In the near future, students will have the option of obtaining a free health plan through the wellness center.

The center, scheduled to open fall 2009 with the completion of the recreation and wellness center project, will offer students a “personal health plan” or an exercise/nutritional program that will meet their health goals. The Student Health Center staff will run the new wellness center, which will replace the current facility in the area designated for the project north of Hornet Stadium.

The concept, coined “Prospective Health” by director of the Student Health Center Joyce Harris, is an effort to prevent health problems before they occur.

“I want to get the message out that we would like to connect with you before you get sick,” Harris said.

The prospective health program, which is still in concept mode, would involve the process of a student meeting with a health professional after his or her family history, physical exam and lab work has been analyzed in order to plan an exercise/nutritional program that they could follow to meet their health goals, Harris said.

“Currently, most students access the Student Health Center when they get sick, to get one of the required immunizations or when their professor asks them to write a report on health,” Harris said. “We are hoping to reach students before they get stressed and ultimately get sick.”

According to the recreation, wellness, events center and stadium complex case statement, “the need for expanded health and wellness programs at Sacramento State has been an important issue in recent years as the student body continues to grow exponentially.”

The current Student Health Center, located at the north end of campus near Sacramento Hall, offers general medical care for acute illnesses or injuries, physical exams, optometry and X-ray services and a pharmacy.

“I go when I am sick. They have name-brand medicine for generic prices,” government major and junior Joaquin Castaneda said.

The new wellness center will offer the benefits currently available as well as stress reduction and mental health programs, health screening, eating and weight programs, tobacco control/cessation programs and behavioral interventions.

“Being a student, my diet is least important. A lot of time we (students) are living off of coffee and energy drinks and building up sickness that will affect us in our 30s,” Castaneda said.

The new location will play a key role. Students will have health care readily available at a central location after the wellness center is built. The center will be in the middle of the entire recreation, wellness, events center and stadium complex, close to the Library and the University Union.

In these areas, students will have access to a running track, fitness center, weight room, children’s center, basketball court and rock climbing wall, among other fitness-oriented amenities.

Harris said this location will help the prospective health program because recreation and wellness will be accessible in the same area.

“It is going to take time, but once the culture on campus is changed (following the opening of the recreation, wellness, events center), students will recognize that the function of the center is changing,” said Scott Modell, professor of kinesiology and faculty adviser to the wellness center.

There is current confusion among many students as to the whereabouts of the Student Health Center. Harris and others on her staff often find students are unsure where the health center is located.

“I know it’s on the other side of campus, but I have never been there,” nursing major and junior Stevie Steele said.

As plans for future programs are developing, there still has been no decision as to what will become of the current health center.

“It’s early in the process and there will be all kinds of proposals presented,” Ron Richardson said. “I know Facilities (Services) is interested in it. I am because I am outgrowing my space and would like to occupy part of it.”

The environmental health and safety, physical therapy, kinesiology and facilities departments are all interested in the building when it becomes available, Richardson said.

Harris said the new building will not have a big lobby and stairwell like the current facility, but will have room to expand their programs to fit into the “wellness model.”

The Student Health Center will enter the beginning stages of its “prospective health vision” next month when it expands its Eating and Healthy Weight Program.

The program, originally designed in 2003 to provide integrated psychological, nutritional and medical services to students with issues related to eating disorders, will now be available to all students who would like to lose weight, improve and maintain their health and fitness or who are obese.

The program will be available at the Student Health Connection in the University Union.

The Student Health Center and its programs are funded by the mandatory health fee included in student fees every semester.

Blake Ellington can be reached at [email protected]