$13.50 of every student’s fees goes to Health and Wellness Services, which allows the center to offer services for little to no cost, but Salt Lake Community College Health Promotions Program Manager Tatiana Burton thinks that students under-utilize Health and Wellness Services.
“Students don’t utilize our services. The ones that do use the services have known about them for a while,” Burton says. “The most common way of people finding out is by word of mouth. We use posters but no one reads posters anymore, and we play advertisements on the TVs around campus.”
Health and Wellness Services offers Swedish, deep muscle and pregnancy massages among many massage styles. Every currently enrolled student is entitled to one free hour of massage, and after that is used, students may purchase additional hours for $30 an hour.
Health and Wellness Services also provides confidential sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, simple medical procedures and counseling services.
New patient medical visits and first time counseling visits are each free of charge. Visits after that are $10 for a currently enrolled student. No student will be turned away for inability to pay at the time of the visit, but the prices are for current, enrolled students only.
The family planning section of Health and Wellness Services has free condoms at their offices. They also offer plan B pills, pregnancy preparation and fertility awareness, among other services. Urine pregnancy tests are available to both walk-ins and appointments for $10.
“In October we have the Alcohol Awareness Week, where we try to show students that they don’t have to drink to have fun,” says Burton. “During that week we also have impaired driving prevention, and we try to get the Highway Patrol involved. We also have the Great American Smokeout, where we raise awareness of the risks of smoking and encourage students to quit, even if it’s just for the day.”
The Student Health Awareness Club (SHAC) combines forces with the Health Education and Awareness Promotion Services to hold these on-campus events. These events are designed to help students be aware of their health and how their choices impact their health.
The main office of Student Health and Wellness Services is located on the Taylorsville Redwood Campus, in the basement of the Student Center, in room SC035. Its hours of business are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Health and Wellness Services also has locations at both the Jordan Campus and the South City Campus. These locations will be closed during the summer semester for training for use of new software that will improve the services for students, which will make it possible to make appointments online.
For more information, visit the Health and Wellness website or call the Taylorsville Redwood Campus location at 801-957-4268.