*

Content Warning:

* This article discusses mental health, physical health, injury, self harm, transphobia, sexual assault and suicide. If you are in distress, struggling and/or having self harm, depressive, or suicidal thoughts, there are both on- and off-campus resources available 24/7/365.

If you want on-campus help and need help right now, call 315–859–4340 and press option 2 to speak with a counselor from the Counseling Center. Confidential on-campus resources include the Counseling Center (call 315–859–4340 for immediate help or to schedule an appointment), the College Chaplain (315–859–4130) and the Health Center (315–859–4111).

If you want off-campus help, call 1–800–273-TALK or text “START” to 741–741.

*****************************************************************

When Abby ’23, started feeling an excruciating pain in her stomach — so severe that she was left lying on her dorm room floor — she asked her friend to drive her to the hospital. They went to St. Elizabeth’s, one of the two neighboring hospitals in the area.

Abby, who chose to be referred to only by her first name for privacy reasons, says that she then found herself sitting in the examination room. She reports that several doctors had been assessing her condition, telling her she had gas pain. However, she says she was shocked when a nurse approached her and said “They don’t know what they’re talking about. I don’t trust them.”

The nurse reportedly continued, saying “I think these doctors are trying to misdiagnose you.” In the moment, Abby was stunned by the nurse’s honesty, but not surprised with her assessment.

While Abby says she was experiencing intense, stabbing pain, the doctors had given her a shaky diagnosis of gas pain. Not only did Abby doubt their diagnosis, but the nurse herself apparently challenged the competency of the doctors — her own medical colleagues. The nurse allegedly believed Abby had a

ruptured ovarian cyst

, a condition that can cause serious pain and even internal bleeding.

Despite the severity of Abby’s pain, she alleges that the doctors started questioning the legitimacy of her claims by asking “Why are you here? Are you sure you were in pain?” The doctors’ doubt made Abby feel discouraged. Reflecting on the experience, she says “I felt like I was wasting their time and being dramatic.”

This experience left her questioning everything about St. Elizabeth’s, including her trust in the institution that was supposed to offer her medical support. “I’ve never been in an experience where the doctors were conflicting each other and not trusting each other,” she says.

With only two hospitals within driving distance of Hamilton College–St. Luke’s and St. Elizabeth’s — Abby’s options were limited. This experience led Abby to develop mistrust towards St. Elizabeth’s. “With the dismissive staff, I decided I’m not going back to this hospital,” she says. “I’d rather just go to Urgent Care.”

Abby is not the only Hamilton student who left St. Luke’s or St. Elizabeth’s questioning the quality of their care — or their willingness to return for further medical treatment if they needed it.

Marina ’22* says that she avoided the hospitals at all costs after her own bad experience at St. Luke’s. She believes that others on campus do the same. “People try to actively avoid the hospitals in the area because of their reputations,” she says.

This mistrust on campus raises a critical question about access to medical care for relatively remote colleges like Hamilton. When students turn to outside institutions for support, what happens next?

After a year-long investigation–based on interviews with Hamilton students, hospital representatives, Health Center staff, college administrators and other experts–

The Spectator

found a pattern of experiences that raises questions about the quality of care at St. Luke’s and St. Elizabeth’s. With limited resources and few options for external medical treatment, Hamilton College is facing a critical challenge on how to best provide care for its students.

When Expectations for Care are not Met

While the Health Center offers on-campus resources for students needing medical care, if a student’s needs exceed these resources, they may be sent to St. Elizabeth’s or St. Luke’s for further treatment. In emergency cases, they may be taken to either hospital by ambulance.

Students may come to these hospitals with injuries, unexplained pain or psychiatric concerns that they need addressed. While these incidents are few and far between — especially on a relatively small campus of approximately 1,850 — many students still find themselves at these hospitals each semester. It is unclear how many of these students left feeling satisfied with their care. However,

The Spectator

interviewed 13 different students who reported feeling neglected, misdiagnosed or even abused by hospital staff.

Mia ’21* was spending time with her friends on a Friday night when she got an unexpected call. It was a Hamilton student she knew who told her that her close friend had fallen, hit his head and was unconscious.

She rushed to St. Elizabeth’s shortly after, where she reports that doctors and nurses informed her that they wanted to check if her friend was bleeding in the brain.

After receiving this shocking news, Mia alleges that she and her friend were left alone in the hallway of St. Elizabeth’s for three hours while Mia’s friend lay unresponsive and bleeding from his fall.

Mia alleges that she repeatedly asked for help but that her calls were ignored. “By this point,” she says, “it was 3:30 am, and no one — no doctor, no nurse — came up to me and responded with something like, “We’ll take him back soon.” No one did anything.”

Mia says that when hospital staff finally appeared, it left her feeling even more confused. According to Mia, there seemed to be no plan for checking whether her friend was bleeding in the brain.

Despite the fact that her friend was lying on a stretcher bleeding, Mia alleges she had to fight for the medical treatment she thought her friend needed, and that the doctors and nurses seemed to trust her judgment more than their own. She says, “One of them asked, “What else should I get him?” and I was like, “I have no idea. You tell me.” I was not convinced they had any idea what was going on. They were asking me for help.”

