees, etc, this is fairly annoying they can’t have a nurse on duty for 20,000+ kids that might need healthcare the other 76% of the week.</p>
<p>(she was able to bandage it and we drove down to take her to an urgent care clinic, who re-wrapped it and gave her antibiotic rx. clearly not ER-worthy!)</p>
<p>My school did not have “outside business hours” in the health clinic either. It had regular hours and for the most part you needed to have an appointment for many things. </p>
<p>But I think they had a sign on the door for where to go. There was a hospital located less than a mile offcampus which was probably the largest employer in town and has just about every type of service you could need including ER and urgent care. Our student health clinic was actually run by them…</p>
<p>Swathmore has 24/7 hours at their health center. When my daughter had an intensitnal bug one year, they put her in a private room with a TV and fed her chicken soup and ginger ale for two nights, just like mom.</p>
<p>It has become increasingly rare. The liability for alcohol poisoning has forced many schools that traditionally had 24.7 hours to close nights and weekends. For example, the physicians at Williams’ center forced the change when they refused to cover nights and weekends for that reason.</p>
<p>Whitman College’s student health service is open 24/7, w/ a nurse on duty around the clock. Like at Swarthmore (post above) students will be put in the infirmary for TLC when they have a mild illness, and even, they said, if a student is very stressed-out and need some peaces and quiet and TLC away from hectic dorm life.</p>
<p>The generous hours at Whitman also come in handy for the big full body ice tubs they have. Students come in and ice soak their pains and sprains after some of the rough weekend sports they play!</p>
<p>I’ve been to three different undergrad institutions: Ithaca College, Binghamton University, and SUNY Cortland.</p>
<p>IIRC, Ithaca’s health center did stay open a bit into the evening, and you could generally walk in and get seen most of the day. No weekend or night hours, though. Binghamton had absolutely no walk-ins past very early in the morning, and only kept regular business hours. Cortland’s health services did morning walk-ins and afternoon appointments. </p>
<p>Cortland and Ithaca were somewhat troublesome because there really weren’t any accessible clinics or urgent care centers if you didn’t have a car or cab fare. Otherwise you’d just have to call an ambulance. At Binghamton, there are a couple hospitals on or near to the bus routes, but I can’t say for certain how well that is advertised to the students.</p>
<p>At W&M, the health center is open during business hours, with extended hours one night per week. They do have a helpful webpage about what to do if you need medical care after hours. This includes the phone number for a CAP (Collegiate Assistance Program) Nurseline for triage, medical questions, etc. Also included: the phone numbers and addresses of local urgent care centers and the hospital. Of course, we have to hope our kids will feel up to (or even be capable of) hunting down web info when they’re feeling sick enough to see an MD.</p>
<p>My d was lucky last year that her friends were around when she suddenly developed a high fever and miserable sore throat/headache. It was just before Thanksgiving break, in the middle of the night (of course). She called her dad, who is an MD, and he asked the roommate to get her to the ER, since d was unable to do much more than sob. She was evaluated for meningitis, but it fortunately turned out to be a very mean but not life-threatening virus. In our experience, college kids are great at taking care of friends.</p>
<p>We sent a very healthy kid off to school and she was sicker than she’d ever been, several times, while she was there. Medical care is a good item to add to the long list of “what you should be prepared for at school.”</p>
<p>Regular weekday business hours at George Washington. S ended up in the ER when his friends got concerned because he kept vomiting after drinking. He was well enough to walk there, but I’m glad his friends took initiative. Of course this meant we ended up with an ER bill. Actually, the hospital sent S to collections because they didn’t get insurance info from him when he was there, he never told us about it, and the hospital never sent a bill. Fortunately, it never ended up on his credit report.</p>
<p>Many towns and especially towns with hospitals have “urgent care” centers where you should go if it needs to be seen by someone but you don’t feel it’s an ER trip emergency. It’s sometimes called “walk-in care.”</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback. Surprisingly there were no convenient urgent care centers, however I’m going to call Student Health tomorrow to see what they recommend.</p>
<p>Physician here- ER’s are not just for life threatening emergencies, they are for problems that shouldn’t wait. A bite or other significant injury should not wait hours to avoid problems with the wound including infection or tetanus et al. Likewise broken bones usually won’t kill you but need immediate care to avoid severe pain or further injury.</p>
<p>wis75, in my experience (two boys, many sports injuries, many broken bones) ERs diagnose the broken bone, which the kid usually knows he has anyway. They give you your xray on CD, wrap the area in an air cast, and tell you to see an orthopedist the next day for proper splinting. Oh, and sometimes they give good drugs. The ortho usually winds up taking his own xray anyway. Given the high cost of ERs these days (and I’m only talking the part WE have to pay), I’ve told my boys not to bother with the ER unless they really need it. Diagnosing what they already know isn’t worth hundreds of dollars, IMO – not to mention the three-hour wait.</p>
<p>a bit of background is that H & I are both EMTs and D1 has formal First Aid training, so we don’t panic. She probably has the best first aid kit in her dorm. Being an EMT, I know ERs are a nightmare for a simple laceration and the one on campus is a trauma center. It was clearly an injury that was worthy of a walk-in clinic, not an ER. </p>
<p>She texted a picture of the finger last night and it is looking much better, absent a chunk of skin. The irony is that in my senior year, I suffered nearly the same injury on the exact location on the same finger with a slipped knife and still have the scar to prove it.</p>
<p>Cornell has a 24/7 phone resource for when the health center isn’t open. they will give advice about when and where to be seen. They will arrange transportation if necessary. Also – you can call a cab and bill it to your bursar account if you are going for health services.</p>
<p>My son’s roommate in an off campus apartment (but across the street from West Campus and a short walk from Gannett) had a very sore throat, 103 fever, <em>and</em> a full body rash. YIKES. On a Saturday night. The kids were worried about how to get to the ER. At least they’d figured out that this was ER worthy – the girl was seen in the ER and admitted overnight. </p>
<p>The information about Gannett’s hours and how to get help on off hours is posted on their website.</p>
She was evaluated for meningitis, but it fortunately turned out to be a very mean but not life-threatening virus. In our experience, college kids are great at taking care of friends.</p>