FYI-- First Year Interest Committee Meets

by Jessica Free

Des Moines, Iowa (April 4, 1997)-- The First Year Interest Committee of the Student Senate met in Olmsted Center Tuesday night to discuss a proposal regarding information sessions about Drake's Health Center.

The committee is made up of first-year students who meet weekly to discuss various issues concerning Drake students, and more specifically, first-year students.

Their proposal, FYI 970403A, recommends that the offices of the dean of students and the assistant to the provost for academic enhancement, which serve as co-coordinators of summer orientation for incoming students, develop an informational session regarding the Health Center. The session would be held for both parents and students at all summer orientation weekends, as well as "make up" summer orientation sessions immediately prior to New Student Days in August.

Details of what might be covered in these sessions were also suggested at the meeting. "We would like the seminars to include discussions of available Health Center services, payment policies and osteopathic medicine, as well as having a question-and-answer session," said Carrie Blumenfeld (JO1), FYI committee member.

If the proposal is accepted by the Senate, a comprehensive pamphlet of all Health Center information will also be distributed at the sessions. The pamphlet is currently awaiting completion by the FYI committee.

Committee members first addressed the issue of ill-informed students after conducting a survey of all first-year students in December 1996 and a specialized questionnaire at the Health Center during March 1997. The December survey indicated that approximately 75 percent of Drake students do not feel well-informed about the Health Center and its policies. Approximately 80 percent of the respondents to the March questionnaire recommended the proposal currently being pursued by FYI.

"The feedback we're getting from students may be showing the poor reputation the Health Center has and how it is deterring widespread use of the facility," Blumenfeld said. Many students refuse to go to the Health Center, even when they are very ill or injured. In general, the surveys showed that students were unhappy with the quality of services offered and would prefer to go to another physician in Des Moines or not go to a doctor at all.

Another issue discussed at the meeting was the osteopathic medicine practiced at the Health Center. It is a fundamentally different method of treatment than most students are accustomed to receiving, and therefore causes dissatisfaction among many Drake students.

"Students are unprepared for the methods of treatment at the Health Center. The March survey showed that 29 percent of the students treated that month were dissatisfied with the treatment they received," Blumenfeld said.

FYI committee members agreed that students should receive a comprehensive description of Health Center-related issues upon their entrance to Drake. And the suggested information session would do just that.

It was decided that the proposal would be presented to the Student Senate at its meeting on Thursday.

"I really think that this is an important issue and there's a good chance the Senate will agree. If they like the proposal, hopefully we could have the session offered as soon as this summer," Blumenfeld said.

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