Polk County Education
12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • July 13, 2016
WOU breaks ground on health center
Student Health and Counseling Center expected to be completed in spring 2017
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Western Ore-
gon University will soon have a
new facility for the Student Health
and Counseling Center, scheduled
for opening in spring 2017. Cam-
pus officials held a groundbreak-
ing ceremony Friday, which in-
cluded a blessing from tribal elder
Bob Tom.
The center will be built with in-
creased student tuition fees, but
associated student body president
Alma Pacheco said it is exactly
what the students want.
The student government con-
ducted two surveys of students re-
garding the new facility, Pacheco
said.
“The first survey we got 300 re-
sponses,” she said. “We got more
than 80 percent approval from
those students, and we still weren’t
sure about the support, so we
asked the student body again, to
make sure those students were
completely sure this project
should go on, even though it’s
going to cost us a little more
money in our tuition. Still, over 70
percent said yes.”
Jaime Silva, director of the cen-
ter, said the new building will allow
him to increase staff for both med-
ical and mental health services.
During the 2015-16 academic
year, the center provided 4,257
medical appointments and 4,554
mental health appointments.
According to a student survey,
62 percent of students considered
the medical services very impor-
tant to their success and retention,
Silva said. Mental health services
were considered very important to
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
The Western Oregon Student Health and Counseling Center plans
to be completed and opened in the spring of 2017.
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
Tribal elder Bob Tom blesses the ground during Western Oregon
University’s groundbreaking ceremony on Friday.
success by 80 percent of those sur-
veyed.
“One of the things we’re very ex-
cited about with the new facility is
we’ll have more space, and plan for
future expansion of our staff to
provide more services to our stu-
dents,” Silva said.
The center will re-instate offer-
ing reproductive and sexual health
services, paid for through federal
money as part of the C-Care pro-
gram, or the Oregon Contraceptive
Care program.
Also, Silva announced that the
center’s three nurse practitioners
are working to become sexual as-
sault examiners, meaning any
Western Oregon student who is a
victim of sexual assault may be ex-
amined on campus instead of trav-
eling to Corvallis or Salem.
The new building will help pro-
vide space for these programs.
Pacheco said she was glad uni-
versity leaders saw the need to
build a new center rather than re-
model the old one.
The old building hasn’t always
been ideal, Pacheco said.
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
Western Oregon associated student body president Alma Pacheco
speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday.
“Sometimes we have to share a
room, and it’s a bit uncomfort-
able,” she said.
Bob Tom, Confederated Tribes
of Grand Ronde tribal elder, said
when Native Americans gather to
bless a house, they like to talk seri-
ously about the building and the
responsibility of the people in that
building.
“You’re not a father until you
have a child. When students come
into this building, I hope that it be-
comes a two-way thing; counselors
with degrees, it’s great that we have
them, but still, they need to con-
tinue to grow and learn,” he said.
Tom said once the building is
open, he hopes the staff will learn
from the students, as well as help-
ing them.
“I hope that once that building’s
up, that once in a while they’ll sit
down and talk about what this
building’s about, and just renew
that goal of working for our stu-
dents,” Tom said.