As I write this, I have a fever of over 100 degrees, a hacking cough, congestion and aches in every part of my body. I’ve been popping Motrin and NyQuil pills, but in vain. Since this is the third day I’ve had a fever, I should probably go see a doctor.
Too bad I can’t get an appointment.
Believe it or not, UCLA, an institution renowned for its medical facilities, has a truly appalling lack of medical resources available for its largest and most important constituents ““ undergraduate students. From the difficulty of getting an appointment to the hours spent waiting to see only a nurse, the Arthur Ashe Center is hardly a sanctum for sick students.
The struggle for medical care starts with the Ashe Center’s online appointment registration service. Here, students frequently discover that they must wait days before being able to see a physician or nurse, making this online service ultimately useless.
Maybe one reason students can never find an appointment online is because the Ashe Center is only open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. I’m sorry, but I can’t restrict my illnesses to business hours.
For students who live on the Hill without a car, the only way to see a doctor after hours ““ get this ““ is by going to the ER, where they’ll face much higher co-pays (if they’re insured) and even longer waits than at Ashe ““ not to mention obstruct the treatment of more seriously ill patients who need all the help they can get.
In my first year on the Hill my roommate found that she was unable to obtain the care she needed after she injured her thumb playing soccer.
“They told me they could call an ambulance, but I said that wasn’t necessary,” said Robyn Chazen, now a second-year sociology student. “All I needed was assistance right away. … I needed a splint or something like that.”
Chazen was also told she could wait until the next day to go to the Ashe Center. But even making an appointment brings little joy; all students can really look forward to at the desperately understaffed Ashe Center are hour-long waits for appointments that usually take five minutes.
Many students are in for a nasty shock even after they have their prescription slips in hand; those without UCLA’s Student Health Insurance Plan cannot use the Ashe Center’s pharmacy unless they want to pay the full price of the medication ““ even if they’re insured by another company. That means they’ll have to drag their sorry selves down to CVS or Rite Aid as their bodies burn up and their lungs collapse. Frankly, just walking from the residential halls to the Ashe Center is bad enough.
Unfortunately, students living in the dorms have severely limited options when it comes to appropriate, timely care. Samiah Rahman, a third-year ecology and evolutionary biology student and residential assistant, said what you do have is a “Student Health Advocate, which is basically … a student who lives on campus in the (residence) hall who is equipped with some basic first aid and medical advice.”
In other words: Band-Aids and Google. A SHA cannot provide any sort of medication, over-the-counter or otherwise, or any authoritative help. However, Rahman said that “if you know how to medicate yourself,” there are always stores like Hilltop and Ackerman.
How comforting.
UCLA is an institution perhaps most famous for its high-ranking medical school and “Best in the West” hospital. Why, then, does it fail to provide adequate care for thousands of students? Students (especially at UCLA) should not have to fantasize about seeing a doctor in a timely, efficient manner when they are sick. Instead, they should rest assured that they can see one without praying for appointment cancellations or paying exorbitant fees.
Both Chazen and Rahman suggest that there be some kind of clinic on the Hill itself, even if it’s just one room where a doctor is available 24/7. Again, there should be no dearth of doctors at UCLA given the adjacent medical school, and if cost is the issue, then the university should consider appointing resident doctors to the Hill. Although not full-fledged doctors, they would certainly be able to handle a common infection or stubbed toe. Undoubtedly, any doctor is better than no doctor.
I know I’m not going to die from whatever illness I have, but I’ll have missed plenty of classes and infected countless other students. And when my school fails to take care of me when I’m sick, not only is my GPA at risk, but so is my pride and faith in UCLA. The university needs to ask itself if that’s really worth it when the solutions are so simple. Regrettably, until UCLA removes the barriers restricting students’ access to doctors, it will no longer be the beacon of top medical care I once celebrated it as.
Time for another Motrin.
If you’re sick of being sick, e-mail Nijhawan at anijhawan@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.