Campus resources focus on student health
At the beginning of the spring semester, it can be easy to make health a priority. New Year’s resolutions, a new semester and starting with a clean slate after the holidays all give people motivation to focus on their health and wellness goals.
Emily Tuschhoff
By this time in the semester, some of those goals may have gone out the window. Health is not something to only focus on now and then. In order to be well, feel good and be successful, health must remain a constant priority.
Health is a broad term and is more than the absence of disease. Health, when thought about through a holistic lens, incorporates many facets of student life — sexual responsibility, safe alcohol use, exercise and nutrition, good sleep habits, emotional well-being, safety and having access to healthcare.
At the University of Idaho, students are exposed to a wide variety of services and programs to help them set health goals, stay healthy, engage in self-care and access resources as needed.
Vandal Health Education at UI is just one of the many resources for students to help them focus on their health. From information about the Student Health Clinic to free condoms, birth control options to nutrition counseling with the campus dietitian, our focus is to give students the tools they need in order to make informed choices about their health.
Vandal Health Ed also focuses on creating a healthy and safe environment for the campus community by offering free flu shot clinics during flu season and working to create a tobacco-free environment.
Certified peer educators staff the Health Education Resource Room in the Student Recreation Center and students from across campus come in to ask questions about health topics, health resources and upcoming events. Many students also stop by for free condoms, hand sanitizer, flu kits, tobacco quit-kits and food from the Vandal Food Pantry.
Do you have a health question and aren’t sure who to ask, feeling embarrassed or don’t have time to stop by the resource room? Check out our “Ask Anything” feature on the Vandal Health Ed website. Students can ask questions and choose to have them answered by email or posted on our Q-and-A page.
With the second half of the semester underway, Vandal Health Ed would like to remind students to take a renewed interest in their health and wellness.
Before the added pressures of final projects, papers and exams add up, make time to take a step toward health.
Whether it be scheduling an appointment at the Student Health Clinic for a checkup on a nagging pain, checking out the Counseling and Testing Center to develop a plan for the stress of graduation or finding a career, making an appointment with the campus dietitian to get ideas about low-cost dinner ideas, grabbing condoms in the Vandal Health Ed Resource Room or finding resources to help you take the initial step to quit tobacco — we got your back.
Stop by the Vandal Health Ed Resource Room in the SRC to find out how to access resources, ask your health and wellness related questions and find out about upcoming health events on campus.
Emily Tuschhoff is the health education coordinator at Vandal Health Education. She can be reached at [email protected]