Mia was deeply concerned for her friend’s safety and wanted the hospital staff to take the necessary steps to confirm whether her friend was bleeding in the brain or not. However, Mia says “it took a really long time for them to begin and communicate that process to us.”

If there was indeed brain bleeding,

Harvard Health Publishing

, a division of Harvard Medical School (HMS) that relies on more than 11,000 expert physicians from HMS, states that “when a large hemorrhage occurs in or around the brain, the entire brain is in danger because of increasing pressure within the skull.” Furthermore, “in the hours after a hemorrhagic stroke, blood pressure must be closely monitored.”

Mia’s friend ultimately was diagnosed with a nose fracture and a concussion. Although it was eventually confirmed that Mia’s friend was not bleeding in the brain, Mia claims it took several hours for St. Elizabeth’s to even begin the process of ruling it out through a CAT scan. According to her testimony, hospital staff did not observe the patient’s blood pressure either, as

Harvard Health Publishing

advises. If Mia’s friend was indeed bleeding in the brain, the

Cleveland Clinic

, a nonprofit academic medical center, states that this delay in action could have led to damage in nerve cells from oxygen deprivation in the brain.

Another Hamilton College student also alleges that she felt neglected by hospital staff, with her concerns about a serious issue ignored.

During her freshman year, Maggie Carmen ’21 was in recovery from an eating disorder. For several weeks, Maggie felt extremely weak and dizzy. Then, she started developing large bruises on her legs. One night, Maggie noticed her urine was dark red. She decided to get to the bottom of what was going on with a trip to St. Elizabeth’s.

However, despite her various health concerns, Maggie alleges that hospital staff did not examine her bruises or inquire about her medical history with an eating disorder. “I was surprised by how they didn’t care to look at the bruises,” she says. “They didn’t do anything to examine the reasons for which I was there.”

Maggie alleges that, when she told hospital staff that her urine was dark red, they told her she was most likely experiencing a urinary tract infection (UTI). She claims that hospital staff did not show any concern for her extreme fatigue or heavy bruising. Maggie believes her symptoms were never fully validated and says she felt neglected as a patient.

Grace ’22* also questions how thoroughly the hospital staff at St. Luke’s addressed her medical needs when she went to the hospital with a dislocated knee.

While waiting for her X-ray results, Grace alleges that the only treatment she received was a five-minute conversation with a nurse practitioner, who provided her with ACE bandages and crutches. She describes the experience as “worthless,” saying “I could probably pick up an ACE bandage at CVS.”

Grace further reflects on the several hours spent in the emergency room, saying “We thought at least they’d give a definite answer when it came to what was broken and what was happening. They didn’t. They were just like, “Yeah, it seems you popped it back in. Here’s some crutches.””

Grace wishes hospital staff had looked at her injury more, asked her questions and given her some form of explanation about what had happened to her knee.

When Abby ’23 found herself at St. Luke’s for another visit, this time on behalf of a friend, she reportedly encountered the same indecisiveness from staff. She alleges that the doctor expressed uncertainty over how to treat her friend’s ear infection.

Abby claims that after she told St. Luke’s that she thought her friend’s new piercing had infected her ear, the doctor said, “I’ve never seen this before. What do you think we should do about it?”

According to Abby, doctors cut off the new piercing to treat the ear infection. However, Abby claims that the infection worsened a few days later. Looking back on this experience, Abby is not surprised that the infection became more pronounced, saying, “It was clear that they needed to put a bandaid on it. But, they were just gonna let her walk out with a clear infection and a hole in her ear, and not sanitize it or anything. She had to specifically ask them to put a bandaid on her ear and wrap it.” Abby also alleges that her friend asked representatives from St. Luke’s “Do you think I need to take medication because it’s really infected?” to which they assured her she did not need medication.

Abby is surprised that the doctor at St. Luke’s was so honest when he expressed that he didn’t know how to treat an ear infection, something she thought was commonplace.

“The doctors didn’t know what was happening,” Abby says. “They seemed very confused, which is scary when you’re a college student, you have no idea what’s happening, and the doctors are also like, “I don’t know. You could be really injured, but we don’t know.””

When Compassionate Care is Absent

In distressing medical emergencies, experts published in the

National Library of Medicine

say that patients should expect compassionate care from health professionals.

When medical professionals actively incorporate compassion into their interactions with patients, it encourages patients to disclose more information about their health, increases patients’ satisfaction with their care and decreases patients’ anxiety levels.

According to Marina and Nina ’21*, they did not receive compassionate care at St. Luke’s or St. Elizabeth’s. They allege that hospital staff made rude, hostile and dismissive comments.

Marina was enjoying the night with her friends when she suddenly realized that something felt wrong. She grew dizzy and then fell unconscious within five minutes. She and her friends believe she had been drugged. Her friends accompanied her in an ambulance to St. Luke’s.

