Health Center focuses on prevention
By Rebecca Oltmans
Staff Reporter
The role of the Uni versity Health
Center is more comprehensive than
it has been in the past, offering
services to help students take re
sponsibility for their own health,
said Janet Crawford, head of the
Community Health Education De
partment.
“The center has gone from pri
marily treatment to more emphasis
on education and prevention,”
Crawford said.
Because students are typically a
very healthy age group, most ill
nesses are acute, Crawford said.
The Health Center has in-house
physicians and specialists from the
community who see students.
“Students don’t typically come
here with chronic illnesses,”
Crawford said, “but the behaviors
they start now can lead to chronic
problems later in life.”
Students need information to
make the right choices to prevent
these problems, Crawford said.
some oi inai miormaiion is
available through the Community
Health Education Department. The
department educates students on
alcohol, drugs, sexuality, and oth
er health issues.
“We teach about lifestyle choic
es,” Crawford said.
Students are starting to experi
ment with alcohol at a younger age
than 10 or IS years ago and are
entering college with an earlier
drinking history, Crawford said.
They also experiment with sex
at an earlier age, which is more
dangerous than in years past,
Crawford said.
“Ten or 15 years ago an unwant
ed pregnancy was what most stu
dents worried about when they had
sex,” Crawford said. “There arc
more consequences to worry about
now.”
Those consequences are one rea
son why students at the Health
Center who come in for first-time
• contraception prescriptions are re
quired to take a contraception class,
Sexuality Education Coordinator
Pat Tetreault said.
The contraception class teaches
students about sexually transmit
ted diseases, HIV and other illness
as well as what to expect at a gyne
cological exam, and how to do self
exams, Tetreault said.
“It’s estimated that 80 to 85 per
cent of college students are sexually
active,” Tetreault said. “A lot of stu
dents have had their first sexual expe
rience by the time they come here, but
for many it is the first time they are
responsible for themselves and they
start to explore.”
Students need to know the options
available to them to be safe, Tetreault
said. Abstinence is the first option
and barriers to bodily fluids the sec
ond.
Condoms are one such barrier but
are not always used partly because
some students aren’t confident about
using them.
. “It can be hard for students to use
them because you want to be comfort
able with yourself and comfortable
enough to talk about it and not all
students are,” Tetreault said.
Drinking can also be a reason stu
dents don’t use condoms. Tetreault
said students mixing sex with alcohol
reduces the likelihood of wearing a
condom because it lowers inhibitions
and lowers perceptions of risk. Stu
dents who mix sex and alcohol tend to
have more partners than students who
don’t, putting themselves at risk,
Tetreault said.
Risky behavior, and not what type
of person one is, leads to sexually
transmitted diseases, Tetreault said.
But many people have stereotypes
about that.
“STD’s are the third most common
infection, following right after colds
and things like that,” Tetreault said.
“But people still have the attitude that
STD’s aren’t common.”
It is hard to tell how well students
use safe sex because the numbers on
STD’s arc estimates and the numbers
arc usually higher by the time the
estimates come out, Tetreault said.
Chlamydia and genital warts are the
fastest growing STD’s at this time,
Tetreault said.
HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is
growing fastest in women and adoles
cents, but students of all ages are at
risk because of the long incubation
period of the virus, Tetreault said.
The Centers for Disease Control
estimate that one out of every 250
people is infected with HIV, meaning
about 100 students on the UNL cam
pus may be infected, Tetreault said.
For some students the pressure of
these lifestyle choices and just life
in general can start to be too much
to handle alone. Many students
experiencing short-term problems
turn to Counseling and Psycholog
ical Services (CAPS).
“Two thirds of the students we
see don * t have a diagnosable disor
der, they just need some insight on
what they are dealing with,” said
Robert Portnoy, department head
of Counseling and Psychological
Services.
Relationship issues are one of
the most frequent reasons people
come to CAPS, even if they are not
aware that is the problem, Portnoy
said.
For transitory problems such as
relationship troubles, individual
counseling is most often used. But
more intense therapy is sometimes
used to help deeper problems that
students may or may not be aware
of, Portnoy said.
“We are seeing more and more
eating disorders,” Portnoy said, “in
both men and women, although
women make up 95 percent.”
Women, ages 12-13 and 18
19, are are especially prone to eat
ing disorders, Portnoy said.
There is more than one type of
bulimia being recognized now,
Portnoy said. With this new type of
bulimia, people do their purging
through exercise, sometimes spend
ing up to four or five hours a day
exercising.
it shard tot ind a luestyle com
patible to spending that many hours
exercising,” Portnoy said.
Cases of depression, both mild
and severe, are also very common,
Portnoy said. CAPS has two psy
chiatrists to help students deal with
depression and a wide variety of
antidepressant drugs can be pre
scribed, Portnoy said.
“Some of the newer drugs being
prescribed now, such Prozac, have
very few side effects and a good
effectiveness rate,” Portnoy said.
There are also alternatives to
prescription medicine, such as cog
nitive behavior treatment. Some
times depression can be rooted in
earlier problems that developed
while growing up, Portnoy said.
Portnoy said that although they
typically see first- year students,
UNL students of all ages do use
CAPS.
Health insurance available to UNL students
By Rebecca oitmans
Staff Reporter
Many students don’t realize at what
age they are no longer covered by their
parents insurance policy, Sheryl
Augstums, student insurance coordi
nator, said.
Normally when students reach the
ages of 22 or 24 they are no longer
covered on theirparents’ policy. Some
policies won’t even cover students
after the age of 19 unless they are in
school full time. Augstums said, and
some don’t cover students after they
get married.
Student insurance is offered for
both graduates and undergraduates,
Augstums said. The policy is a basic
medical accident plan that includes
hospitalization.
International students using the
Health Center must now show proof of
medical insurance, i nat oecamc man
datory last fall, Augstums said. The
majority of international students use
the Health Center and those with proof
of private insurance can waive the
student insurance. Those without proof
of private insurance will be automat
ically billed on their tuition statement
for student insurance.
Students taking seven or more
hours during the regular school year
and four or more hours in a summer
session automatically pay Health Cen
ter fees through tuition, Augstums
said.
The Health Center fees are what
subsidize the Health Center and allow
students to see a physician or nurse at
no charge, Augstums said.
The Health Center fees also provide
for a reduced rate to see a specialist,
receive any kind of medical procedures,
or have lab tests, Augstums said.
However, Augstums said, me in
surance does not cover prescriptions,
dental work or any type of routine
wellness exams such as annual gyne
cological visits, even though the ser
vices are available at the Health Cen
ter.
“Allergy and physical therapy fol
low-up care are the most often filed
claims.” Augstums said.
Insurance is available for depen
dents, but the Health Center only sees
students at this point, Augstums said.
Insurance is also offered to new
graduates and other alumni, Kersi
Pajnigar, director of Business Affairs
for the Alumni Association, said.
The insurance is meant for gradu
ates who are in between jobs, Pajnigar
said. The insurance is for a maximum
of 186 days and then can be extended
once for another 180 days.
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