Students and parents recently brought increased attention to the issues with the health services provided at Hamilton College. Members of the Hamilton community started a petition to “Improve the Care given by the Health Center at Hamilton College.” The petition reached 101 signatures, demonstrating widespread support for concerns over Hamilton healthcare.
The petition, started by a parent of a Hamilton senior, describes the services at the Health Center as “substandard,” saying the center provides “poor care and advice.”
“The Health Center should provide care that does not require a visit to the ER or a visit to a specialist,” the petition states, “the lack of basic services to cover minor ailments and at times the lack of a timely response seems to be universally experienced by the student body.” These claims share similar concerns with the student body, as many students find that the Health Center lacks direct support for their care. Many students have struggled to get timely appointments, been refused adequate resources, or been referred to the local hospital’s emergency room as a final solution.
On Dec. 1, Interim Dean of Students Nancy Thompson sent an email to the Hamilton community attempting to bring light to the healthcare situation. In response to the unrest over the lack of proper health care and services, Thompson cited a staff shortage as the main reason for the issues: “This fall our Physician Assistant Director has been the lone clinician who can diagnose and prescribe. We normally have two providers, in addition to the doctor who is with us one day a week. This shortage of staff has forced us to utilize local urgent care facilities to a greater extent than we prefer.”
Barbara Fluty, the Physician Assistant and Director at the Health Center, commented on the issue saying, “My staff and I have had more medical appointments for the fall of 2021 compared to fall 2020.” Fluty feels the effects of the staff shortage as well, remarking “On some days I feel it would be helpful to have a clone army so I can accomplish more but it simply is not the reality of the situation.”
While acknowledging the validity of the claims made by students, Thompson informed the community of actions the college is taking to improve health services. Hamilton is participating in an ongoing effort to hire additional staff members to the Health Center — a nurse practitioner, a physician assistant and a registered nurse. According to Thompson, it is believed that the new staff “will greatly improve our ability to see students in a timely manner. It will also enable us to offer additional hours of service.” Students are also told that they will see “significant improvements” in appointment availability.
Fluty reveals that “[they] have not had much luck” in finding more medical providers and that the college has been actively looking since the summer. She says that “[Clinton] has seen a shortage of medical personnel. But we are hopeful that we will have at least one new provider in place for the spring semester.”
However, no concrete date for these new hires has been released, and it is still unclear to the community when positive changes will be seen in their care. The petition for improved healthcare offers its own potential solutions, calling for an expansion of hours and advancement of the services provided by the Health Center. The center is only open on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Both the hours and the days open are an area of contention for many students who feel they may need access to care outside of these times due to conflicts with their class schedule. As students hold out for longer hours, the college maintains the current system of the Fonemed program, which takes urgent and non-urgent calls after Health Center hours. The goal of the calls are to “help direct students to off-campus medical resources,” which demonstrates the college’s continued reliance on resources not available on campus.
Furthermore, the petition asks if the college could “hire a general practitioner either full time or a set number of hours each week where students can make appointments for a basic consultation and advice.” Supporters of this petition allude to a system that functions similar to that of a doctor’s office in the hopes that this may be more beneficial to students. It appears that the Hamilton community desires more solutions than a simple addition of staff to the center, which may not be able to fix the multitudes of problems students face.
Fluty is hopeful for the future of the Health Center, stating, “I am proud of the services that we provide to students. With the addition of two more providers, we can improve our availability. I am also excited about future collaboration with the Health Promotions person next semester. We will have the opportunity to provide students important information and hopefully fresh programming that will be helpful to students.”
Through the developing controversy over the care provided by the Health Center, it is clear that students and parents expect comprehensive reform from the college so that students can get the healthcare they deserve. Whether or not the college will be able to live up to these expectations is still to be determined.