When students move away from home, they are faced with a lot of challenges and new experiences, such as doing laundry, feeding themselves, and taking care of themselves if they get sick. When parents are no longer readily available to dole out medicine, make appointments and check your temperature, what options do college students have? When students of New College fall ill they have several options such as going to the Counseling and Wellness Center (CWC) or going to urgent care centers.
Counseling and Wellness Center
The CWC is the place on campus where students can receive treatment. The treatment available is both acute and preventative. Students can make an appointment by calling the CWC. If the CWC cannot provide students with the treatment that they need then they can refer them to an outside office. Appointments are covered by tuition cost, and the medical professionals in the CWC can write prescriptions that can be filled at local pharmacies. If a student needs to fill a prescription, they will need to pay the price that an outside pharmacy suggests.
Urgent Care Centers
Recently, fourth-year Daniel Anderson-Little was suffering from acute tonsillitis. He chose to go to an urgent care clinic, instead of the CWC.
Anderson-Little explained that the first urgent care clinic he went to, Concierge Medhealth Clinic, was not a good choice for him, since they did not take insurance and they wanted to charge him a flat rate of $45-$55 for the appointment alone. Although, for those who do not have insurance, this may be a good option.
The next place that Anderson-Little went to was Doctor 4 U urgent care center in Bradenton. This center charged him a $25 co-pay after he presented his Anthem Blue Cross insurance. He was seen after about a half hour, and was diagnosed with acute tonsillitis, given a shot, and written a prescription for antibiotics that could be filled at Walgreens. The antibiotics cost him $166 with insurance. They would have been $270 without insurance.
Anderson-Little was still feeling sick, so he went to another urgent care center later in the week. The last urgent care center he went to was Bradenton Urgent Care walk-in clinic.
“I went to [Bradenton Urgent Care Walk in Clinic], because it had the most reviews online, and they were very positive,” Anderson-Little said.
The appointment cost $25 after using insurance. Anderson-Little explained it was successful, since he was able to get another shot, as well as a prescription for some steroids, so that his recovery would be much speedier.
“The lobby at [Bradenton Urgent Care Walk in Clinic] was by far the nicest,” Anderson-Little said. The clinic was clean, well decorated, and had an area with toys to entertain children in the waiting room.
“My only complaint was that TMZ was playing on one of the flat screen televisions,” Anderson-Little said.