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CAMPUS

The Norwich Guidon
Feb. 12, 2004

NU infirmary offers 24-hour care for students

The Norwich infirmary, affiliated with the Green Mountain Family Practice, treats students with mild to serious illnesses. (Chujka photo)

By Eric Beauregard
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

For Amanda Adair, breaking her neck last year would have been more traumatic had she not had the care of the doctors and nurses at the NU infirmary.

Adair, 19, a freshman majoring in Mathematics, from New Gloucester, Maine, said, "I had many experiences in the infirmary, sometimes short visits, to short weeks at a time.

"They are pretty nice; they had a couple of nurses on duty from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.," Adair said.

Adair particularly likes the "house mother" at the infirmary who takes a special interest in students.

"They call her Virginia; she basically gives the patients the meals and stays overnight in case of any issues," Adair said. "She is not a registered nurse, but she has direct contact with the nurse staff and/or the doctors."

Adair recalls when she suffered a serious injury and was in the infirmary for an extended period of time.

"When I broke my neck a year ago here on campus, I had to stay at the infirmary for up to two to four weeks and [they took] care of me 24/7. It was a living job for both the nurses and the house mother," Adair said.

"[Adair] was someone who was highly motivated, and she always had a smile on her face. Those kinds of patient are a charm to take care of," Crowley said.

Sickness, pain, and complaints all contribute to the stream of student-patients who seek out medical health at the campus infirmary, the building where health and morale can get a boost. Dr. Kevin Crowley, a physician at the Green Mountain Family Practice, said, "this year, viruses are pretty much like past years; perhaps ... a little lighter [than] average, not so much for Norwich, but the community around it."

"There would be certain years that the flu seems to be more troublesome than others, and I measure this particularly by the elderly public; it seems to cycle every seven to 10 years, and this year hasn't been particularly bad," Crowley said, adding that part of the reason that incoming freshmen always go to the infirmary at the beginning of the year is because of what is called "dysfunctional disease." Crowley explained that the concept which is known as dysfunctional disease "is a disease that results in real symptoms for the patient that doesn't have necessarily a pathological reason for it to be happening."

Matt Shade said the "only real serious experience I had down there was freshmen year; I got knocked out by boxing one of my rook buddies, and I just kind of woke up in there. There were a few other times my freshmen year where my rook buddies and I would get sick, and [I felt] the infirmary was positively run," said the 21-year-old junior majoring in history from Basking Ridge, NJ.

Christopher Quinlan, 19, said, "I went down to the infirmary when I was sick a couple of times last year, and I was treated greatly."

"I think that some of the RNs are really nice," said Quinlan, a sophomore majoring in history, from Gramby, Mass. "I give a lot of credit to the others, because they would sometimes get your number and call you to see if you [were] all right."

"If there was one thing that I would like to have improved, [it] would be the availability of the doctors, because the student schedules and extracurricular activities are hard to work around," said Adair.

Crowley said the only way that there would be more doctors on staff would be if it were absolutely necessary. He explained that the many of the injuries or illnesses can be treated by the nursing staff.

"There would be times when at home, when I am sitting at night [considering ] the right way to provide care for students, [I would conclude that] most of the problems that the students come in with are problems that nurses can handle effectively," Crowley explained.

Shade said that he thinks that it is good to have the infirmary associated with the tuition, because, the kind of school we have, you tend to "see a lot more injuries."

The Norwich Guidon is a twice-monthly student newspaper distributed at Norwich University. It provides laboratory experience for students in the Communications program. Claims asserted by letter writers, editorials and other articles do not represent the positions of Norwich University. The Norwich Guidon welcomes signed letters to the editor. They should be no longer than 300 words. Unsigned letters will not be printed, but names may be withheld upon worthy request. All letters are subject to editing for length and good taste. Mailing address: The Norwich Guidon, Communications Center, Norwich University, Northfield, VT 056632. www.norwich.edu/guidon. If you have any questions or comments about the paper, please contact Professor Ken Bush at kbush@norwich.edu.