Two students in the School of Nursing have opened up a Health Resource Center in the Student Nursing Association Office in the University Center South.
Ami Lawhead and Sarah Hamilton, nursing seniors, set up the Health Resource Center at the beginning of the semester as a part of their senior management class.
Hamilton and Lawhead said the center will be used as a place where students can get information about various subjects, such as pregnancy, cancer and smoking cessation.
The center is run by Hamilton and Lawhead, but they don’t have licenses in order to provide anything other than informational pamphlets.
“We’re not licensed yet,” Hamilton said. “The only people in the Nursing Department that are licensed are the faculty members.”
The health center is open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to noon, but Hamilton and Lawhead said students can stop by at any time.
“We’re in here all the time,” Lawhead said, “but we are guaranteed to always be open to the students from 10 to 12 on Tuesdays.”
As a way to raise awareness, Hamilton and Lawhead passed out condoms to students Feb. 14 to promote safe sex on Valentine’s Day.
Both students said the biggest obstacle they faced was students not knowing the health center existed at all.
“Most people don’t even know what the SNA is,” Lawhead said.
Lawhead and Hamilton said they plan on handing out condoms and doing free HIV screenings for students the week before spring break.
“It’s kind of a know-before-you-go thing,” Lawhead said.
The health center receives pamphlets by donation from organizations, such as Planned Parenthood and the American Cancer Association. Lawhead said organizations were willing to make a contribution to the newly-formed center.
“A lot of them wanted to hit the college students because that’s a group they don’t normally connect with,” she said.
By AMANDA
CHIAMULERA
Staff
alchiamu@umail.iu.edu