First-time students face new health screening

Note: This article was first published in The Chanticleer, the student newspaper of Jacksonville State University, on Thursday, August 30, 2012. 

First-time students, whether freshmen, transfers, English Language Institute or graduate students, are now facing new requirements as part of JSU's health and wellness initiative.
Effective this semester, new students must be screened for immunizations and tuberculosis.
"In the past, those were required, but there was no means to track compliance," according to Amanda Bonds with the Student Health Center. "At this point, we are able to track it through the university computer system."
The forms are simple to fill out and are available on JSU's website, but the health center understands new students can be overwhelmed between meeting registration requirements and adjusting to college. Therefore, they allow a grace period to comply.
After students apply to JSU, they receive a letter stating the health center's requirements. From that point, students have until pre-registration begins for their next semester to meet those requirements.
Students may obtain those forms by visiting www.jsu.edu/studenthealth and clicking on the student health forms link.
There is also another change on the Student Health Center's website: a calendar listing all health and wellness-related events on campus, including when Stephenson Hall hosts various exercise classes and when physicians are available to see students.
"We're wanting to pull together things that happen on a weekly basis anyway," says Bonds. "We want it to be more visible and accessible, so that students won't have to click through several different buttons to get to what they're looking for, and also highlighting special events that might occur [such as the health fair in September]."
Currently, the Student Health Center offers free visits with physicians and only requires payment for services rendered, such as flu shots.
If students have any ideas for health and wellness-related events or services that they would like to see on campus, they are encouraged to share their suggestions with Student Health Services.