Have you got a cold? Head to wellness center?

By John Greco
Staff Writer

Winter is just about out of the door, but the common cold is not. For students still locked in winter’s discontent, there’s a place on campus they could go to take the sting out of the cold season.

The William Paterson University Health and Wellness Center, located in Wayne Hall, offers a self-care cold clinic to help treat and teach students about their colds.

“Our goal is to help people begin to answer simple questions about each of the symptoms they could have of some kind of upper respiratory illness,” said Nancy Ellson, nurse practitioner at the Health and Wellness Center.

Ellson saw a self-care cold clinic as a better way to educate students about colds and the flu, other than just treating their symptoms.

“When you traditionally go to a healthcare provider, it’s not a teaching experience,” said Ellson. “In this situation, I’m trying to help people understand why they’re getting antibiotics, or why they’re not; why we’re going to treat their symptoms.”

During a visit, a student is given a symptoms checklist to complete. He or she is then given a handout on how to identify whether he has a cold or the flu. A regular examination then takes place where the student’s ears, sinuses, and throat are looked at.

“Sometimes we’ll do other stuff,” said Ellson. “If people are having abdominal pains, diarrhea, or vomiting, we’ll try to sort out if that is the same problem, or a sign of appendicitis, or something else.”

One of the main objectives of the self-care cold clinic is to teach students how to avoid getting sick. One approach Ellson suggests is getting adequate sleep.

“For most college students, that’s that last thing on the list. Most people, when they look back the week before they got a cold, they weren’t sleeping right. The foundation is rest, because at night our immune system works to repair whatever damage we’ve done to ourselves all day.”

The other step in prevention of the common cold is eating right.

“The five servings of fruits and vegetables a day are the best protection,” said Ellson, also recommending increased doses of vitamin C and Echinacea.

Stress plays a role in getting sick, and the center helps students manage that as a way to keep students healthy.

“When people are stressed, those are usually the times when they get sick,” said Ellson. “Sometimes just knowing there’s a place on campus where someone will ask you ‘how are you doing?’ And I don’t just mean how is your nose. I’m asking how are ‘you’ doing, because sometimes there is more going on.”

Teaching students how to manage and prevent colds is just one aspect of the self-care cold clinic, however. The other is giving students the opportunity to be able to decide what they can do about their situations, and letting them know that there are people on campus who really care.

“We’re here. We’re free. We want people to feel cared for, and cared about,” said Ellson. “I would like to see people come through the clinic a couple times, learn what they have to learn, so they are better able to be consumers of their own healthcare in the future.”

Students interested in taking advantage of this service should make an appointment with the Health and Wellness Center by calling 973-720-2360, or by visiting the office.

“If we can be meaningful when things get difficult in their life, people will come back, because they will have a good first experience,” said Ellson. “It’s not just about colds; it’s about people.”

The Health and Wellness Center in Wayne Hall is open Monday-Thursday from 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. and Friday from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

March 27, 2003 Issue