Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502280009
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
The board wants to know more about Collegiate Health Care of Norwalk, Conn., before acting on a recommendation by a student health services advisory committee to give that company control of the university's health center.
Collegiate is 2 years old, operates health care centers for six small Northeastern colleges and has a 28-year-old chief executive officer. Board members raised doubts about Collegiate's ability to do what it says it can do.
``This company's been in existence for two years, and they're asking for a five-year contract?'' Radford Rector Bernard Wampler said. ``Ridiculous.''
``There's a double-edged sword to this,'' board member Carson Quarles said. There's a ``lacking of human relations and public relations in dealing with [the students], but the health center hasn't been given the proper resources.
``We need to be deliberate and thorough before we make a jump.''
Board members wondered why more input hadn't been sought from the health care staff while the advisory committee was working up its proposal. The board agreed with Quarles' suggestion that the staff be allowed to come up with its own proposal.
``I'd like to see two game plans,'' he said. ``Let me make an independent judgment.''
That suggestion raised the spirits of Dr. Maria Mandelstamm, director of the health services center, who came to Friday's meeting determined to persuade the board that the staff, if given proper funding and opportunity, could do the job as well as any private company.
``It is true that we have problems,'' said Mandelstamm, reading from note cards, ``but the problems are related to the fact that we are grossly understaffed.''
With a staff of 13, one physician for 50 to 60 students a day and office space in Moffett Hall so cramped that it doesn't even allow for proper storage of records, Mandelstamm said, it's no wonder that some students complain about having to wait or that doctors may not spend extra time with them.
Facilities need to be refurbished, money made available to hire a nurse practitioner and a pharmacist, and budgets not allowed to be gutted, said Mandelstamm, who has worked at the university for 21 years.
Mandelstamm said the center's budget is substantially less than the $800,000 figure quoted two weeks ago in a newspaper article.
``It is easy to criticize if you don't get the right information,'' she said. ``We have done all that we could.''
Matthew Jones, a student, told the board he liked the health center and expressed concern that a private company would raise student fees.
Memo: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.