The staff of Lane Health Center openly welcomes many of the changes outlined in the article entitled “‘Husky Health’ to open doors in fall (May 26).” However, there are inaccuracies and unfortunate inferences contained in the article and accompanying editorial which need to be addressed.
While Senior Vice President [for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Philomena] Mantella deserves kudos for enthusiastically retaining the services of Masi Research Consultants, Inc., the momentum for such action actually stemmed from clinicians at Lane Health Center and the Center for Counseling and Student Development who voiced their grave concerns to administration in early 2002 about the fragmentation of mental health services at the university, the lack of adequate staffing and the resultant delays in getting the sickest students seen expeditiously. A report submitted by Lane Health Center in 2002 sought to apprise senior administration of deficiencies in mental health care delivery and recommended seeking the services of an outside consultant.
Beginning in 1996 when Lance Hopkins became director, and continuing to this day, the staff of Lane Health Center has worked relentlessly to institute innovative changes to improve the experience of students who come to us in need of care. For the Northeastern News to once again cite the unfortunate case of Michel Goldberg (which occurred 11 years ago) is both an inaccurate and unfair reflection on the quality of work we do. Over the past several years, the health center has assembled a clinical staff of the highest quality (our credentials are available for review on our newly designed Web site). We have adopted a primary care model of health care delivery and adopted an “open access” scheduling system which has enabled most students with acute illness to be seen within 24 hours. We have dramatically streamlined the process by which students who present without an appointment are evaluated. We have adopted an electronic medical records system as well as self-registration to expedite the visits of those with appointments, and we have implemented the use of regular electronic surveys to solicit feedback about student experiences. Many of these improvements served as the basis for receiving one of President [Richard] Freeland’s first-ever Unit Achievement Awards which allowed the health center to proceed with badly needed renovations.
Furthermore, all of the above changes, and many more, have been carried out without the recommendations of consultants. They have come about because of our concern for the health and well being of students, our pride in the work we do, and our intense desire to continue to improve and develop as caring, highly qualified professionals.
The [Northeastern] News has a tremendous responsibility to provide students with accurate information which may affect their decision-making, particularly with regard to health care. The above information is being provided because the staff of Lane Health Center is not so much “thirsting for some positive press” as suggested in the News editorial, as it is for a balanced accounting of the quality service we provide to hundreds of students on a daily basis.
Respectfully,
Art Nahill, MD Physician Clinical Director Lane Health Center Northeastern University
