Graduating Seniors
Time to think about health insurance!

Changes in Dependent Status..
Many states have recently enacted legislation changing the age requirements for health
insurance coverage for dependents - including MN. MN policies must now cover unmarried dependents under the age of 25, whether they are students or not. Check this website to see your home state's status as of 10/4/07.
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INSURANCE CHANGING NAMES

Chickering Insurance is changing it's name to Aetna Student Health effective April 2008. Chickering has been an Aetna company; this will not generate any changes in the Macalester policy or premiums.

ALL STUDENTS - remember to waive out or enroll in insurance from July 1, 2008 - August 15, 2008. Simply go to the web site above.
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Activities

Please visit the activities page for more information about our offerings.

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Safer Sex Kit online request form
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Wednesday Mornings:
Health Services is closed on Wednesday mornings for staff meetings, Student Affairs professional development and other trainings and meetings. We open at 12:30 pm on that day. We believe that consolidating the times that staff are in meetings & training into one morning will help students plan and will provide overall better access.

Plan ahead!
Senior Week: Health Services' last day for spring term will be Friday, May 9th. We must close early to prepare for our move to the new building and the demolition of Winton for the new IGC building.

If all goes well, we will have an administrative staff person in Room 004 in Kagin (lower level) during the week of 5/12 - 5/16 to answer questions, help with records, etc. We encourage you to call 651.696.6275 if you have questions or need referrals. We're sorry but we cannot provide clinical services during that time. In case of emergency, please refer to our web pages on after-hours resources or emergency care. The Office of Student Affairs/Dean of Students (651.696.6220)is also available to assist with concerns. As always, call 911 in case of a life-threatening concern.

Summer: We will re-open the first week in August in the new athletic & wellness building. During the period that we are closed, e-mail and central phone messages will be checked once a week by administrative staff - there are no clinical services offered during the summer.

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HEALTH SERVICES

Macalester College Health Services (AKA Winton Health Health Services) offers a variety of wellness resources for Macalester students. Students are encouraged to take responsibility for personal and community health - now and for a lifetime. Macalester Health Services staff are here to support students in that endeavor.

Here is some help to navigate our web site - please feel free to give us feedback on your experience with the site. Your comments will help us fine-tune this resource so that we can help you with your health needs.

• Mind: Focuses on counseling and mental health needs and services
• Body: Addresses medical services, vaccination requirements
• Wellness: Presents activities, resources on health promotion
• Services: Describes our department, staff, location, hours, insurance
• Emergency: Information on who to call and where to go in case of a medical or mental health emergency
  
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  RESPONSE TO MAC WEEKLY OPINION
  Friday, May 2, 2008 -
  
  It was good to see support for services and awareness of STI education/testing in the opinion article of today's MacWeekly.  It is always helpful to have student energy around a topic.  This is actually something we educate on year-round, not just Safer Sex Week but will work to "pump up the volume" to capture student awareness of those year-round efforts. 
  
  It's also important to note that Macalester Health Services does offer a comprehensive range of STI testing currently [even HIV] - recommendations for which tests students receive are individually tailored for the student based on symptoms, concerns, behavioral history. We do encourage students to go to Family Tree for HIV testing a as strategy for students to keep that information separate from their primary health record and Family Tree is a provider that we think provides terrific service in that arena.  Health Services is in the process of developing new web pages, including one on STI's - we hope to complete it this summer.
  
  Regarding a presence at the PB meeting, we were not able to provide a staff member to be there due to staff schedule conflicts given the one-day notice we received.  We did have two student health educators present. We would very much like to be a part of such efforts in the future and would be pleased to be active advocates and supporters of such educational venues.
  
  Finally, regarding concerns about Winton not offering free STI testing...it would be great to be able to offer free services to students - during special topic weeks or any other time of the year.  The reality is that there is no health service fee at Macalester - we are funded from tuition monies that also serve the classrooms, etc.  We are fortunate to be in an urban area that has strong sexual health providers/educators such as Family Tree and Planned Parenthood and that offer services at a cost accessible to students. We'll keep an eye to make sure that affordable access is maintained.
  
  We hope that students who have an interest in this topic will work directly with Health Services so that we can help our community stay healthy and provide the best care possible.
  
  Keep up the passion and concern!
  
  Denise Ward
  Associate Dean for Student Services

• New Students
• Insurance
• After-hours resources
• Sexual Offense Services
• On-line resources
• e-CHUG
• Pharmacies
• Basic self care for common concerns

Studying Abroad?

Students should note that if a physical or a form with a physician's signature is required for your study abroad program, you will need to schedule your physical with an off-campus provider. Health Services is not able to offer physical exams; we can provide copies of immunization records or other information from your health file upon your written request.

For a list of local options, check our web page that lists local providers. As always, when selecting an off-campus provider, check your insurance to make sure that provider and the procedure is covered.

Travel clinics and other resources can be found at our web page for international travel clinics.