Peer education groups sponsor Health Awareness Week

As part of an ongoing effort to improve the quality of University health care, student peer education groups are sponsoring the second annual Health Awareness Week. Each day this week, students from a different group will sit in the student center hyphen to educate students about campus health issues and to distribute surveys about the quality of past health care received.

Eating concerns, alcohol, sexuality education and health adviser groups will be represented. "We hope to raise awareness about peer education groups and McCosh Health Center," Student Health Advisory Board member Christina Go '00 said.

She emphasized that McCosh's staff is very receptive to feedback obtained from students' questionnaires. The results of evaluations — such as the "Gratitude and Gripe" forms that will be available to students during the upcoming week in the hyphen — are tabulated, graphed and presented directly to health administrators by SHAB members.

Students' responses from recent evaluation periods have been consistently positive, SHAB co-chair Seenu Susarla '01 said. Of the students surveyed from the spring of 1998 to the present, "Eighty-three percent of respondents said they were very satisfied with the care they received," Susarla said. Between 90 and 93 percent reported general satisfaction, he added.

"If [students] put in their input, something is going to be done about it," Go said.

According to Go, students have expressed recurring requests for a greater number of athletic trainers, more free visits to the counseling center and increased staff members for SECH — a sexuality education group.

Expanding these programs would require increased funding for the health center. Additional growth might also be necessary if the student body size is increased as suggested in the recent Wythes report, Susarla said.

"There is some concern that increasing the student body by 10 percent will put some stress on the health services," Susarla said, adding that the gradual increase advocated in the report would provide ample time for restructuring the necessary services.

The general campus perception of health services is likely better than what rumors and hearsay lead people to believe, said Jonathan Wong '02, co-chair of SHAB. He said publishing the results of evaluations may combat this negative view.

"Feedback from students who use health services has been great," he said.

A comparatively small number of complaints are voiced more loudly than praises of health services, Wong noted. "You don't walk up to a friend and talk about your great experience at McCosh," he added.

Wong and his sister, fellow SHAB member Vanessa Wong '02, organized the first Health Awareness Week last year.