As students and faculty return for a new semester with more goals and aspirations for the New Year, they are not the only ones in search for a change.

The Vera W. Thomason Health Center is also implementing its newest requests for the upcoming year. Starting this semester, the health center will be continuing its usual tasks such as: allergy services, breathing treatments, women’s health services, etc. Though the treatments have remained the same, the act of entering the doctor’s office, at any time, has changed.

The Health Center will no longer be accepting walk-ins. Instead, a patient must call the office or appear physically to schedule an appointment.

“The whole purpose was to decrease the wait time for the patients,” said Director of the Health Center and Nurse Practitioner Michelle Reed. The largest problem the Health Center had with walk-ins in the past was disorganization. At times, there could have been well over twenty students in need of a check-up, but there was no possible way to service them all in a convenient matter.

Since most students stopped by between breaks in their classes and the office was always busy, the Health Center felt it was hard to treat those who needed it.  “Also, with the addition of appointments, it has allowed nurses to thoroughly assess and educate their patients,” said Reed. In the future, patients will have the option of scheduling their appointment online from the Health Center Web site.

“We don’t know everything about this yet, but our electronic medical records representative comes to see us soon,” said Reed. Instead of calling or stopping by, all a student has to do now is simply file for the appointment online and attend. Although now an appointment is needed to visit the Health Center, there are exceptions to this rule, but only in cases that are severe and require immediate attention. For further information, students can log online at www.selu.edu/Admin/health_ctr or call 985-549-2241 if they have any questions.