Throughout my three years at Oberlin, I can confidently say that I have never had a positive experience with Oberlin Student Health or Counseling & Psychological Services. In no way do I blame any Student Health or CAPS employees, who I’m sure work tirelessly to attempt to meet the demands of students as incoming classes seem to get larger and larger. Instead, I believe there is a consistent organizational failure to adequately meet students’ needs. To illustrate my point, allow me to recount my most recent attempt to utilize Oberlin’s health services. I called to schedule an appointment for the following week at 11 a.m. on a Thursday. I received a reminder email a few days before and had no reason to assume that there was any disruption to Student Health. However, upon arriving at 10:50 a.m. the day of my appointment, I was greeted by a sign telling me that Student Health Services would be closed until 11:30 a.m. for a department-wide meeting and to contact Campus Safety for any emergencies. I walked over to Campus Safety and explained the situation, deciding to simply wait it out until my appointment.
At around 11:15 or so, Campus Safety told me that Student Health had probably reopened, so I walked over to check in for my appointment. However, the receptionist informed me that Student Health had actually opened at 11 a.m. and since I was late for my appointment, would not be able to see me. I was, thankfully, able to reschedule for later that day, but this incident is representative of the lack of organization and communication I have consistently experienced at Student Health, creating an immense barrier to receiving basic treatment.Among students, Student Health and CAPS have an overwhelmingly negative reputation. Most people I know share similar stories about their consistent inability to receive timely, or any, care. For another personal example, I called Student Health earlier in the year with symptoms such as headaches, a rapid heartbeat, insomnia, and nausea. The receptionist informed me that walk-in hours were over and that I should return the next morning.
When I did, the receptionist told me that they could not see me because I had not tested for COVID-19 the day prior. They said that, even if I tested that day and came back, they would not be able to see me that day. It’s important to note that when I had inquired about receiving care the day prior over the phone and informed the receptionist of my symptoms, at no point did she tell me that I needed to take a COVID-19 test in order to be eligible for care.
I’m lucky that, despite my consistent barriers to being seen at Student Health, I am relatively healthy and none of these experiences have resulted in any negative health outcomes. However, Student Health’s constant inaccessibility often forces students to go to Mercy Health – Allen Hospital, run by a Catholic health care provider whose values on issues like reproductive and gender-affirming care conflict with those of many Oberlin students.
Although my experiences with the Counseling Center have been less negative overall, my appointments have also constantly featured some level of unprofessionalism, either from psychiatrists or on the organizational level. I first began seeing a psychiatrist at Oberlin for ADHD medication management and was prescribed Concerta. My first real barrier to care came when trying to acquire enough medication to last over summer break. For controlled substances like Concerta, Oberlin’s psychiatrists provide paper prescriptions. During our last session before summer break, my psychiatrist gave me a paper prescription for enough medication to last me over the summer and informed me that, despite returning home to a different state, I would have no issues with giving the prescription to any pharmacy back home.
Since I had been on this medication for less than a year, I was not as well-versed on the strict rules governing stimulants. After returning home, I immediately ran into issues. I attempted to fill the prescription at seven different pharmacies, all of which refused to fill it since it came from out of state.
Of course, any attempt to receive guidance or help on this matter from Student Health was stymied, since Student Health and CAPS are both completely closed over the summer. While I understand that the College shuts down over the summer, I believe it is completely irresponsible to leave students totally high and dry with medication management, which could lead to extremely negative outcomes if unmanaged. For me, it meant going without my medication for the entire summer. Also, upon returning, my psychiatrist declined to gradually introduce me back onto the medication, leading to a week of shakes, racing heartbeat, and anxiety. All of this is not to mention the consistently long wait times to receive therapeutic care, though CAPS’ new partnership with telehealth company UWill can hopefully help remedy that issue.
Oberlin students deserve to have access to reliable healthcare services on campus without having to constantly resort to an unaffiliated hospital whose values do not align with that of the student body’s.
With Oberlin’s tuition as high as it is, it is unacceptable that students are forced to struggle to receive basic treatment. In order to meet students’ needs, the College must hire more employees and physicians, as well as develop stronger institutional communication, organization, and clarity. For example, Student Health should clearly update their Oberlin website to accurately reflect the conditions for their walk-in hours as well as update students via email about any service disruptions. The College should also employ at least one or two full-time employees so that students have some support if issues arise over the summer. Finally, the College must ensure that the psychiatrists they employ are adequately educated about the details of medication accessibility, so that patients taking controlled substances are not misinformed.
