The Berkeley Beacon

Issue date: 10/9/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Greg Townsend The renovated waiting room in the Center for Health and Wellness is approximately twice its previous size. A glass partition offers privacy to students checking in at the front desk, staffed here by Tracy Tuplin, clinical coordinator at the center.

Emerson's Center for Health and Wellness has expanded, adding updated examination rooms and upgraded equipment and technology, which officials there say will help clinicians to better serve the college's growing on-campus population.

Two new examination rooms were added by knocking down a wall to an adjacent lecture room. A new storage area will store patient files, which previously cluttered the lab and equipment room.

A workstation consisting of a desk and computer was installed in the center's conference room, a space previously used to store an overrun of medical files. An opaque glass partition was also placed in the waiting room to offer more privacy.

"Because we had such a huge spike in student population at Emerson, and we are required to keep medical information on file for seven years, we needed more space," said Jane Powers, director of the center. "Now we can really utilize the space."

Construction ran from May through the last week of August, although the center is still waiting for some equipment to be installed in the coming weeks.

The health center is one of several expansion and renovation projects around campus this year, as the Iwasaki Library, the Walker Building Light Well Project and various studios and student spaces have grown to accommodate more bodies on campus.

"From my own perspective, the wellness center's renovation and expansion was long overdue," said Dean of Students Ronald Ludman.

The renovations were the first substantial improvements made to the center in 13 years. The college declined to divulge the cost of the renovation.

"The improved facilities and equipment is something that our students deserved, as did the clinical staff who works extraordinarily hard delivering health care to our students," Ludman said.

Meanwhile no new staffers have been added to the payroll, leaving a stagnant number of medical professionals to serve a growing on-campus population; in the last two years alone, the number of students living in dormitories has increased 27 percent, said Powers.

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