Thursday, June 6, 1996
What started it all
Editor:
This is a response to Stephani Crespin’s letter of March 11
("Better safe than sorry"), in which she expressed frustration with
her difficulty in scheduling an appointment for anonymous testing
for the HIV virus. She had run into roadblocks both initially in
Student Health’s Women’s Health Service, and then at the UCLA
Family Planning Clinic. After much persistence, she was able to get
an appointment in the Men’s Health clinic at Student Health
Service.
Crespin felt, justifiably, as though her health issues were
being swallowed up by bureaucratic run-around. I’d like to let you
and the campus community know of Women’s Health’s response to her
concerns.
We heard about the scheduling problem before the letter actually
got printed in the Bruin. We looked at how we might be contributing
to these problems and initiated corrective actions. We expanded the
available time slots for our designated counselor, nearly doubling
the amount of time available. We encouraged the clinical staff to
try to make it easier for students to be tested when they were in
for routine Women’s Health appointments (although we feel that the
counseling session, with more time available for education, is
valuable).
Finally, we asked the scheduling staff to forward calls from
students who were having difficulty scheduling appointments to
either the clinic manager or to the counselor for assistance. At
present, we have appointments available through the end of the
quarter and will shortly have summer appointment schedules
available.
I spoke with Stephani to let her know about the changes that her
situation had produced, and that I appreciated that she was
concerned and made the effort to make her frustrations known. I
believe that we have been able to make some significant changes
that should result in easier availability of HIV testing in the
Women’s Health Service. We feel that ready availability of HIV
testing is an important health issue. My thanks again to Stephani
for her astute observations, and she joins me in signing this
letter to indicate her support for our programs and her
appreciation of our response.
Ann Downie, RN NP
Nurse Manager
Women’s Health Clinic
UCLA Student Health
Stephani Crespin
Fifth-year
Sociology