Imagine that you've just started dating the perfect guy. Now imagine that he has scabies according to Dick's House, that is (end scene honeymoon, eh?). You start taking scabies medication and advise your roommates to do the same. Yes, it's inconvenient and exceedingly awkward, but it's better than actually suffering from the contagious skin disease.
Think it sounds like the plot of a teen drama? Unfortunately, it's not.
Sarah Freihofer '10 said she lived to tell of this uncomfortable encounter. And, to add insult to injury, Friehofer said her boyfriend later found out that he in fact had a staph infection not scabies.
"I would write this off as an understandable misdiagnosis if it didn't involve humiliation and a potentially much more serious problem," she said.
Scabies and staph infections, however, both present with similar symptoms, according to Medline, a standard medical reference.
While tales of dubious diagnoses occasionally crop among students, however, Dick's House, or the Dartmouth College Health Services, provides students with their closest and most convenient access to health care and many students report largely positive experiences with the service.
Dawn Harland, associate director of clinical affairs at Dick's House, said that most of the horror stories about Dick's House have little basis in fact.
"In satisfaction surveys, we get comments every time saying, Every time I go to Dick's House, I'm asked if I'm pregnant.' We have to ask people that if they're going to get an abdominal X-ray or a live virus injection," Harland said. "Other than that, it's pretty much a myth."
Jack Turco, director of Dartmouth's Health Services, said that Dick's House aims to be students' primary care physician.
"[Students] should have a medical provider who can respond to their initial medical problem. If necessary, we'll evaluate or even transfer or refer them to some other specialist if need be," he said.
So how do students think that Dick's House stacks up?
Noelle Hashim 11, who recently suffered from what she called a "severe" case of H1N1, "found the staff at Dick's House to be incredibly accessible and responsive."
Although Hashim eventually left campus as a result of the illness, she stayed in touch with Kari Jo Grant, the coordinator of health education programs on campus throughout her stint at home.
"Kari Jo was extremely knowledgeable in regards to my situation, giving me advice not only on how to best address my illness, but also on how to deal with managing my classes and other school commitments in the midst of having the flu," Hashim said.
Hashim said that other students with flu-like symptoms should turn to Dick's House for help.
"If you're sick and on campus, it's extremely beneficial to at least call Dick's House and speak to a nurse," Hashim said. "Along with asking for your most recent temperature, a nurse can counsel you on how to best treat your symptoms, give you a sense of when you should start feeling better, and tell you when you'll be able to return to your normal school routine."
Katie Niedt '12 said she did head to Dick's House after she woke up with shivering spells and a fever in addition to an ongoing cough and gland aches. Even without an appointment, Niedt said she saw a doctor that day.
"It was fine, just like in a regular doctor's office with a scheduled visit," she said.
Niedt also praised the quality of care she received.
"It's definitely different, coming from home and having your mom take care of you when you're sick, but I was happy to see an actual doctor in a proper appointment. I wasn't rushed," Niedt said. "I was given a chance to talk about all of my symptoms."
Although she said she pleased with her overall experience, however, Niedt pointed to a need for a more transparent communication system among Dick's House, ill students and their professors.
"I was confused on how to verify to my teachers that I was really at Dick's House," she said. "I know that they have it in the records [at Dick's House], but I wasn't sure how to officially access them."
For Maggie Bell '10, meanwhile, a standard visit to Dick's House proved more arduous than effortless.
"My freshman fall, I went to Dick's House after a few weeks of cold/flu symptoms," Bell said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. "The first time, they just told me to get rest. The second time I went, they freaked out because my heart rate was too slow."
Although unrelated to her cold symptoms, the slower heart rate led to an echocardiogram, Bell said.
"A Dick's House doctor then blitzed me in March to tell me they just found my EKG results and that I was fine. It was basically a huge waste of their time, and mine," Bell said.
Other Dartmouth students are quick to complain of long wait times for appointments at Dick's House.
Turco, however, said that students usually find "pretty easy access."
"One of the problems is that students have busy schedules, so if someone calls up and needs an appointment between 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. in the afternoon in the next day or two, that could be a problem," Turco said. "On the other hand, if someone just needs to be seen in the next day or two, we can get that person in."
Accessibility concerns, Turco said, are not exclusive to Dick's House.
"Outside of a place like Dartmouth, [accessibility] is always an issue, too. It's always difficult to match up a medical office with all of the needs of the patients it sees," Turco said. "There are always some upset students, just like in the real world where there are upset patients who can't get in when they need to."
To discuss such concerns, Turco meets twice each year with the directors of Ivy Plus institutions that is, members of the Ivy League plus Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University and the University of Chicago.
"Every school has a different situation depending on location, but the issues are always the same: Can we make it more convenient for students to be seen at certain times?'" he said. "We can learn from others. Brainstorming together works well."
As an example of growth and improvement, Turco cited the pharmacy at Dick's House, which he said "has transformed itself over the last five or 10 years."
"We used to be a very small pharmacy that could not accept pharmacy plans other than our own," he said. "Students needed to pay out of pocket if they had another plan, and would then have to submit their own receipt to their own insurance."
Now, Turco said, Dick's House can accept over 50 different health plans, Turco said.
Harland, for her part, cited the recent effort at Dick's House to transform communications through online appointment scheduling.
In addition, she said that Dick's House has recently upgraded its phone system, "because it has been a recurrent problem for students to get through to someone and get their questions answered."
"We know that's very, very frustrating," Harland said. "Sometimes it's easier for students to hear that they can get on with their lives using the over-the-phone advice for a day or two. And as a result, we have more spots available for those students who do have to be seen that day."
Harland emphasized, however, the need for balance between electronic communications and contact with a health professional.
"We don't want to lose the personal touch in medicine, so we talk about how to improve access and not lose the face-to face aspect of medicine what we're used to as clinicians," Harland said.
Harland said she encourages students to be "proactive" in managing their health care.
"I think there's a learning curve, in that students did all the academic work to get to Dartmouth, while more often than not, parents took care of their health care," she said. "Learning the system is important just like learning to register for classes."
And, while it is perhaps the most evident, Dick's House is not the only organization working to improve campus health.
Sexual Abuse Peer Advisers, Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisers, and Eating Disorder Peer Advisers are three peer-advisory groups sponsored by Health Resources at Dick's House that work one-on-one with students to confront issues of sexual assault, drug and alcohol abuse and eating disorders.
Similarly, Mentors against Violence "tries to educate other students about issues related to sexual assault, consensual sex, and. more generally, a sense of respect and accountability for our actions on this campus and elsewhere," according to co-director Emily Bengston '10.
"We focus on treating each other with respect and avoiding all forms of abuse not just physical," Bengston said. "I like to think that, by preventing sexual assault, we're promoting physical health. At the same time, the way we challenge people to think more critically about sensitive topics is healthy and proactive."
Although MAV is not organized through Dick's House, Bengston views the two organizations as "complementary."
"[Dick's House] is a concrete, after-the-fact approach for students seeking services after being assaulted or questions about potential instances of assault," Bengston said. "Principally, we are more of a preventative approach and less about physical treatment."
Active Minds, another student-run organization, works to "destigmatize mental illness," according to its president, Ali Peterson '10.
"We don't pretend to be counselors. We just hope that those who need help or counseling get it," Peterson said. "Mental illnesses are an illness, so only certified individuals can treat them just like any other illness. We don't want to pretend to treat them."
To that end, Active Minds organizes events that, according to Peterson, "start conversations about mental illness," pointing particularly to the Post Secret event last year, which 700 people attended.
"If you're able to talk about [mental illness] to friends and peers in an event setting, you'll be able to talk to a counselor," she said. "Seven hundred people talking about mental illness is a huge event."
Emphasizing the importance of Active Minds' efforts, Peterson explained her increased awareness of mental illnesses on campus.
"At a place like Dartmouth where the focus is on perfectionism at all times, people fail to admit when they're struggling," Peterson said. "We are all high-functioning individuals but that isn't necessarily mutually exclusive with a mental health issue: they exist here just like anywhere else."
Harland said that Dick's House's also plays a significant role in treating students who suffer from mental illnesses.
"Mental health [professionals at Dick's House] can only handle so much, so primary care sees a lot of [students with] depression and anxiety. Dartmouth life is very stress-producing," she said. "There's a lot going on not much sleep and a lot of opportunities. Everyone is used to doing well but not used to handling so much."
