Students who live and study on the south side of the Tempe campus now have a new clinic within walking distance,to turn to for health issues.
ASU Health Services had the grand opening of its newest clinic, on Wednesday.
The new building is located at Campus Health Service South Sonora Center Residence Hall in room A22, using existing space to save on construction costs.
The new clinic opened because of complaints from ill and injured students on the southern part of the campus, because the current center is located on the north part of the campus, Campus Health Services Director Allan Markus said. The original clinic is more than one mile away from the new location in Sonora.
“I had the idea [for the new clinic] after discussing with students who lived on the southern side of campus,” Markus said. “It was hard for them to get to the other office when they were sick.”
Markus said he thought of the idea for a new clinic in January 2007, and after consulting over a period of time with the Health and Counseling Student Action Committee, he worked with Residential Life to renovate available rooms at Sonora.
“We converted over two rooms,” Markus said. “One was used as an ad-hoc room and a computer support services room. Neither was being used, really.”
Jelena Peric, president of the student action committee and a nursing sophomore, helped reach the decision for the new clinic with Markus.
Peric said in an e-mail, “Our groups strongly advocated for a south campus clinic. We thought that such a clinic would help improve access to campus health care.
The new health-service clinic will bring health care to where the students are, instead of making them come to it, Markus said.
The clinic is mostly set up for primary care; urgent problems or emergencies will be sent to the main health service center, Markus said.
However, intravenous fluids, medications and other general health services will be provided at Campus Health Service South, Markus said.
“If someone needed something more, we’ll grab a cart and take them over there [to the main health-service clinic],” Markus said.
The renovation funding came from Residential Life, Campus Health Services and the Undergraduate Student Government, Markus said.
Due to minimal renovations and existing buildings, the funding was not an issue, Markus said.
Some renovations include new artwork, paint, countertops, access to electronic medical records, handicap access and spacious rooms, Markus said.
The warm-colored paint found in the health clinic is “designed to make the setting very relaxing for people that have to go there,” Markus said.
In addition, Markus said he encourages students to go to the new health-service clinic to learn about health and nutrition — not just when they’re sick.
Markus said he hopes to see more partnerships with Residential Life in the future, as this is the first construction on a medical building at ASU since around the 1960s.
The main task ahead is to get students to become aware of the new clinic, said Sarah Stevens, Sonora Hall Council President and economics sophomore.
The clinic is located in a part of Sonora where students generally don’t walk, Stevens said.
“As far as I can tell, it doesn’t really look open yet,” Stevens said.
However, the Sonora Hall Council, Campus Health Services and Residential Life will be doing some publicity for the new clinic soon, Stevens said.
Reach the reporter at reweaver@asu.edu.
