Health services available to students

By Linh Tat

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

At a time when college students are maturing physically and
mentally, many fail to pay enough attention to their health.

To help make students’ lives easier, organizations like
the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center and Student
Psychological Services provide physical and mental health services
to UCLA students so they don’t suffer from inadequate
nutrition, sleep deprivation or other stressful circumstances.

Students commonly visit the Ashe Center seeking health
information or treatment for injuries, colds, the flu, rash, acne
or even to buy contraceptives, said Michele Pearson, director of
ancillary services at the center.

Students have the option of scheduling appointments, requesting
prescription refills and asking E-nurses questions online by going
to the center’s Web site.

“E-nurses is a way for UCLA students to ask questions
“¦ and to avoid a face to face confrontation,” Pearson
said. “It’s well liked and well used. It’s a good
educational tool.

“We’re looking not only to help people but to inform
them so they can have peace of mind,” she continued.

Though students may avoid a face to face encounter by writing to
E-nurses, the service requires that students provide their name and
ID number to verify that they are UCLA students.

In addition, the center provides most services free since they
receive funding through student registration fees, Pearson
said.

“We have the luxury of totally gearing our services to the
students,” Pearson said.

But, students must pay for immunization shots, medication, HIV
testing and specialty clinics.

Featuring its own laboratory, pharmacy and radiology unit, and
providing physical therapy and acupuncture, the center ranks among
the top 2 percent of health services on college campuses
nationwide, Pearson said.

While Ashe Center programs address physical health issues,
students can seek help for emotional stress from Student
Psychological Services.

SPS offers individual and group counseling, a clinic that
teaches students how to manage stress, and consultation about
problems with roommates, parents or a loved one. It is also the
parent organization of the Peer Helpline, a student volunteer
crisis hotline that takes anonymous phone calls from students
during the evening.

Students most commonly seek help from SPS to discuss
relationship and academic stress problems, said SPS Director Hal
Pruett.

SPS sees roughly seven percent of the entire student body,
according to Pruett, who added that he is certain more students
need these services but are not receiving them.

“Sometimes students may not know (these services) are
available,” Pruett said.

He also said students don’t always seek counseling because
they think asking for help is a sign that they are not in control
of their own situations, a stigma he hopes to help erase.

Students who seek help visit SPS an average of four to six times
to resolve each situation, Pruett said.

Sometimes physical and emotional stress seem to go hand in hand,
with one resulting from the other.

For example, the Ashe Center provides nutritional workshops to
students who are afraid of gaining weight.

While some students opt for a diet, Pam Viele, director of
Student Health Education, said students need to be careful about
how they lose weight.

“Especially in L.A., there’s so much emphasis on
body image and so much pressure to conform to an ideal body
type,” Viele said. “There are many different bodies and
shapes that are healthy and beautiful.”

Viele said students may jeopardize their health if they lack
proper nutrition.

“Many students haven’t finished growing,”
Viele said. “A lot of young women and young men have not
reached their full weight, so gaining weight is not a bad thing at
all.”

“It’s not good to think of food as good food and bad
food. It’s important to get a well-balanced variety of
food,” she continued.

Besides diets, specialists at the center work with students to
prevent sleep deprivation, a problem many students face.

“It has been estimated that more than half of all college
students are sleep deprived,” said Jo Ann Dawson, director of
primary care. “Many try to get by on three to five hours of
sleep.”

“For any adult body, sleep experts generally recommend
seven to eight hours and up to 12 hours a day,” she
continued.

Dawson said she recommends students take short naps or even
close their eyes if they don’t sleep as a way to rest their
bodies and mind.

Common symptoms of a person who is sleep deprived include pain
and respiratory cold conditions.

“Some come in complaining they couldn’t remember
anything,” Dawson said of students who visited the center
during finals week.

To stay awake,some students turn to various stimulants such as
coffee or caffeine pills, Dawson said.

“Those agents may give a person a sense that they are more
alert,” she said. “But they may end up feeling a
contradictory sense of feeling tired, of wanting to sleep and being
unable to.”

Dawson said such stimulants may increase a person’s heart
rate and leave them nervous or jittery.

“The only cure for sleep deprivation is really to get some
sleep,” she said.

She added that students should stop working about 30 minutes
before going to bed so they can unwind and rest their mind. She
also suggested students exercise regularly to help relieve tension
and give them better sleep.

The Ashe Center offers additional services to students living on
campus through the Student Health Advocate program, which trains
student volunteers in residence halls to provide basic medical
information or aid.

“We’re taking services to where students live and
learn,” she said, adding that some students prefer going to a
SHA because they feel their peers can better identify with them in
many cases.

To prevent illness in residence halls, students should take
added measures to maintain good personal hygiene, Viele said.

“In any living situation where a lot of people are living
in close proximity, the most common thing to prevent an infection
is handwashing,” she said. “Be careful of sharing
utensils and cups. It would be a good idea to wear (slippers) to
the bathroom and showers area to prevent transmission of
infection.”

Viele said students should minimize stress by exercising,
meditating or participating in some relaxation activity.

“Learning time management skills to allow the person to
maintain some sort of social balance, maintaining relationships and
developing a strong social support is important,” Viele
said.

For more information on the Ashe Center, visit www.saonet.ucla.edu/health.htm.
Information about SPS can be found at www.saonet.ucla.edu/sps.htm.

CONTACT INFORMATION Arthur Ashe Student
Healthand Wellness Center Monday – Friday 8:00 am – 6:30
pm     – Arthur Ashe Building
     (310) 825-4073   Student
Psychology Services Monday – Friday 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
    – Mid Campus Office
     4223 Math Sciences Building
     (310) 825-0768
    – South Campus Office
     A3-062 Center for Health
     Sciences
     (310) 825-7985   Peer
Helpline Monday – Thursday 5:00 pm – midnight Friday –
Sunday 8:00 pm – midnight      (310)
825-HELP   SOURCE: Arthur Ashe Center, Student Psychology
Services, Peer Helpline Original Graphic by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin
Web Adaptation by HERNANE TABAY/Daily Bruin Senior Staff