In college, it's normal to get what students call the "Athens plague," but health scares can come out of the blue. This can be inconvenient when the only student healthcare services available on or near campus are Hudson Health Center or OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital.
With this obstacle in mind, many students have had varying experiences in times of crisis, especially when facing severe illnesses.
Jack Greene, a sophomore studying journalism, said he had a traumatic experience with Hudson Health Center during his freshman year after contracting mono.
"My experience is one of trauma," Greene said. "I had mono my first month of freshman year. I didn't go for the first week because I was like, 'Oh, it's just a cold.' Then I was like, 'I don't think it is a cold anymore,' because I started looking really pale in (my) learning community and sweating my butt off."
Because of the strict COVID-19 protocols in place at the time, Greene said he had to do a telehealth visit, where staff from the health center asked him very personal questions unrelated to his illness.
"I was like, 'I think I need to go to Hudson (Health Center),' but that was during COVID time, so I only could do a telehealth visit and I told them my symptoms," Greene said. "They asked what my sexuality was and I said I was gay. Then they assumed immediately, as there was a mono epidemic going on around campus, that I had an STD. They said I could have gonorrhea of the throat, which I don't think was real."
Greene said that staff also told him he could have HIV, not receiving any further treatment until his parents visited him during Parents Weekend.
"I started spiraling," Greene said. "I was like 'Oh my god, I could have HIV,' and then I realized I didn't have the common cold because I took DayQuil, like they told me to do, and it started burning my organs, so during Parents Weekend of my freshman year, my parents thought they were coming up to go to the football game. Turns out, we took a trip to O'Bleness and they told me as soon as I got there I had mono."
Meanwhile, Emma Rickett, a fifth-year student studying strategic communications, said she also did not receive any treatment when she developed strep throat last summer, causing her symptoms to worsen. The first time she went to O'Bleness, she said she was very confident she had strep due to her medical history, but they refused to test her because they said she had COVID-19 symptoms.
"It got really, really bad," Rickett said. "My tonsils started bleeding and I got a double ear infection from it because it spread. I went to them (O'Bleness) again because I literally could not function. They were like, 'You have a really bad case of strep,' and then they allowed me to get medication."
Experiences like these have caused students to urge Ohio University to provide better healthcare services for those on campus.
"I think that OU's health services needs to have more of a bedside manner," Genna Caputo, a senior studying political science, said in an email. "Rather than just treat the problem and send students on their way leaving them with more questions than answers."
Greene also says that the campus healthcare staff should be more mindful of students' backgrounds and personal information.
"It almost felt like profiling when they said, 'Oh, you have HIV,'" Greene said. "I get that it's similar symptoms, but you didn't even ask me to come in for an STD test."
Rickett also says that OU's student healthcare services should try to better understand students' medical needs instead of dismissing them, citing her freshman year when she thought she developed mono. Despite spending time with a close friend who had developed mono, Rickett said she was only given a prescription for cough syrup.
"I just think they have a habit of dismissing students a little bit, from what I've heard," Rickett said. "In my case, I was like, 'Can you guys fully listen?' It's not just me being hungover."
Although Caputo says, she appreciates the staff currently working at O'Bleness, as she visited the hospital after experiencing a kidney stone in 2021.
"I went to O'Bleness back in 2021 for a kidney stone," Caputo said in an email. "I was very fortunate that I had some amazing care staff and my amazing friends … who really calmed me down because I had a lot of anxiety being three hours from home."
Like Caputo, Greene says that he thinks O'Bleness is a better option for students in times of need.
"I think both of our campus health options are not good," Greene said. "Being in the area that we're at, it's given that it's not going to be the best care possible, but what are you going to do about it? I think O'Bleness definitely is better than Hudson (Health Center) in my situation because I feel they weren't assuming as quick as everyone else was."
