“Access and fragmentation” are the two main problems the administration hopes to fix when “Husky Health” opens its doors in the fall.

The one-stop health center, which is currently set to find its home on Forsyth Street, will include the Lane Health Center, counseling services and a drug and alcohol abuse center, said Philomena Mantella, senior vice president for enrollment management and student affairs.

“What will happen is there will be one point of contact so that fixes the fragmentation,” Mantella said.

She said combining the services in a single location will eliminate the confusion of students, making them more likely to use all of the services. Currently, counseling services are located in Ell Hall and the drug and alcohol services have no clear home, Mantella said.

Combining the centers will allow for more staff members and longer hours, addressing the complaint of some students that the wait makes the office inaccessible.

“One time I was there I had to wait like half of a day,” said a middler pharmacy major who asked to be called Sara.

And that has not been her only problem with the service. She said it is also “impossible to call to get through on the phone” and, when she finally does get through, “they’re just not very nice.”

However, she said that when she was seen, she had no problem with the service she received. Mantella said other students had similar stories to tell.

A survey made up by the administration and distributed to students through Resident Assistants at the end of fall semester found that nearly 90 percent of the 279 students surveyed thought the services they received at the Lane Health Center met their needs. However, 55 percent of students said they lacked information about services, and the average wait time for an appointment among these students was five days.

Mantella said the survey led her to the conclusion that awareness and wait time were the issues that needed to be dealt with.

She enlisted the help of Dr. Dale A. Masi, president and CEO of Masi Research Consultants, Inc., and Larry Mucciolo, senior vice president for administration and finance, to devise the new system.

They visited Cornell University and the University of Rochester to see how similar health programs are run, Mantella said.

In her report, Dr. Masi made other suggestions for what Northeastern’s health center should include.

The health center will be run under a single director, who will be a registered doctor in the medical field. The operation will then fall under the office of student affairs.

In previous years, the Lane Health Center director reported to the university treasurer in the office of financial affairs. However, when Treasurer Joseph Murphy left the university earlier this year, his previous duties were dispersed and the Lane Health Center was not included.

“I don’t know what the history was here that had a health center reporting to a treasurer,” Mucciolo said. “It was a somewhat unusual arrangement.”

The center will now fall under the Office of Student Affairs.

“We want the people that are dealing with student issues and student health to be communicating regularly,” Mantella said.

A drug and alcohol abuse counselor will also be hired, a position that has been vacant in recent years. The recently-hired sexual assault counselor will also be included in the health center, but may not physically move into the office, Mantella said.

Mantella said she hopes the combined center will have a smooth transition with students and serve to eliminate any problems they have had in the past.

Meredith Degennaro, a graduate audiology student, said the center lost her immunization papers, forcing her to have them redone. She said the same thing happened to her friend as well, along with many other students she has heard about.

Other students, however, said they think the center is running smoothly.

“I’ve been here for seven years. It’s definitely improved since they did the renovations,” said Jenny Dang, a fifth year pharmacy major. “The service itself has always been pretty good.”

While there is no set date for its opening as of yet, Mantella said she hopes to make it apparent that “Husky Health” is on its way to starting in the next few weeks.