Campus News / feature1

The Student Health Center at SUNY Old Westbury

Photo Credit:Adele Gutierrez

Photograph from left to right: Marianne Spencer, Cristine Tesoriero, Dr. Margaret Sikhism, Faylon Robinson, Adele Gutierrez, Dr. Ellen Feit, Anna Sbano, and Kristen Mantikas. 

SUNY Old Westbury’s Student Health Center is a resource available to all registered students. It promotes wellness by providing knowledge about disease prevention, treatment, and maintenance of healthy lifestyle habits. The Center is located in the I-Wing of the Campus Center.

According to Adele Gutierrez, the nurse coordinator, “The mission of the Student Health Center is ensuring the accessibility and delivery of high-quality clinical services in an inclusive and respectful environment, [promoting] wellness through education, disease prevention, treatment, and maintenance of healthy lifestyle practices.”

The Student Health Center is adding great value to the Old Westbury community. It allows students to experience comfort in knowing that a safety net for basic healthcare exists for them. 

Gutierrez said that students frequently visit the Student Health Center because they are “not feeling well, [they need assistance with] sexual & reproductive health, [they have] cold symptoms, and ear infections.”

The Student Health Center provides clinical and special services such as triages and consultations, physical examinations, and limited laboratory testing. The center also provides STI screening, testing, and treatment, as well as HIV testing and counseling. The Northeast College of Health Sciences provides the Old Westbury community with chiropractic care.

All students also have access to gynecological, sexual, and reproductive health services. Those services included history and medical evaluations, birth control prescriptions, sexual and reproductive physicals for all genders, PAP smears, health education and counseling, and hemoglobin and routine urinalysis. There is a fee of $25 for PAP smears for people over the age of 21. The Center charges $5 for each pregnancy test and $15 for the emergency care on site. The Student Health Center provides over the counter medication and the plan B pill for students.  

The flu shots and the COVID-19 vaccines are offered, as well, for all students.

Students are encouraged to always bring their insurance information to campus. They are also encouraged to keep track of any medication they are taking and have their vaccines up to date.

The facility has one Nurse, Faylon Robinson; one Nurse Coordinator, Adele Gutierrez; one Nurse Practitioner, Margaret Sukhram; one Senior Medical Advisor, Ellen Feit; two Physicians, Jane Swedler and Greta Rainsford; one Secretary, Marianne Spencer; one Office Assistant, Kristen Mantikas; and one Director, Cristine Tesoriero.

During the fall and spring semesters, students can visit the Student Health Center on Mondays and Tuesdays between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., and Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m..

To make an appointment with the chiropractor, please call (516) 796-4800. For all sexual exams, a prescreening is required, so you must call (516) 876-3250 to schedule an appointment.

For more information, please visit www.oldwestbury.edu. You can also contact the Student Health Center via email at studenthealth@oldwestbury.edu or call (516) 876-3250.

Author