Spring Break
MOJO: Health center focuses on wellness
Bridget Jones
Issue date: 11/28/07 Section: News
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The center's Interim Associate Director Laurie Bisset Grady and Director Joy Stewart-James said being well involves not only physical aspects, but emotional, spiritual, environmental, and intellectual aspects as well.
"People think, 'I'm not sick, so I'm not going to go there,'" Stewart-James said.
The staff at the Student Health Center is hoping to help students take all of aspects of well-being into consideration, and learn how to care for each one in the health care system. Stewart-James said he hopes that when students leave Sac State, they will continue to live healthy lives.
Grady and Stewart-James said students need to start caring for themselves now. Society presents students with the idea that they may not have to pay as much attention to their health as older adults. Grady and Stewart-James regard this perception as a mistake, because as young adults, it is easier to bounce back from illnesses.
"There's a fallacy…that just because you're a 20-year-old college student, life is a bowl of cherries," Grady said. "We understand that a 20-year-old has a lot they're dealing with."
Grady and Stewart-James said students can keep in check in order to maintain their health and wellness.
"If there's one behavior we would encourage people not to do…that's don't smoke," Grady said. "We see a fair number of young people are coming back to it."
Smoking is simply not the topic of conversation it once was. Students are instead focusing on the prevention of things such as cancer, Grady and Stewart-James said.
"You look at young college students now, they're on top of (cancer)," Stewart-James said. "But smoking, that's a phenomena, I'm not sure why we're seeing that. We always thought it was a stress tool, but I'm not sure that's the case."
There is another huge problem that nearly all students suffer from when it comes to health, Stewart-James said.
"They're not getting enough sleep and that's creating a real health risk," she said.
Students need to plan out the various parts of their lives so they don't have to give up so much sleep, said Grady.
"It's called balance," she said. "Here's what you have to do and here's how you're going to do it. How are you going to make that work for you?"
The health center staff wants to educate students who experience wellness barriers, such as losing too much sleep, Stewart-James said.
Grady said she recommends students take fewer units each semester to prevent the loss of sleep when trying to keep up in classes, on top of working whatever jobs they might hold. Most students are not willing to be patient and stay in school an extra semester or year in order to live healthier lives while they are in school, she said.
Students should also try to drink responsibly, exercise, have healthier diets, and use safe-sex practices, Grady and Stewart-James said. Students who want assistance with achieving these things and learning how to be well are encouraged to come to the health and wellness center.
"We have a chance to take a predominantly healthy population and keep it that way," Stewart-James said. "I've got to keep people well."
Stewart-James was hired as director of the center in August. She hales from Austin, Texas where she worked for a large healthcare system. She holds a doctorate in health education.
Grady interned for the health center as a graduate student and was hired onto the staff in 1978. She currently holds the position of interim associate director.
Both women come from a background of health education in which people are taught how to stay well, not just physically.
Bridget Jones can be reached at bjones@statehornet.com.
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