There are few things that bring Ohio University students together as well as their mutual distrust, fear and loathing of Hudson Health Center. Like beer, it fosters bonding: Get a few students together, ask them about their Hudson experiences and soon they'll be best friends as they share their horror stories.
Sadly, this shared experience will continue, as the university has postponed plans to renovate Hudson, blaming it on the faltering economy. Just how cost-prohibitive it would be to make Hudson healthy, no one knows. OU has never actually hired a contractor to get an estimate. But what no one can dispute is the need to update Hudson.
The health center's problems were confirmed in 2007, when a report by an independent consultant warned the university that the center was understaffed. According to a June 2008 Post article, Hudson had more physicians when it opened in 1949 than in June 2008. Eight physicians served 5,600 students back in 1949, compared to four physicians and two nurse practitioners serving more than 20,000 students in June 2008. At an average of 5,506 patients each in 2005 and 2006, the physicians saw about 2,000 more than the recommended number, according to the report.
Moreover, the report warned that doctors at Hudson were at risk of missing the extraordinary problem hidden amongst ordinary ones. That concern was confirmed last year, when Hudson diagnosed a student with muscle strain and anxiety, when she actually had necrotizing fasciitis. The misdiagnosis could have cost the student her life; instead, thanks to accurate diagnosis at a real health facility, her right arm and shoulder were amputated. No one person is to blame for a case like this - the disease is extremely difficult to diagnose - but the risks of an understaffed health center are worrying.
OU students have essentially been told that their health care is not a priority, unlike the $60 million Baker University Center, which functions as a monument to OU public relations and Dining Services' stunning inability to turn a profit. And so prospective students are blithely herded through that glass and brick palace, assured of a wonderful four-year experience. They are never exposed to what Vice President for Student Affairs Kent Smith said was not a healthy building at a Student Senate meeting last year. University officials ought to be ashamed of their negligence.
If the university doesn't get its act together soon, perhaps it's time to reroute those OHIO Up Close sessions through Hudson and let those wide-eyed prospective students see exactly what they'd be paying for here. The university won't be able to turn a blind eye when the truth begins to turn stomachs.
Editorials represent the views of The Post's executive editors.
4 Opinion
More physicians, updated facility needed to help, not hurt, students
