Health Services Still Without a Nurse
by Advocate Staff
VP Offers ‘Stop-Gap’ Measures
In the absence of a new nurse practitioner for the student Health Services Center, the Office of Student affairs has announced that they will soon be implementing “stop-gap” measures to guarantee that uninsured or underinsured students at the Graduate Center will have access to the kinds of primary health care services that were previously available on the sixth floor.
In collaboration with the Doctoral Students Council and the chair of the DSC Health Issues Committee, Denise Torres, Student Affairs has secured a deal with the Institute for Urban Family Health to provide health services to GC students at many of the Institute’s clinics in New York City (for a full list of clinics please see below). The Institute for Urban Family Health is a not-for-profit organization dedicated, as its website says, to providing “access to superior primary care, especially for those who are medically underserved.”
According to Sharon Lerner, the Director of Student Affairs, each of these clinics will be staffed by an assigned resident physician or care provider for GC students, and that all GC students will be “fast tracked” so that they are served by these “assigned” care providers as soon as possible. Uninsured GC students will be able to receive, free of charge, all of the same care that they would have received at the Health Services Center. GC students who have insurance will also be allowed to receive care, but the student’s insurance will be billed and the student will be required to pay any applicable co-payments. In addition to general care, students will also have access to a low cost prescription formulary for many of the drugs most frequently required by GC students.
In order to receive care, students must have a current validated GC ID card or present a letter from the Office of the Registrar certifying their current enrollment.
The Office of Student Affairs said that they are still engaged in contract negotiations to secure a new nurse practitioner but cannot guarantee when they will be finalized. Sharon Lerner said that “if all proceeds smoothly from here on in, we anticipate having a hospital-employed nurse practitioner on site at the Graduate Center’s Wellness Center / Student Health Services in January.”
“While Student Affairs has worked hard and long to navigate the medical, legal, and institutional barriers to getting us on-site services and to implement stop gap care,” said Denise Torres. “six months is a long time to put our health on hold. A lot has been learned through this process and I hope institutional memory serves to never again allow such an interruption in care.”
The Health services Center has been without a nurse practitioner since July 30.
The following Institute for Urban Family Health clinic locations will be available for GC students:
- Sidney Hillman Family Practice: 16 East 16th Street, New York, NY 10003
- East 13th St. Family Practice: 113 East 13th St. New York, NY 10003
- Amsterdam Center: 690 Amsterdam Avenue (at 94th St.) New York, NY 10025
- Walton Family Health Center: 1894 Walton Avenue Bronx, NY 10453
- Mt. Hope Family Practice: 130 West Tremont Avenue Bronx, NY 10453
- Parkchester Family Practice: 1597 Unionport Road Bronx, NY 10462
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