Marina alleges that, when she woke up at St. Luke’s the next morning, her nurse victim-blamed her. According to Marina, the nurse said “As a woman, you should be taking better care of yourself and be more aware of what you’re doing. It’s very irresponsible of you to have no memory of what you were doing and not have a plan.”

Marina describes how guilty she felt after this conversation, pointing out that “[the nurse] didn’t know the situation I was in. She treated me as a perpetrator of a crime rather than a victim of something.”

Dr. Al O. Giwa at Mount Sinai Beth Israel

states that patients who believe they have been drugged “should be evaluated by a sexual assault forensic exam.” According to Marina’s testimony, her nurse did not conduct this procedure. Nor did her nurse inquire about the person who potentially drugged her. The nurse’s approach to treatment allowed no opportunity for the perpetrator to be held accountable for the alleged crime.

Nina reports that she faced a similar hostile and rude attitude from hospital staff when she went to St. Luke’s after developing appendicitis. She alleges that her physician criticized her reaction to the debilitating pain in her stomach. “This physician pressed there [on her stomach],” she says. “I screamed because it hurt, obviously, and he’s like, “Oh, you’re being really dramatic. It doesn’t hurt that much.””

Despite the severity of her condition, Nina claims that the doctor tried to convince her to return home for the night, forgoing any type of medical observation from the hospital. Ultimately, Nina had to have laparoscopic surgery, which left her in recovery for a month.

Looking back, Nina believes that if she had listened to his professional recommendation and gone home for the night, the consequences could have been severe. If her appendicitis had gone untreated, it could have left her with a

ruptured appendix

, possibly leading to a life-threatening infection, or at the very least, a more invasive surgery.

This alleged behavior from doctors and nurses left Marina and Nina feeling belittled, distressed, and even guilty, as they questioned if their experiences were really legitimate or if they were to blame for their own hospitalizations.

After Marina’s nurse criticized her, Marina felt guilty and ashamed of herself. “It was only after I talked to my friends that I realized that what I was feeling was valid, and it wasn’t something I had made up in my mind,” she says. “I was there to get help and I didn’t expect to be treated with such hostility.”

Nina describes how she struggled to validate the seriousness of her illness after her doctor told her she was being dramatic for expressing her pain. Even though Nina had to have surgery for her appendicitis, she says she did not interpret it as major surgery until others told her that it was a serious situation.

As Marina and Nina express in their reflections, the attitudes and behaviors of hospital staff impacted how these students viewed themselves and their medical conditions. Nina says “it really hit me when someone was like, “Yeah, so you could’ve died.””

St. Elizabeth’s Psychiatric Unit

After overdosing on pills and calling Campus Safety to take her to the hospital, former Hamilton student Anne*, who chose to be referred to only by her first name for privacy reasons, found herself sitting in the emergency room of St. Elizabeth’s. She was violently choking — barely able to breathe — and her skin was soaked with charcoal black vomit.

That night, Anne had attempted suicide by overdosing. Upon arrival at St. Elizabeth’s, she had to drink a charcoal and ipecac mixture to detox her body.

Once her doctor entered the room, she claims that he took one look at her, and then laughed, saying “I bet you’re not gonna try that again.”

According to Anne, before that, several nurses told her that she was going to hell for trying to end her life and that she should be ashamed of herself. As Anne reflects on this experience, she says “I must have looked so pitiful.”

Some of the most egregious experiences reported by Hamilton students interviewed for this article occurred in St. Elizabeth’s psychiatric unit. Anne’s experience as described above was just the beginning of what she calls “the most awful, traumatic thing that has ever happened to me.” Another Hamilton student, Taylor*, also describes St. Elizabeth’s psychiatric unit as one of the worst experiences they have ever had.

Before being admitted into the psychiatric unit, Anne and Taylor were kept in an empty concrete room, which Anne describes as a “holding cell” consisting of a small, concrete room, roughly seven by ten feet. According to Taylor, while waiting in the “holding cell,” hospital staff denied them basic necessities, including food, water and access to the bathroom.

For example, Taylor alleges that they told a guard that “I really need a drink of water” while waiting in the “holding cell,” to which the guard made empty promises, such as “we’ll give it to you later.” However, Taylor claims that they were not given water for another two and a half hours.

Anne had a similar experience as Taylor. She waited in this room for eight hours, repeatedly pleading for water only to be denied every time. “I was super dehydrated after vomiting,” Anne says. “And he [the guard] wouldn’t let me get water.”

Anne also alleges that hospital staff did not offer her any food during the eight and a half hours. She was not allowed to be left alone at any time. When she asked multiple times if she could clean the vomit off of herself, she alleges that hospital staff would not agree to accompany her to the bathroom to do so.

During her stay in the “holding cell,” Anne claims that she was given a thin paper gown to wear. She was also supposed to receive a pair of disposable underwear, but, according to Anne, a representative from St. Elizabeth’s told her they ran out.

