I am writing in response to your article (“Diagnosis: Disarray,” Oct. 5) which focused on the merger of Lane Health Center and the University Counseling Center to form University Health ‘ Counseling Services (UHCS).

I think it is important for students to understand why we decided to implement a comprehensive reorganization of our health care services and what we are doing to provide students at Northeastern with the best health care available.

All of the changes made in UHCS are in response to issues and concerns raised by our student body. Students told us they wanted more support in areas like eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual assault, a strengthened on-call system, expanded operating hours and a reduction in wait times.

In addition, we consulted internal staff, external experts and a number of other universities to determine how to provide students with the very best care. The outcome of this research was the understanding that we needed to take a multi-disciplinary approach, providing medical care, counseling, health education and referrals in one location.

While refurbishing the Center was the most visible part of the restructure, we have made significant progress towards achieving all of our goals this year. Disparate services and locations have been combined and are now housed in the Forsyth Building. We have hired a sexual assault coordinator, an alcohol and drug counselor, the Director of Behavioral Health (a full-time psychiatrist) and an additional full-time physician.

We have increased UHCS’s operating budget and, in partnership with the Institute for Urban Health, garnered $2.4 million in federal grant money for substance abuse outreach. We now have evening on-call coverage and expanded hours of operation, until 8 p.m. two nights a week – especially helpful for our students on co-op. When all vacancies are filled, we will reduce wait times for service as planned.

Students should be aware that outreach programs, including alcohol awareness and sexual assault education have not been reduced.

Likewise, no new limitations have been put on the number of visits to counseling a student can make.

Comprehensive reorganizations and the changing job expectations associated with them can be difficult for some people. Of our current UHCS staff of 44 people, 14 have left in the past year for reasons both personal and professional. Some people left because they disagree with the restructure design or its impact on their job expectations.

The bottom line is that the changes were necessary in order to meet the increasing student demands for health and counseling services – services that students pay for with their tuition dollars.

I am confident that under the leadership of Executive Director Dr. Roberta Berrien, UHCS is moving in the right direction. We have made a number of significant improvements over the last several months and added a number of exceptional new staff members. We expect improvements to continue in the days to come in order to realize the full benefits of the restructure.

In my mind, nothing comes before the health, safety and well-being of our students and I know UHCS will continue to provide students with the very best in health care.

— Philomena Mantella is the Senior Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs.