Loyola University Student Health Services switched providers Sept. 2 to increase student access to medical staff. Ochsner Health System has replaced Louisiana State University Medical as the provider for Student Health Services at Loyola.

Alicia Bourque, director of Counseling and Health Services, said the new Student Health Services aims to be “more familiar” with students and to take a preventative and holistic approach at student health.

One of the changes present is new hours. Bourque said that previously “there were gaps in coverage.” Gwendolyn George, Loyola’s family nurse practitioner, said she’s there “almost full-time.”

George graduated from Loyola’s School of Nursing in 1991. She has also been on the School of Nursing faculty since 2003. She has been a nurse practitioner for 13 years, spending eight of those years working full-time in health care clinics.

The field nurse practitioner model is common at many universities nationwide, according to George, who said that even schools that have a medical school use the “family nurse practitioner model.” George says she is able to do “about 85 percent” of the things a family doctor would be able to do.

Women’s health is one of the focuses of Student Health Services under Ochsner, according to Bourque. George says that the clinic now offers women’s health care and “all that entails” and that “as in every area of health care, there is…confidentiality.”

Another change is the collaboration of the School of Nursing with Student Health Services. The nursing students get first-hand experience by coming into the clinic with George. She says it makes the learning experience better for her students. George said bringing in student nurse practitioners is a logical connection for Loyola. Currently, George also collaborates with a doctor of internal medicine, who she said comes into the clinic about every two weeks.

George said she hopes Ochsner will provide a full-time family nurse practitioner for Loyola within a month or two. That person would run the clinic most of the time, and George would be there to help out when that person needs relief. George said she hopes the new field nurse practitioner will be someone with a good amount of experience.

Jennifer Alvarez, forensic psychology senior, said she knew the university was in the process of switching providers, but “didn’t know it had happened yet.” She said that the one thing she wishes Student Health should do is to create a “list of everything student health offers,” noting that she doesn’t really know exactly what services are offered by Student Health.

Student Health Services is located in the Danna Center basement and is open Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and Tuesday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

Jessica Erwin can be reached at [email protected].