“I was pretty vulnerable,” Anne says. “I was in this hospital gown, and there was no position I could get in where I wouldn’t be exposing myself to the guard. If I curled over, to protect my chest, then the gaps at the back of the gown would show off my back and my bottom. And, if I just laid down, you could see up the legs of the gown. I physically can’t stand up for that long because I have a blood pressure thing. It was pretty bad, and I couldn’t stop shaking.”

Anne and Taylor also report having inadequate and inconsistent experiences with therapists at the psychiatric unit. Taylor had a brief interaction with a social worker who promised to see them, but never revisited them. “All she said was “You’re in a safe place now. I’ll talk to you later.” And, she didn’t talk to me for four days,” says Taylor.

Anne also describes how her single therapy appointment at St. Elizabeth’s left her feeling dissatisfied. Before meeting with her therapist, Anne alleges that another patient told her that the St. Elizabeth therapists will release patients from the psychiatric unit if they hear certain phrases. For example, describing their suicide attempt as “a terrifying experience I never want to repeat” or describing how “transformative and eye-opening” the hospitalization has been for them would increase likelihood of release. When Anne followed the patient’s advice and said those phrases to the psychologist, she reports that it seemed to work. “The psychologist nodded and noted something on her clipboard each time I said them. There was no counseling. It was just a quick evaluation. Then, she agreed I could be discharged and filed my paperwork,” says Anne.

Taylor and Anne argue that this lack of support and attention from staff led to severe consequences. Both students allege that they faced a heightened risk of sexual violence while staying in the psychiatric unit — each report that they were touched inappropriately by another patient in separate incidents.

Anne describes how a man “groped” her in the ward. “He touched me in an inappropriate way,” she says. “I already felt pretty unsafe and pretty violated, and it definitely didn’t help.”

Anne decided not to report the incident to hospital staff. However, Taylor says they did report their experience being sexually violated.

Taylor says that an older male patient entered their room and backed them into a corner. Taylor describes how they immediately felt unsafe and afraid. “He just touched me in a way that made me uncomfortable. I was powerless to stop him because he was pretty big, too. I’m pretty scrawny, so I couldn’t do much,” they say.

When Taylor told the nurses about what had happened, the nurses briefly said they would handle the situation and make sure it didn’t happen again.

However, according to Taylor, nothing was done to ensure that they would not have any further contact with the patient who violated them, despite their fears of retaliation.

Furthermore, Taylor never received any further counseling from the therapists at St. Elizabeth’s about the impact this experience may have on their mental health. Taylor’s hospital records did not include any information about this incident, which made it difficult for them to hold the staff accountable for what they believe was a failure to keep patients in the psychiatric unit safe. Taylor says, “The fact that nurses didn’t really care was kind of disheartening.”

According to Taylor, their feelings of safety were threatened in other areas as well. Taylor states that the conditions of St. Elizabeth’s psychiatric unit were unsafe and unsanitary. This was particularly concerning to them, as they stayed there during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to the facility, which they describe as cramped and dark and having no outdoor recreation space, Taylor claims that the beds and walls were dirty and stained. Taylor also describes the bathrooms as smeared with urine and bugs.

These conditions affected Taylor’s own willingness to maintain hygiene. “I didn’t shower for days just because of how disgusting the showers were,” they say. “I don’t even think I used the restroom that often. I think, at max, I used the restroom four times within the four days while I was there. The conditions were so dirty that I was just like, “I’m gonna hold off as much as I can.””

Additionally, Taylor says that the psychiatric unit failed to enforce measures to protect patients and staff from COVID-19. They allege that hospital staff made a single request in the mornings for all patients to wear masks. However, Taylor claims that hospital staff did not enforce this rule, which allowed almost all of the patients to interact with each other mask-less.

Taylor describes how they often witnessed other patients coughing and sneezing on tables without their masks on. They also allege that hospital staff only cleaned the tables, chairs and other commonly used surfaces once a week. “For the whole week, they just leave everything dirty,” says Taylor. “You could tell everything is dirty because, with the floors, there’s so much dirt. The tables are stained, and the chairs are so disgusting.”

Taylor expresses that they feared they would contract COVID-19 while at the hospital, given the unsanitary conditions, cleaning only on Monday mornings, and the disregard of COVID-19 regulations.

While Taylor has made allegations of mistreatment and neglect during their four day stay in the psychiatric unit, they claim the way the staff handled their identity only made things worse. Taylor, who identifies as transgender, alleges that they experienced transphobia while staying at St. Elizabeth’s.

Taylor alleges that there was a general discomfort surrounding their identity, as the nurses seemed to lack care and sensitivity when discussing their legal name, preferred pronouns and hormone treatment.

In addition to staff using the incorrect pronouns, their records listed their identity as “transsexual,” labelling it as a condition alongside their mental health diagnoses. According to the

National Center for Transgender Equality

, transgenderism should not be labelled a medical condition. Taylor says that they were uncomfortable with this term, calling it “outdated” and offensive. They allege that the staff also verbally referred to their identity as “your condition.”

Taylor also claims that the nurses seemed ill-equipped to handle the medical elements of their identity. While Taylor typically administers hormone shots into their upper thigh, they claim that nurses insisted on doing it in their backside, forcing Taylor* to undress and turn around.

