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Students Spur Fort Worth, Texas-Area University to Build Health Center

Posted on: Thursday, 6 January 2005, 15:00 CST

Jan. 6--DENTON, Texas -- The waiting room at the University of North Texas health center is so crowded that patients worry about leaving sicker than when they arrived.

That's why some students were quick to sign a petition last semester calling for a Student Health and Wellness Center that would be three times the size of the current clinic. They agreed to pay for it by increasing their per-semester health care fee by $19. They now pay $39.90.

"It was something the students wanted. We don't like this health service. It is older than some of our parents are," said Lacy Burgess, 23, a December graduate who led the petition drive. "The exam rooms are so small that sometimes you have to whisper so that the person in the next room can't hear."

The $13 million, 65,000-square-foot clinic is scheduled to open by fall 2006. Plans call for more laboratory services, upgraded medical equipment, and low-cost dental and eye care. The building will have more exam rooms and a drive-through pharmacy window.

Students won't be charged the $19 fee until the clinic opens, said Bonita Jacobs, UNT's vice president for student development.

The UNT board of regents has approved the project, sending it to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for the expected final approval, Jacobs said.

The current 22,000-square-foot health center was built at Avenue C and Chestnut Street as a student hospital in 1958, when the campus had fewer than 7,000 students. It provides free general health exams, online prescription refills and low-cost medical services, including lab tests and immunizations. Emergencies are handled at Denton hospitals.

With the current enrollment topping 31,000, students began to demand a health center with better technology and more services, said Burgess, of Henderson.

In August and September, Burgess led a 30-member Student Health Advisory Committee that collected 1,400 student signatures -- nearly double the required number -- to call for a vote on a new health center. In an October referendum, students voted 1,454 to 823 to approve the project.

The $19 fee is still cheaper than off-campus care.

"They looked at the practical side of it," Jacobs said. "The students here balanced the added costs for the facility with having an improved, accessible health care facility."

Administrators are meeting with architects to design the building, said Reginald L. Bond, executive director of the health center. The current center will remain open while the new one is built.

"We really have a view toward the future trying to anticipate the needs of the students," Bond said. "The big thing is to get more efficient and easier for our patients."

IN THE KNOW

Student Health and Wellness Center

--A University of North Texas clinic is scheduled to open by fall 2006 to replace a 1958 clinic built as an overnight infirmary.

--Students voted to fund the project by increasing the medical services fee by $19 per semester.

--The planned building will be about 65,000 square feet.

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(c) 2005, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas)

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