With the return of flu season and the recent rise of COVID-19 cases causing delays in appointment booking, Student Health Services (SHS) are working to improve their systems to accommodate increased demand.
Since the pandemic, students have faced delays seeing healthcare providers through on-campus health services. Coupled with the start of flu season and wait times for first appointments averaging around 20 days, the delays impact many students daily.
Peighton Hyde-Harrison, a first-year student studying food, nutrition and health, had to wait two weeks for an online appointment after learning that an in-person appointment would take up to a month.
“I needed a prescription because I don’t have a family doctor, and so the long wait was very stressful,” she said. “If I had COVID, [the long waits] would have been a bigger issue.”
According to Lauren Mathany, director of SHS, the organization has increased its staffing levels since August to keep up with the demand, including two more nurse practitioners and physicians.
Mathany also said SHS has focused on increasing its same-day appointment services for this time of year. Currently, same-day appointment services are run most Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays at the Orchard Commons clinic. These appointments can be booked online the night before to see a physician for any emerging issues.
Starting at the end of October, according to Mathany, there will be two providers for the Saturday same-day appointments, doubling the number available.
Along with these additions to in-person care, Mathany said virtual appointments will continue to be available.
“It really allows for that flexibility for students who either can't get on campus or are busy between classes … to have a phone call or virtual session with our providers as well as not having to come to the clinic to reduce the spread there as well,” she said.
Alongside these new implementations, reducing illness through preventative measures is also key to decreasing wait times, said Mathany. Prevention can look like focusing on hand hygiene, reducing the spread to others and getting influenza vaccination and COVID-19 boosters which can be administered in conjunction.
“As the pandemic has continued, we have learned to live with COVID ... That fear and stress from the pandemic has decreased, which is great," said Gabi Reznik, vice-president of the Vaccine Literacy Club.
Reznik said due to mutations of variants, it is still important to receive COVID-19 booster vaccines for better protection.
While on-campus services do not offer COVID-19 vaccines, flu shots are now available at Student Health clinics and Nurse On Campus locations, Monday through Friday. Booking both influenza vaccinations for campus and COVID-19 vaccines for local pharmacies can be done through the Immunize BC Get Vaccinated Website.
Meeting primary care health services demands is challenging throughout the province, and SHS has not been an exception. However, Mathany said Student Health and Wellbeing's commitment to improving service is ongoing.
"We're constantly analyzing the service demands of students against our resources [and are] looking at what the effective and efficient models are,” she said.
“The demands are growing and making sure that we have the resources to meet that demand is definitely what we always strive towards.”