Taylor sensed the nurse’s discomfort during this process, saying “they felt uncomfortable talking about my hormone shot. They were kind of awkward — I could tell by their facial reactions.”

As expressed by Anne and Taylor’s testimonies, their negative experiences as patients of St. Elizabeth’s psychiatric unit intensified the nature of their mental health crisis.

The Lasting Effects On Students

Students express that these negative experiences at St. Elizabeth’s and St. Luke’s left a lasting impact on them. Often, these hospitalizations exacerbated the negative feelings that emerged from the scary, and often incredibly sensitive, reasons students needed medical assistance.

Anne reflects on her experience, saying, “It took a lot to help me get over this trauma.”

The trauma Anne says she developed from her experience at St. Elizabeth’s was so severe that she chose to transfer from Hamilton. She says that her anxiety surged, she developed painful flashbacks of her hospitalization, and, as a result, her mental health worsened.

During the semester after her stay in the psychiatric unit, Anne describes how she was reminded of her experience after a minor injury required EMTs to call an ambulance for her. She had fainted and broken her teeth.

Anne says that her past hospitalization at St. Elizabeth’s left her terrified to go to the hospital at all, even when she needed help. She says “I was in the ambulance on the way to St. Luke’s, and, apparently, St. Luke’s was super crowded. They said, “Can we take you to St. Elizabeth’s?” And I was like, “No.” They said it four more times. Every time they said it, I could see my heart rate monitor go up to 200 or 220.”

Anne also describes how she experienced constant flashbacks during that semester. She recounts having nightmares about the “holding cell” where she would scream out loud in her sleep “Let me out!”

In another recurring flashback, Anne describes how, throughout her daily life at Hamilton, she found herself suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling that she couldn’t breathe. “There was something about not being able to breathe fresh air in the ward that made me have to run outside at random times,” she said.

Anne describes how these flashbacks negatively affected her academics and her personal life during this semester. According to Anne, the flashbacks made life at Hamilton unsustainable, leading her to make the difficult decision to take a leave of absence and eventually transfer from Hamilton.

Staying at St. Elizabeth’s psychiatric unit seemingly had a negative impact on Taylor’s mental health as well. “The ER was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had because of how isolating it was,” they say. “Just eight hours waiting for the unknown.”

Furthermore, Taylor claims that their stay at St. Elizabeth’s made them more closed off with their Hamilton therapist. According to Taylor, out of fear of being sent to the hospital again, they started censoring themself in therapy about their feelings of suicidal ideation.

“For the next few sessions after that [the hospitalization], I censored a lot,” they say. “Usually, I’d say a lot every session. But, after that experience, I dialed it back a lot, even when I was feeling super down. I would just take it back a couple notches. I kind of suffered in silence alone. I was like, “I don’t want to tell anyone about this, because what if I end up back there?””

If Taylor experiences serious thoughts of suicide again in the future, they are uncertain about whether or not they’d allow their therapist to intervene and provide support.

St. Elizabeth’s and St. Luke’s also left a profound impact on students who did not stay in the psychiatric units. Looking back on their situations now, most of the students interviewed express that they are hesitant or even terrified about the prospect of returning to these hospitals. After allegedly experiencing inadequate care, neglect, or even abuse from hospital staff, the impact has lingered for months or years afterward.

Marina describes how her experience at St. Luke’s has led her to feel cautious about interacting with others in the presence of alcohol. She says “I wouldn’t want a medical emergency that would force me to go back to the hospital. I’ve been more careful about avoiding situations that would put me in that situation just so I wouldn’t have to deal with that again.”

According to Marina, most people she knows actively avoid ending up at either hospital. “A lot of the people I know, if they have a problem, they’ll go to Urgent Care,” she says. “It’s closer and quicker, and you have to deal with the staff less than if you would go to the hospital.”

Maggie Carmen expresses she is not willing to go to St. Elizabeth’s or St. Luke’s again. She says “Unless I’m in a life or death situation, I will never set foot in those places again. I’d never say take me to this place because I know it would not be worth it.”

The Hope of A New Hospital

Despite the allegations of inadequate care and even traumatizing treatment from staff, Hamilton College and the staff at the Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS), which owns St. Elizabeth’s and St. Luke’s, point towards something hopeful on the horizon.

In 2017, MVHS began

an almost $550 million project

to build a new, state-of-the-art medical facility to replace St. Elizabeth’s and St. Luke’s. Construction of the building is expected to finish in 2023. The new facility will be named

“The Wynn Hospital”

to honor a $50 million donation from the Wynn Family Foundation.

While

The Spectator

was not granted permission to speak to nurses or physicians at either St. Elizabeth’s or St. Luke’s, three administrators from MVHS spoke with

The Spectator

about the concerns raised by students, as well as how these concerns might be addressed by The Wynn Hospital. These interviewees include: Bob Scholefield, Executive Vice President of Facilities and Real Estate, Dr. Kent Hall, Chief Physician Executive at MVHS, and an MVHS representative who wished to remain anonymous.

