Princeton Review ranks Student Health in top ten

Pitt’s name stands underneath the list of “Best Health Services” in Princeton Review’s… Pitt’s name stands underneath the list of “Best Health Services” in Princeton Review’s 2012 edition of the “Best 376 Colleges.”

The Review’s annual rankings came out in August and Pitt’s Student Health Service placed seventh out of 376, right below Georgia Institute of Technology’s and above Susquehanna University’s. University of California, Los Angeles ranked first in the category.

Marian Vanek, director of the Student Health Service, said she was honored and surprised, but not totally thrown off by the ranking. Pitt’s Student Health did not rank with the Review last year.

“I think it reflects the many process-improvement changes we implemented in Student Health as we strive for excellence in student health care,” she said.

Princeton Review spokesman David Soto said the review team determines the rankings from 122,000 surveys distributed to college students in the previous year asking them to rate different aspects of campus on a set scale.

For health services, the rankings were based on responses to the question, “How do you rate your school’s health services/facilities?”

Student Health offers a slew of services provided free of charge as a provision of the $85 per semester student health fee.

The center is located on the fifth floor of the Medical Arts Building on Fifth Avenue and is open for primary medical care, gynecologic services, basic radiology services, sports medicine care, physical therapy, sexual health counseling and nutritional counseling.

Students can schedule appointments by calling 412-383-1800. The hours

of the office are 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays; 8:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

Free HPV vaccines are available to students with an appointment, and Vanek said flu vaccines will be offered soon at a nominal charge. She said she expects Student Health to post specific flu clinic times and dates soon.

Senior Amelia Rapp recounted her experience with Student Health as she waited for a Port Authority bus in front of the Hillman Library.

Rapp made an appointment with a doctor at the center after experiencing bad migraines.

She said her doctor officially diagnosed her with migraines and attributed them to temporomandibular joint disorder, or TMJ.

After her appointment, Rapp emailed her doctor to receive more information on TMJ and said she got a very timely response a half an hour later, with an email listing TMJ specialists in the area.

Pitt not only offers its students a health center, but also a pharmacy in the same building.

Vanek said the ability to fill prescriptions from any practitioner is just one advantage offered by the Student Health pharmacy. The pharmacy offers a wide variety of over-the-counter medications and has contracts with more than 100 insurance plans.

One change students can expect to see this year from Student Health is the adoption of a new initiative: Healthy U. Healthy U is a campus-wide health and wellness initiative that Student Health officials will use as a way to organize and present all the health resources Pitt offers under one umbrella.

Vanek said she plans to introduce Healthy U at the Healthy U Fair September 14 in the William Pitt Union.

“We strongly believe that being healthy and well — not just physical health, but also emotional, social, intellectual health and more — is critical to a successful academic experience,” she said.

Vanek said the fair will feature educational activities and raffles as well as a “Commit to a Healthy U” poster students can sign with their health goals in exchange for a free T-shirt.

Aside from the one rating college health services, Princeton Review published 62 top-20 lists ranging in topic from best campus food to most stone-cold sober schools.

Jeanne Krier, Princeton Review publicist, said the top-20 lists are based off the surveys received from the students attending 376 colleges nationwide. These colleges are the same ones featured in the annual publication, “Best 376 Colleges.”

Soto said the Review’s main reason for compiling the slew of data into comprehensive lists is to aid students applying to institutions of higher education.

“I think primarily these surveys, and more so these ranking lists, are aimed at the inbound college students and their parents,” he said. He said that the surveys can help students match themselves up with their best college fit.