Student health services to open in August
The health service will be located in Laborer's Hall
Marisa Petrich
Issue date: 3/9/10 Section: News
UW Tacoma is on the verge of officially opening its first Student Health Service, a project that was four years in the making.
The service, which was allocated $230 thousand last spring by the Student Activities Fees Committee, is now set to open in August of 2010. Though organizers had hoped to open the service in Winter Quarter, there were several roadblocks that slowed the opening.
"It takes longer to work through all these approval processes than I think any of us expected," Director of Student Health and Wellness Jeri Carter said.
Initially, a committee set out to find a healthcare provider that could meet the established budget in a Request for Proposals (RFP) process. While the provider was chosen at the end of last November, the name cannot be released until after a date is set for renovations to begin and a contract has been signed.
Just as important as the provider was finding a space to put it in. The original location for the service, in the Student Health and Wellness Suite on the second floor of the Mattress Factory, was decided to be too far from bathrooms and running water to be used. Now the center will be located in Laborers Hall on 19th and Market Street.
Additionally, much of the process had to be approved in by officials at the Seattle campus, causing further delays.
"We went through a very, very thorough process," ASUWT Vice President and are in the works. Changes must be made to bring the building up to code in addition to a build-out for the center itself. Because the building is already in the university's real estate portfolio, most of the changes will be financed through an auxiliary fund, keeping roughly $225 thousand of the student-provided funds free for outfitting the building.
"Once the students come in, they're just focused on the health service operation," Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Cedric Howard.
Though the center will open more than a year after the process began, the want for a healthcare on campus is much older. The idea came up in a campus life survey from four years ago.
The service, which was allocated $230 thousand last spring by the Student Activities Fees Committee, is now set to open in August of 2010. Though organizers had hoped to open the service in Winter Quarter, there were several roadblocks that slowed the opening.
"It takes longer to work through all these approval processes than I think any of us expected," Director of Student Health and Wellness Jeri Carter said.
Initially, a committee set out to find a healthcare provider that could meet the established budget in a Request for Proposals (RFP) process. While the provider was chosen at the end of last November, the name cannot be released until after a date is set for renovations to begin and a contract has been signed.
Just as important as the provider was finding a space to put it in. The original location for the service, in the Student Health and Wellness Suite on the second floor of the Mattress Factory, was decided to be too far from bathrooms and running water to be used. Now the center will be located in Laborers Hall on 19th and Market Street.
Additionally, much of the process had to be approved in by officials at the Seattle campus, causing further delays.
"We went through a very, very thorough process," ASUWT Vice President and are in the works. Changes must be made to bring the building up to code in addition to a build-out for the center itself. Because the building is already in the university's real estate portfolio, most of the changes will be financed through an auxiliary fund, keeping roughly $225 thousand of the student-provided funds free for outfitting the building.
"Once the students come in, they're just focused on the health service operation," Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Cedric Howard.
Though the center will open more than a year after the process began, the want for a healthcare on campus is much older. The idea came up in a campus life survey from four years ago.
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habibti
posted 4/07/10 @ 6:01 AM PST
O, it is very good for students jf UW Tacoma. This haelth service must be sn every university
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