New health building offers more space, services

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By Ali Cicerchi
Students returning to the University Health Services for the first time this semester will find changes, including a bigger space at a new location and a new service for students.

At the UHS’s new facility at 830 S. Limestone, students now have access to a health and wellness center that has health advisers, dieticians and a student health insurance coordinator.

“We’ve always had the educators,” said Associate Director of UHS Karen Clancy. “But we didn’t have a place to pull them all together. It’s an exciting opportunity for students.”

UHS moved its facilities in mid-July from the Kentucky Clinic on South Limestone to their own building next door. The new four-floor building has more than three times the space of the old facility, Clancy said.

The first floor will soon have a nurses clinic. It is currently on the third floor but will be moved to the first to offer quicker service for patients. The second floor has primary and women’s care, and the fourth is the behavioral clinic as well as the health and wellness center. UK HealthCare will occupy some of the building, too.

The new building has more space, which means more exam rooms and more privacy, Clancy said.

As with the old UHS site, which was on the first floor of the Kentucky Clinic, the new facility houses primary care, gynecology, a behavioral health clinic and health education programs. Students can access services by calling UHS and making an appointment.

The new student pharmacy features improvements as well. The pharmacy can now serve up to three students at a time, as opposed to the one it could before.

Pre-physical therapy sophomore Patrick Edlin said the new building is an improvement.

“I love it,” Edlin said. “It’s cleaner and more organized. It’s a lot bigger.”
Jenn Peterson, a biology senior, thinks the new building looks more like an actual doctor’s office.

“My biggest complaint was that I had to go to another floor to check out,” Peterson said. “It was not very convenient.”

The biggest problem UHS is facing is informing students of the move, Clancy said. Right now, there are signs at the location of the old clinic telling students where to go.
UK HealthCare will take over UHS’s old space and probably renovate it for other clinics, Clancy said.