Bob Scholefield, Executive Vice President of Facilities and Real Estate at MVHS, discussed the new hospital project, which he is leading.

Scholefield states that The Wynn Hospital will bring improvements in the patient experience. In particular, he believes that the infrastructure and updated technology has the power to enhance the level of care.

One alteration of particular interest is the reorganization and expansion of physician and nurse stations. In MVHS’

“Just the Facts”

archive, a collection of articles addressing aspects of the Wynn Hospital, MVHS states “Unlike the traditional nurses’ station that is located in the center of a patient floor for all rooms, the new medical center will have team stations for nurses, physicians and ancillary staff, each which focuses on four patient rooms. There are 12 to 16 team stations on each floor of the The Wynn Hospital, which enables nurses and providers to see all of their assigned patients from their station and enables easier communication between nurses, providers, patients and families.”

Scholefield suggests that these team stations may help hospital staff become a stronger presence in their patient’s care, with the proximity and quantity of these stations allowing nurses to conduct more frequent check-ins and more timely responses to the patient’s calls.

St. Elizabeth’s and St. Luke’s currently have small pockets of windows in only some of the rooms. Anne claims that St. Elizabeth’s psychiatric unit only had one open window. She says “The thing that really bothered me was there was only one open window. It was a big deal in the psych ward. I think 15 minutes after I arrived there were these two men who had just been released from prison, and they actually got into a physical fight over the window.”

Scholefield states that, in MVHS’ new facility, every room will have a set of five foot tall windows that will let in natural light.

The new facility also promises to include enough beds to surpass

the current average daily census

of 324 patients housed by St. Elizabeth’s and St. Luke’s combined.

The Emergency Department will be built to treat 90,000 patients each year, exceeding

the current yearly number

of 80,000 patients at St. Elizabeth’s and St. Luke’s combined.

MVHS

promises that the new Emergency Department “will include the latest technology and design in trauma care for those suffering life-threatening injuries.”

In addition, Scholefield describes how this new facility will implement “a strong emphasis on improved technology” and that “some of the equipment and some of our areas that are operating rooms will be significantly upgraded from what we currently utilize, which will allow us to provide diagnostic and treatment services at a much higher level than we had before.”

Updated Psychiatric Units

The psychiatric units of both St. Luke’s and St. Elizabeth’s were built in the early 1970s. Scholefield says these units reflect an outdated approach to mental health. “These units were built to accommodate a whole different concept of the care of behavioral health,” he says.

Anne and Taylor express how confined they felt in the room they stayed in before transferring to the psychiatric unit.

Both described their experiences as stifling and anxiety-inducing. They agreed that more comfort and less confinement could have made their experiences less traumatizing.

Furthermore, the psychiatric unit at St. Elizabeth’s offers patients no opportunities to go outside for fresh air at all during their stay. Some of Anne’s most vivid flashbacks–being unable to breathe, needing to rush outside to get air–originated from her inability to feel fresh air while in the psychiatric unit.

However, when presented with the negative experiences reported by students in this article, Scholefield promised significant changes in the psychiatric unit of the new facility expected to open in 2023. “We will have a unit that will be more open for patients and staff to be able to have less boundaries in terms of constraints, for patients who don’t need that,” he said.

Scholefield pointed out how St. Luke’s only has a small fenced-in courtyard, while St. Elizabeth’s has no outdoor area at all. In the new facility, Scholefield promised a “beautiful environment” where patients can go outside and “have the ability to breath real, fresh air and see the sunshine–which, as we know, has tremendous benefits in the healing of patients.”

This change may combat some of the issues expressed by the students who stayed in St. Elizabeth’s psychiatric unit, and, as Scholefield indicated, allow patients the opportunity to go outside, which would create a healthier environment.

Improvements to Student Experiences

If MVHS delivers on their promises to make improvements in infrastructure and technology in the new hospital facility, it is reasonable to say that the patient experience will improve.

Additionally,

MVHS

states they will hire an additional 3,000 to 3,500 healthcare professionals at the hospital when it is completed, suggesting that the community can expect improved staffing at The Wynn Hospital. MVHS is also in the process of recruiting more specialty physicians to the Mohawk Valley region. These physicians would have expertise in “trauma, psychiatry, OB/GYN, emergency medicine and general surgery.”

However, when asked whether this project would incorporate improvements in hospital staff and the training they receive, Scholefield said that the new facility is unlikely to affect the attitudes and behaviors of hospital staff.

“Let’s be clear. A shiny, state-of-the-art, brand new hospital does not change what happens inside the facility,” he says. “It does create a better environment. It creates additional comfort levels. But at the end of the day, those that are providing the care–the physicians, the nurses, and other staff–the habits that they bring to the new facility, if not changed, will continue to satisfy customers or patients going forward.”

Although he stands behind the quality of care provided by MVHS staff, Scholefield acknowledged that students may have concerns that wouldn’t be addressed through the creation of a new building. “I’ve made that point abundantly clear to the clinical leadership,” he said.”

