Staff Editorial | Task force for big picture, nurse needed now

At the Nov. 6 Vassar Student Association (VSA) meeting, a task force was formed to look at the status of health care on campus. Composed of students, this task force aims to fix the long-term problems associated with the health services on campus. This is a step in the right direction to insure that Vassar’s health services are meeting student needs, but there are immediate problems that demand attention, such as the lack of 24-hour student care.

The Vassar College Health Services website, accessible from vassar.edu, announces that 24-hour care is available for “students too ill to care for themselves but not in need of hospitalization.” Unfortunately, this has not always been the case. Since the beginning of the semester, Dean of Students DB Brown has sent students four separate e-mails reporting that a Baldwin nurse would not be on duty for that night. When a nurse is not on duty, students have no other choice than to seek outside care. Not only is hospital treatment more expensive than Baldwin, but in the instance of underage students, parents must be notified before care is rendered.

While a national nursing crunch does exist (over 100,000 nursing positions are unfilled according to discovernursing.com), it is nonetheless disappointing that the administration has taken little action to reassure students that they are actively looking for nurses to alleviate the College’s shortage.

The staff shortage at Baldwin is an even larger problem over school breaks (excluding October Break). While housing remains open throughout the summer for students, Baldwin closes its doors, leaving students without readily accessible care.

Twenty-four hour care is not a privilege reserved to this campus. Swarthmore’s website (swathmore.edu) advertises the same commitment. As a premier liberal arts school it is important that our student services, as well as our academic opportunities remain on par with our peers.

While this task force has the potential to enact positive change, its effectivess will directly correlate with its ability to define its goals and powers. It is unclear what fact-finding process they will adopt, and how this information will be used. It is too early for these details to be hammered out, but it is of the utmost importance that the VSA keep close watch over the task force’s activities.
Student committees are an important part of campus discourse, but they are easily sidetracked by semantics and irrelevant fact-gathering with little dedication to action. It is especially difficult to remain focused when committee members change, a reality in a community where a quarter of the population leaves every year.

The organization of a task force is an important step towards determining how to improve health care on campus. However, a more obvious solution exists. The appointment of a full-time nurse, the same nurse we advertise to prospective students, would directly allay some student concerns regarding Baldwin. It is important to look at the big picture, but we must first address these easily remedied short-term problems. Then we may work to solve long-term issues that Baldwin faces.