NP on the Way? Student Affairs says new nurse practitioner could be on campus by mid-April
by Advocate Staff
According to Sharon Lerner, the Director of Student Affairs, the long saga of finding and hiring a new nurse practitioner for the student Health Services Center may finally be at an end. The Health Services Center, located on the sixth floor of the graduate Center, has been without a nurse since the former director of Health Services, Mary Clancy retired July 30, 2007. Since then the Office of Student Affairs has been working with mixed success to find a replacement for Clancy.
Ms. Lerner said that the long and often complicated contract process, which requires state approval, has made finding a replacement for Clancy difficult. Despite the difficulties, however, Lerner said she is confident that the process is quickly reaching its end and that, if all goes as planned, there should be an onsite nurse practitioner in training sometime in mid-April. If this is true it will be welcome news for the many uninsured and increasingly under-insured Graduate Center students, many of whom rely upon the health care provided by the Health Services Center.
Unfortunately this is not the first time that the Office of Student Affairs has made these kinds of optimistic predictions. In September 2007, Matthew Schoengood, the Vice President for Student Affairs, told the GC Advocate that he hoped a nurse practitioner would be in place by the end of the fall semester; and in November, Sharon Lerner optimistically told the paper that the GC would have a replacement for Mary Clancy by January, 2008. It has now been more than seven months since Clancy’s retirement and nearly a full academic year that the school has been without a nurse practitioner. Although Student Affairs is clearly optimistic, if their track record is any indication, there is no guarantee that the hiring process will be completed before the end of the spring semester. It is possible that GC Students may have to wait until the summer before the Health Services Center is back on track.
In the meantime, the Doctoral Students’ Council is debating how best to spend or invest the $96,000 in student fees that would normally have gone to help fund the nurse practitioner. Sources in the DSC say that one of the many ideas being considered includes offering to purchase any needed or new equipment for the Health Services Center.
As a temporary solution to this problem, the DSC and the Office of Student Affairs are continuing to work directly with the Urban Family Health Clinics of New York to provide temporary care to GC students who need to see a nurse. Students interested in visiting one of the many clinics available to GC students throughout the city (see list below), should see the Administrative Coordinator of the Wellness Center, Ms. Annabella Bernard (Room 6422) for more details.
- 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
