The health center provides birth control and condoms to students.
Cypress College’s on-campus health center provides services to students that most clinics provide, but with the conveniences of being on campus. Services in the health center include, but are not limited to pap tests, free STD screening, pregnancy testing, cholesterol screenings and counseling.
Many students don’t realize, but at the beginning of the semester, during registration, they pay $17 in the spring and fall semester, or $14 during the summer, without choice, even if they have their own insurance, to provide for the health care services.
“I remember seeing a health fee,” said Jennifer Sanchez, 19 year old art major. “But I didn’t realize that it was for an actual health center. It seems pretty convenient over having to drive to my own doctors office.”
According to the health center website, offices are open Monday to Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. The health center will also be open in the center for students as well on Monday to Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Services will be the same in the summer as they are during the fall and spring semester.
Although the location and services of the health care on campus are convenient for students, it seems that the staff may be overbooked with the number of students who currently attend Cypress College. When trying to interview the front desk, they were not available to talk to students, even when appointments were trying to be made.
Even though the health center is booked with a number of appointments per day, it still is much more convenient for students than going to their own doctors outside of school. Not only does the health center provide birth control and lab tests, they also provide counseling in nutrition, sexual violence education, health assessments and family planning services. Many students don’t know that this center, which is tucked away by the pool, is even available for students, and those that do generally have no idea what services are provided.
While health center staff were unavailable for comment, Arthur Pool, 20 year old engineering major said, ” I knew that their was a health center on campus, but I had no idea that they offered so many health services to students.”
According to the health center website, “The Cypress College Health Center is a full service clinic, which means that services are provided by a Family Practice/Internal Medicine Physician, Certified Family Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurse, Psychologist and MFCC Therapist. Almost all services are covered by student health fees.”
Kristian Smith, 22 year old nursing student, said “I have been to the health center, even though it small, it’s much more convenient than going to my own doctor.”
With the struggles for students to pay for doctor’s fees and the rise of insurance costs, students may find it more convenient and even more cost effective to take a look at what the Cypress College health center has to offer.