Moving away from home can be a big first step. It's important to understand that when you get sick, you have to learn to take care of yourself — and Olin Health Center can help.
Olin offers a wide variety of services to help you make it through all of the sickness seasons, including cold and flu season. For the most part, if you aren't feeling well, Olin can help you get better. Any student enrolled in classes can visit Olin three times a year for free. That means free access to services, not limited to orthopedics, physical therapy, dentistry, primary care and STD testing. Dennis Martell, a health educator at Olin, said it's important to stay healthy throughout the year. "Find out as much as you can about your options here on campus so that you can continue to do the things that help you find that level of optimum performance that you are used to operating at when you were home," he said. "In other words, don't stop doing the things that you did at home that let you feel good about yourself." Some of the services Olin offers are not even widely known by veteran students at MSU. Martell said the full-service pharmacy, laboratory and allergy immunizations are all under-used resources. In addition to all of the medical services offered at Olin, health educational services are provided to help students cope with the complexities of adjusting to college life. Olin health educator Becky Allen said many students have concerns they might not want to address with their doctors that they can discuss with health educators. "It's an opportunity for students to learn more about their overall health," she said. Many students take advantage of the free HIV testing, free nutritional information and free alcohol counseling, she added. Health educators also make sure mentors and other supervising entities are well versed in the key health topics. Olin also partnered with residence hall mentors and gave away more than 80,000 condoms last year. Erin Williston, a health educator at Olin, said the number of students practicing safe sex has been on the rise. "The amount of condoms we have been handing out is great," she said. "We have seen an increase in the amount of students using a condom every year."
