If all goes as planned, USC will unveil a brand-new Student Health Center in early 2017, placed strategically between the Thomas Cooper Library and Russell House.
The ideas put forward by the school to justify this particular multi-million dollar construction project aren’t bad ones by any means.
The new building will collect all of Student Health Services (SHS) into one central location on campus, which, as of now, are spread polka-dot style across five different buildings. Centralizing SHS is directly helpful to students: no matter what illness a student might have, there’s only one place one needs to know about to get comprehensive care.
Having every form of care located in one building also fits practically with the SHS’ recently implemented idea of “care teams.” During simple medical check-ups, doctors will ask students about other issues including exercise, sleeping and mental health and will refer the student in question to other specialists if necessary.
If all of these different types of medical practitioners are in one place, coordinating different appointments could prove much, much easier. And the university is also promising some much-needed features, like an expanded pharmacy that will offer over-the-counter medication.
Perhaps most important is the increase in the number of patient rooms that the new building would offer, jumping from 13 to 36. This new capacity means the long lines that bog down the current health center may be a thing of the past. (Or, at the very least, less of the hassle that they are now.)
Practical concerns aside, centralizing care in the new building is worthwhile and, in our opinion, the first step to putting into place the necessary upgrades to the present state of USC's disheveled and relatively slow student medical services.