NWC student raises concerns about cuts to health services

Posted 10/17/19

In the wake of declining enrollment, Northwest College leaders had to make a number of budget cuts in June.

No academic programs were cut, but 29 positions were cut — including eight …

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NWC student raises concerns about cuts to health services

Posted

In the wake of declining enrollment, Northwest College leaders had to make a number of budget cuts in June.

No academic programs were cut, but 29 positions were cut — including eight layoffs— and student health services were eliminated.

Abigaile Grubb, a political science major at NWC, utilized the public forum comment period of the Oct. 7 Board of Trustees meeting to voice her concerns about how the change has impacted students’ health.

Grubb said cutting the service left students without convenient and free health care options, such as testing for strep throat and sexually transmitted diseases.

The college has been referring students to low-cost local options for their healthcare needs, but Grubb said those options are not always within walking distance — which creates a problem for some students.

“They require travel, and many of us don’t have reliable transportation,” she told the board.

Grubb also said that, while the alternatives are low cost, they are not free.

“Our cost as students continue to rise, but our services continue to diminish,” she said.

As a result of the program’s termination, Grubb said students are not keeping up with preventative care, which could raise healthcare costs down the line. And without dedicated health professionals available at the college, she said students aren’t always seeing the same providers, which is necessary in establishing trust.

The board didn’t respond to Grubb’s comments at the meeting, but NWC President Stefani Hicswa said later that cutting student health services was one of many difficult budget decisions the board had to make.

It was “a decision not made lightly and not without rigorous scrutiny of what health services our community could offer in its place,” Hicswa said.

Hicswa said there are local healthcare options that charge on sliding scales to accommodate students’ budgets — and she noted that the college continues to offer mental health services.

“Counseling services have always been available through our Student Success Center, as well as disability support, and that has not changed,” Hicswa explained.

Other services, such as flu shot clinics and health information workshops will also be offered to “help our students obtain what they need to live active, healthy lives in pursuit of their future,” the president added. “The physical and mental health of our students will always be a top priority; how we get there going forward has shifted by necessity, but not in importance.”

Officials at Park County Public Health, Northwest Wyoming Family Planning and Heritage Health have all had discussions with college leaders about how they can help fill the gap left by the elimination of NWC’s student health services. There was some discussion about those organizations coming onto the NWC campus this year, but a decision was made to wait, Park County Public Health Nurse Manager Bill Crampton said last month; both public health and Northwest Wyoming Family Planning have offices at the Park County Annex, located a few blocks north of the NWC campus.

“We’re going to do our best to get people convinced to come to our offices,” Crampton said, “and we’ll revisit it next year, when things sort of settle down a little bit, to see what kind of a presence [we] might be able to have on campus.”

(Tribune Editor CJ Baker contributed reporting.)

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