5/17/2004

Contact: K.E. Schwab  -- 724-738-2199;  e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu

SRU’S McLACHLAN STUDENT HEALTH CENTER REACCREDITED BY NATIONAL ORGANIZATION

           SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. –  “As more and more students and their parents come to depend on the quality of campus health services, we are very proud the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, Inc., has reaccredited Slippery Rock University’s McLachlan Student Health Center,” says Linda Beatty, center director.

           SRU ’s student health center, located in Rhoads Hall, was first accredited in 1997 as the first center in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education to gain the distinction. “We have undergone three reviews since that first accreditation and been granted three-year renewals on each,” Beatty explains. The current accreditation runs through March 2007.

           In the latest academic-year report, the center saw nearly 20,000 students visit the center for health- and wellness-related matters. SRU’s student population is 7,800.

          In writing of the approval, Dr. Gerald G. Edds, president of the Illinois-based AAAHC, noted, “The dedication and effort necessary for an organization to be accredited is substantial, and your organization is to be commended for this accomplishment.” Across the U.S., AAAHC has accredited only 130 student health services.

          As part of the accreditation process, the center’s staff, led by Beatty, completed a self-evaluation and led a peer-based, on-site survey of its facilities and services.

          “We are finding both students and their parents are not only evaluating the academics, available technology, safety, residence halls and food service of colleges and universities before enrolling, they are also looking very closely at health services available. Parents want to know their children are in an environment that is prepared for both routine and urgent medical situations. We are proud to be able to offer an accredited center here at SRU, and we are equally proud to be able to offer students – and their parents – the commitment and service of a very qualified and dedicated staff,” Beatty explains.

          In addition to direct healthcare matters, the center offers a variety of educational programs dealing with diet, weight loss, exercise, preventative healthcare issues, importance of a healthy lifestyles and details related to sexually transmitted infections and information on national and world health issues such as last year’s outbreak of SARs in Asia. “Retaining accreditation helps us know we are providing the quality of healthcare our students require and deserve,” Beatty added.

          “We constantly update our staff on all areas of health. Our student population is diverse; they have multiple exposures on campus, at home, at campus-related events here at SRU and elsewhere, and we have students from other countries and students returning to campus from foreign nations. We need to be informed, and we need to keep our campus informed about important health issues,” Beatty added.

          She points out the center is involved in a variety of health aspects. “Last year, we were awarded one of two national assessment grants by the American College Health Association to review the center’s operation related to building and strengthening capacity to prevent HIV infection and outline other important health problems among youth. The grant is part of ACHA’s Building Healthy Campus Communities Project, a cooperative agreement between the organization and the Division of Adolescent and School Health of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and we are still expanding implementation of that project.”

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