In the country where going to a doctor is a privilege, SF State students can have it for free or for a fairly small fee.

The Student Health center(SHC), located between Psychology and Burk Hall buildings offers a variety of services including immunizations, counseling, general check-up, women’s services, optometry and others to all SF State students with insurance or not.

Many of the services are free. Students can make an appointment to see a doctor, consult a nutritionist or talk to a heath educator regarding any health concerns for no cost. Same day appointments are available for urgent matters.

HIV, STDs, Hepatitis, blood types and other tests are within the $10-$34 price range. Eye exams start at $40 for glasses and $60 for contact lenses, which is about half of what most local optometrists charge. SHC also provides free condoms.

Students who wish to quit smoking can take advantage of the Smoking Cessation clinic for no charge. Various types of psychological counseling are also available to students for no cost. SHC offers educational and preventative workshops and has a Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) created for the purpose of receiving feedback and improving health services and health education on campus.

All SF State students full-time and part-time, graduate and undergraduate are eligible to receive health services as long as they paid the $83 fee per semester, which is already included in registration fees. Teachers are not treated at SHC except for emergencies. SHC services are for students only. SHC does not take medical insurance and does not charge any co-pay. The $83 fee works as a student’s medical insurance.

“I think it’s a good deal and it is unlimited,” said Albert Angelo, who’s been working at the SHC as a health educator for 11 years. Angelo, however, does suggest that students buy supplemental health coverage for long-term medical care, hospitalization and surgeries.

The hardest part of his job, Angelo said, is to see students in need of serious medical help who can’t afford it. “My heart goes out to one third of students with major medical problems who don’t have health insurance,” he said.

Though underpaid, doctors, nurses and other highly trained professionals choose to work at SHC because of low emergency pace and higher quality of work. Doctors usually have more time to spend with each patient to find the best solution.

“I don’t have HMO sitting on my back,” said Angelo, telling him to hurry up. “They (HMO) want you in and out. They pressure doctors to spend only few minutes with each patient.”

Some doctors said that Kaiser, for example, pressures physicians to spend on the average six minutes with each patient. Those who spend more time get back-listed and won’t get hired by Kaiser again.

Kaiser denied these allegations claiming that their physicians spend on the average “20 minutes per patient, but the doctors can shorten that time.”

In this way, SHC is an alternative to the standard “in and out” medical service. Quality, efficiency, affordability and availability are the reasons that drive about 30,000 student visits a year to SHC.

Todd Bell, 37, a psychology graduate student, has used SHC services before and thought “it was pretty good.” He did have some concerns about SHC being a little “overbooked” and wished the student health insurance “covered a little more”. Bell also recommended students get a secondary medical coverage.

Jackie Mah, 19, a sophomore majoring in nursing, also noticed SHC being a “little crowded”. But her advice was: “you pay for it, you should take advantage.”

SHC will hold an open house event on Wednesday, October 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. , where students, staff and faculty are invited to try out services, eat free food and observe a condom art exhibit. For more information, please visit:

http://www.sfsu.edu/~shs/what's%20new/open_house.htm