While upgrades to the facility may improve some elements of patient care, many students pointed towards neglectful behavior from the staff as making them feel ashamed, invalidated and anxious during hospitalization. These students expressed concern about how this new hospital would approach compassionate care.

Dr. Kent Hall, Chief Physician Executive, addressed the concerns about staffing and training. He explained that they were working to strengthen education and training to enhance patient experiences. “Our goal is to ensure that we all share the same values, approaches to clinical care and expectations for patient experience by the time we move into the new hospital in 2023,” he said.

He also stressed that MVHS is working towards becoming a High Reliability Organization (HRO), which emphasizes a focus on patient safety. “Every single staff member and physician is being trained in HRO skills, which includes improving communication with patients and creating a culture focused not only on safety, but patient satisfaction,” said Dr. Hall.

When asked if changes would be made in the meantime to the existing facilities of St. Elizabeth’s and St. Luke’s, an MVHS representative who wishes to remain anonymous said that “improvements are being made on a continual basis.”

The Limitations Placed on Hamilton

After their experiences at St. Luke’s and St. Elizabeth’s, many students have turned to the school to express their dissatisfaction and concern with the care they received. However, school officials have pointed towards the limited options for alternative care, as St. Elizabeth’s and St. Luke’s are the only hospitals within a 10-mile radius of the Hamilton campus.

David Walden, the Director of the Counseling Center, pointed towards transportation issues as one of the many challenges the College faces in trying to improve student care.

The

Central Oneida County Volunteer Ambulance Corps (COVAC)

, which is used by Hamilton to transport students to hospitals, does not operate in the counties of Onondaga and Otsego, where hospitals in Syracuse and Cooperstown are located, respectively.

Therefore, if students wanted to go to these hospitals in Syracuse or Cooperstown, they would have to travel themselves, which is roughly an hour-long drive from Hamilton.

What is in Hamilton’s Control?

Kristin Rutherford, Assistant Director and Nurse Practitioner at the Health Center, states that it is difficult to track how many students go to the hospital each semester. Students are sent via the Hamilton College Emergency Medical Service (HCEMS), Hamilton College themselves, or the Counseling Center. Other students choose to go themselves.

Regardless of these difficulties in recording the exact number of student hospitalizations each semester, it is important to distinguish that not all students report these kinds of negative experiences at St. Elizabeth’s and St. Luke’s.

Nina, who reported a prior negative experience at St. Luke’s, said she had a much more positive experience when she was first admitted to the urgent care unit. Her nurse validated that Nina had appendicitis. “I had a totally better experience there,” she said. “The woman had pressed against that spot and she saw me kind of yelp. And she was like, “Yeah, no, this is most definitely appendicitis. You need to take her to the hospital.””

Even students who do report negative experiences say that they sometimes found one staff member who left a positive impression on them. For Anne, this staff member was the social worker who was assigned to her case.

“I felt a little bit cared for,” Anne said. “I was like, “Ok, this is a person for me.” That was really nice. We talked about what happened. She was helpful. She was like, ‘You’ll need an after-care plan and you’ll need a lot of mental help, but I think we can get you out of here.’”

Anne also reported that one of the guards in the “holding cell” made her feel more comfortable, saying “The guard himself was very nice. He talked to me and made me feel a little more comfortable, which I really appreciated.”

However, students and Hamilton administrators suggest that there are steps Hamilton can take to address the allegations of inadequate healthcare at St. Elizabeth’s and St. Luke’s.

As a new facility is not expected t0 be complete until 2023, and there are lingering concerns about the behavior of hospital staff, students have appealed for the College to respond to the deficiencies of these hospitals. By offering more support measures for students and holding hospitals accountable, many students with negative experiences hope that the College can help them facilitate change.

David Walden states that moving forward, the Counseling Center will consider sending students to hospitals in Syracuse or Cooperstown. He explained that issues of transportation have prevented Hamilton from actively pursuing these hospitals in the past, but the safety and needs of students come first.

Director of Campus Safety Frank Coots explains that he remains in contact with David Walden and the Counseling Center “on a case by case basis” for each student that requires medical care off-campus. Coots says that “consultation with Dr. Walden’s team will be an absolute requirement before our limited resources are deployed,” and that “if the Counseling Center requires or believes it is in the patient’s best interest, transport to a facility in Cooperstown or Syracuse will be accomplished.”

Regarding the concerns students have had with their experiences at these hospitals, Bob Scholefield, as well as several Hamilton administrators, urge students to make their voices heard. According to an MVHS representative, there was no record of any complaints from Hamilton College students.

Bob Scholefield at MVHS stressed how important it is for Hamilton to have “a clinician-to-clinician conversation about the concerns that they’re hearing from students.”

This conversation could occur in the form of a student health officer, whose role would be to compile narratives from students who claim they were unsatisfied with their hospital experience. When asked about whether Hamilton could create a student health officer position to communicate concerns to MVHS, Vice President and Dean of Students Terry Martinez states that “anything that helps facilitate care for our students is important.”

