Exploring SCAD-Atlanta’s lack of health care clinic
Most colleges and universities have health facilities that are easily accessible on campus and provide free examinations and basic care. At SCAD-Atlanta, however, we are missing such a facility, and are in
need of one. SCAD-Savannah has one such facility and provides cheap, immediate health care that is
convenient for students.
According to the school’s Web site, it says the Memorial Health Medical clinic treats students for a “variety of common ailments such as colds, earaches, asthma, sinus infections, minor gynecological
complaints and small abrasions.” So why don’t we have a health care department in Atlanta?
Not only does SCAD-Savannah have its own facility, but comparable institutions in Atlanta have free health care clinics for their students. Oglethorpe University, with a student population just over 1,000, has a clinic with its own licensed registered nurse, and also employs the services of an established local doctor who visits the clinic once a week. Agnes Scott, another private school of approximately 900 students, also has a similar facility on their campus.
Students at SCAD-Atlanta in need of immediate care have little choice but to go to Piedmont Hospital
a few blocks down from the school. The considerable inconvenience of Peachtree Street traffic for students with cars is one matter to take into account. But more seriously, students without their own transportation can be more than inconvenienced if they are too sick or hurt to transport themselves, car or no car.
Piedmont isn’t free either; students have to pay to get help just like at any other hospital. But that’s what a free clinic is all about: getting aid to students who are low on cash or will have difficulty getting access to help outside the SCAD-Atlanta campus.
The importance of this issue needs to be brought out, even if it may be readily obvious to some. This is different from complaining about better-tasting food in the Hub, or the inconsistent shuttle; the health and well-being of students is on the line here. It’s an extreme example, but it’s a point that still needs to be made. What happens when a student suffers serious bodily harm, or even (God forbid) that student dies when things could have been different had there been immediately accessible health services at school?
Yes, there are likely explanation and factors to consider. The foremost issue in any scenario like this is always money, and our situation is likely no exception. A free student medical clinic is costly, and currently there is no fee or charge in our tuition at SCAD-Atlanta to aid in financing such a program. On top of some kind of fee, more money will be required, and that money has to come from somewhere.
We assume finding the space is a problem too; but hasn’t that been a problem here for a while now? Rooms and space are a limited commodity at SCAD-Atlanta, and locating a good place for a clinic at the school won’t be easy. But we’d like to think if the administration can find room to relocate shopSCAD (not to criticize the store), they can find a place to establish a working clinic somewhere in the building too.
We at The Connector know the process is difficult, and these things take planning, lots of resources, and have a host of other legal issues involved to consider as well. But that shouldn’t discourage the administration and the student body from working together to try and get the ball rolling on this necessary project. The health of all the students is at stake here, and that’s far too important to go on without starting a real dialogue. We want to encourage the administration to talk with the students about forming a clinic at SCAD-Atlanta. Action needs to be taken.
