An interim report issued by the recently appointed Task Force on Health and Wellbeing has found "significant deficiencies and ample room for improvement" in campus health services.
The task force noted that greater information and counseling about nutrition is needed for students so they can make healthier food choices. The task force suggests better information about eating disorders and better counseling and support for students with eating disorders.
Such recommendations are just an initial step in a broad new effort by the University to identify places where the University can improve student, faculty and staff health.
President Tilghman, who said that there are definitely institutions with better and worse programs, said that the main focus of those on the task force was "trying to place [the University on] the spectrum."
A main finding in the report is the extent to which members of the community are unaware of the health services available to them.
The report summarizes what the task force has learned and topics it has begun to consider. The report analyzed such topics as the staffing of University Health Services, medical office visits, the current student health plan and employee benefits that relate to health and wellbeing.
In September, Tilghman appointed the task force to address certain questions about how Princeton should meet the needs of its students, what programs, services and facilities the University should provide and how Princeton can improve the balance between family and work, according to the Task Force's Interim Report.
The Task Force on Health and Well-Being, composed of faculty, staff, graduate students and undergraduates, plans to address such questions in the "context of a comprehensive plan for enhancing health and well being of all who study at the University," the report says.
The task force is planning to release another report in the spring offering more details about solutions to the problems they have identified.
The task force hopes to carry over its project into fall 2004.
Vice President and Secretary of the University Robert Durkee '69 cited several motives for the task force in an interview.
Daniel Silverman, chief medical officer, identified certain areas which need improvement, Durkee said.
Silverman, who was appointed in 2002, has "brought a fresh way of looking at health and well being at the University," Tilghman said.
The "increasing size of the student body" was another important factor, Durkee said.
Also, there is a "general sense that both McCosh [Health Center] and Dillon [Gymnasium]...are straining at the seams."
Other problems include the difficulty postdoctoral students have in obtaining adequate housing, health care and child care or to afford gym permits, the report stated.
"I think we are meeting the goals" of the task force related to health care programs (such as for stress-related concerns), Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson said.
Specifically, much progress has been made in improving child care services, Dickerson said.
One of the potential reasons a focus has been placed on health care is the increase in "people just feeling more comfortable seeking help," Tilghman said.
Coupled with perhaps an increase in the "absolute" number of stress-related problems, the demand for health care services can be explained, Tilghman said.
"I'm hoping what will come out of [the task force's progress thus far] is... priority-setting," Tilghman said.
It is more difficult to decide which problems are most important than to merely identify them, as has been done in the interim report, Tilghman said.
Tilghman says the task force is "working...effectively, [so] is in a great position," to advise her on how to set priorities for programs on campus.
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