Health center looks to improve privacy
■ The University Health
Center gathers ideas to
deal with the problem
By Jessica Blanchard
Oregon Daily Emerald
According to results collected
from recent University Health
Center patient satisfaction surveys,
some students don’t feel their pri
vacy is respected when taking care
of health needs on campus.
In response, health center ad
ministrators have charged the Stu
dent Health Advisory Committee
(SHAC) with gathering student in
put and forming proposals for in
expensive ways to improve priva
cy throughout the health center,
according to health center director
Dr. Gerald Fleischli.
The privacy issue came into fo
cus when health center administra
tors were looking at restructuring
women’s health services during
fall term, Fleischli said. Previous
ly, women’s health services had
been located in Area D on the sec
ond floor of the health center.
While that arrangement benefit
ed women by providing a seclud
ed area for their health services,
some students questioned why it
was exclusively for women. This
term, health center officials dis
bursed women’s services through
out the building and opened the
area up to all students. But the pri
vacy issue still remains.
“It really got us started thinking
about ways we could increase pri
vacy for everyone and really get that
women’s center feel for the rest of
the health center,” said SHAC
member Greg Byrd, a senior biology
and biochemistry major. “There’s
always room for improvement.”
One of the common complaints
was that the large windows near
the entrance allowed passersby to
see students in the health center,
Solving the privacy issue
The University Health Center is
looking at several ideas to help
improve privacy for students,
including:
Moving benches from in front of the
pharmacy to around the corner
Moving rope waiting lines to various
medical areas to give patients more
privacy during their appointment
check-in
Using blinds or some type of window
covering to shield the large windows
in the front of the center
Putting up dividers between medical
areas
Source: Dr. Gerald Fleischli, University Health
Center director
Byrd said. Other ideas offered at
the SHAG meeting were instruct
ing nurses to be more discreet
when checking students in, rear
ranging the medical areas to be
more secluded, putting maps of
the health center at strategic inter
vals to show people their location
and using dividers in certain med
ical areas between windows.
“I think it’s gotten a little better,
but still, voices carry,” said Caro
line Wolfram, a health center
pharmacist. “We try to keep things
as confidential as possible and be
as sensitive as possible. But I
think we need a more private
area than this.”
Ideally, the health center
would like to remodel the exist
ing building, Fleischli said. The
health center has put in a propos
al for a major building renovation
to the Student Building Fee Com
mittee, but any actual construc
tion is a long way off, he said.
Mayoral candidate ‘Izzy’ poised for third run
■ James Whestine is running on a platform of
environmental responsibility, urban sprawl and humor
By Sara Lieberth
Oregon Daily Emerald
He promised the voters in 1992
that he would “be a part of Eugene
politics in the future” and his
campaign buttons from 1996 coy
ly read, “Re-elect Izzy in 2000.”
James “Izzy” Whestine is back
in the race for mayor running with
a positive attitude and an un
daunted hope that this third time
will be the charm.
“I made a commitment to the citi
zens of Eugene and I won’t quit until
they come to their senses,” he said.
This playful posture carries
over to his latest campaign motto,
“He’s relatively harmless,” which
he said will soon be appearing on
the lapels of supporters citywide.
Others who have officially filed
with the city recorder’s office are
21-year-old Uriah Murray, a stu
dent at Cascade Institute of Mas
sage, and Lazar Makyadath, own
er of Lazar’s Bazaar, a local
business.
At 61, Whestine is a retired
Union Pacific yard master, father
of two and grandfather to four
children. He has called Eugene
home since 1959 and is actively
involved in local theater, is a vet
eran blood donor and can be regu
larly found rafting the white wa
ters on Oregon’s many rivers.
Though his lifestyle might be
seen as too light-hearted for a se
rious run at the office of mayor, he
believes campaigning for the post
is really a rather funny proposi
tion in the first place.
“A candidate in a town the size
of Eugene has to spend about
$60,000 for a job that doesn’t pay,”
he said. “Now, that’s funny. ”
Whestine isn’t all humor when it
comes to the issues he cares about,
though—such as big business and
the environment. He fiercely op
posed Hyundai’s settling locally be
cause “who wants dead fish and
drinking water that glows in the
dark so someone’s computer can
work 13 seconds faster?” he said.
The hot-topic of urban sprawl is
another issue that gets him en
gaged, as a recent visit to Califor
nia reminded him of how happy
he was to live here instead.
“It’s a symptom of the rebirth,
the revitalizing of the downtown
core I know,” he said. “But grow
ing up is the only real answer.”
Critical of the ways in which,
according to him, politics in gen
eral value bank accounts more
than platforms and business con
tracts more than constituents, Wh
estine said he hopes his cam
paigning will change that.
“I think voting against money is
probably the best thing the middle
and lower classes could do for
themselves,” he said. “I have no
business-oriented goals for this
job. I would like to supervise the
grinding of the public ax. ”
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Dead Man Wafting
The Journey
008416
Speaker, Sister Helen Prejean, Csj, author
EMU Ballroom
University of Oregon
Wednesday, February 2, 2000
NOON
Co-sponsored by:
• ACLU of Oregon
• Life for a Life Committee
• U of O Cultural Forum
• Oregon Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty
• U of O Peace Studies Program
• Oregon Fellowship of
Reconciliation
• U of O Student Activities
Resource Office
• Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers
Association
• Sponsors, Inc.
• Oregon Peaceworks
• St. Thomas Moore Newman Center
• St. Vincent dePaul Society of Lane
County, Inc.
• The Koinonia Center
• Wesley Foundation
Presentation is free and open to the public.
.
B§M