Karen Leach, Vice President for Administration and Finance and Chair of the COVID-19 Task Force, similarly urges students to file formal complaints to MVHS.

Kristin Rutherford argues that the Health Center can act as a platform for students to voice complaints and demand more from the hospital. She says, “The Health Center tries to advocate for students. We’ll always have a conversation with any student–if you’re unhappy, if you feel that the care you received was lacking. We’ll see what we can do to help you.”

David Walden agrees that advocacy may act as a solution. He suggests that hospitals explore establishing something similar to the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program, which provides a dedicated and specially trained nurse for cases involving sexual assault. Walden describes the potential benefits of such a program for students who are hospitalized due to mental health crises, saying “It’d be a dedicated person who’s coming into that facility and who’d be with the patient the whole time. We’d be handing the patient off to someone we’d continue to speak to. We’d have a set of procedures that would be followed every time. They’d be monitoring the case without a lot of delays.”

In addition to a student health officer, Hamilton could offer hospitalized students a liaison to speak with over the phone. Students could ask this on-call liaison questions about how to advocate for their health and what they should receive from doctors and nurses. This liaison could also facilitate stronger communication between Hamilton and these hospitals.

The Health Center currently offers an after-hours nursing triage phone service for students who need medical advice during the Health Center’s closed weekday hours and the weekends. However, Kristin Rutherford confirms that this phone service is not meant to serve students undergoing hospitalization. It is to serve as a resource for students to get quick answers to medical concerns and to guide students on where to access appropriate care for their condition if needed.

An on-call liaison could have helped Conor Quinn ’21, who went to St. Luke’s after dislocating his knee. He alleges that, over the course of four hours, he repeatedly pressed the call button for a staff member to examine him, only to be ignored. During this time, Conor even moved out of his bed and walked on his dislocated knee to the hallway, where he went to nurses in-person to ask for assistance. Conor says that “having someone who would know what to do in that situation could have saved me a lot of time.”

Many students interviewed felt that the Health Center could have attended to their medical needs, and that they could have avoided hospitalization entirely. Therefore, Kristin Rutherford identifies the following services that the Health Center can provide students:

“acute visits for illness (including cold, strep throat, mono, ear infections, seasonal allergies, and pink eye); point-of-care rapid testing for strep, flu, and COVID-19; acute GYN/sexual health concerns; urinary tract infections (UTIs); acute injury (i.e. abrasions that do not require suturing); contraceptive management; pap screening (for students 21 and over); STI screening; concussion management; general medical concerns (including headache, vertigo, and skin issues); and physicals necessary for students’ travel, educational programs and employment.”

Kristin Rutherford states that the Health Center cannot treat students with orthopedic issues because the Health Center does not provide immediate imaging. She recommends students use

Go Ortho

, a walk-in medical clinic in New Hartford, NY that treats fractures, sprains, strains, and other orthopedic injuries.

Students indicated that, in order to address the deficiencies of off-campus hospitals, especially while the greater community awaits the expected construction of a new facility in 2023, Hamilton needed to provide more healthcare resources on-campus.

Students addressed how they wished the Health Center was open on the weekend and for later hours during the weekdays.

Grace believes that the Health Center could have provided her with the ACE bandages and crutches she needed for her dislocated knee. She says “I think that if we had a place where you can get an ACE bandage and crutches just for the night… We don’t need a fully working ER for the Health Center, but I think that a baseline center for health could be beneficial.”

Mia addresses the urgency of implementing these measures–i.e. more available hours at the Health Center and more access to medical resources on-campus–due to how Hamilton differs from colleges and universities located in bigger cities. Mia says “I feel like, at big schools, [where] you’re near a really great hospital, you don’t need to have a really well functioning Health Center, because what’s the point? You can go wherever when you’re in a big city. But, here, I feel like our Health Center needs to be a lot better run if we’re going to be in the middle of nowhere… It doesn’t need to be a full-functioning ER, but it can definitely do more.”

The Role of the College: Responsibility and Accountability

Despite Hamilton’s limited resources and options for outside medical care, many students argue that the school has a responsibility to provide for its students. Additionally, those who left the hospitals with traumatizing experiences are looking for accountability from the school.

St. Elizabeth’s and St. Luke’s provide essential services to students who turn to these hospitals to address their health emergencies, illnesses and injuries. Dean Martinez recognizes how challenging it is for students to speak on behalf of their medical needs, especially in a hospital setting. She describes her desire “to enhance a relationship with anyone who provides service with our students.”

In a meeting with David Wippman, President of Hamilton College, Anne recalls pleading with him to improve student experiences. “This was the most awful, traumatic experience that has ever happened to me,” she alleges she said to President Wippman. “If you ever find the opportunity to make this better for students — if you ever have any say or see anything that you can do — that would mean a lot to me.”

At the end of the day, Anne says that she just wanted to be treated as a person. “Please just have a little humanity,” she claims she said to a doctor at St. Elizabeth’s. “This did not help me. I needed compassion, and that’s not what I received there.”