The Student Health Center is preparing for a busy transition to winter, as cold and flu season slowly creeps up. Taylor Panczer, the wellness and student advocacy services coordinator and Miranda Plumlee, the APP coordinator for the Health Center, elaborate on common symptoms and resources for students.
“We’re seeing a ton of respiratory and upper respiratory, like sore throats and coughing, Panczer said. “Usually, when it gets real cold, that’s when we start seeing, like, the flu pop-up. Most of the time, folks are coming in because they have the symptoms, so our providers are looking at them and advise, you know, rest, fluids, cold medicine to treat your symptoms; cough, sneezing, things like that. You can take over-the-counter medication.”
The Student Health Center has resources like over-the-counter medications for students to be prescribed. Students can go into the clinic via appointment or walk in. This allows anyone who needs care to be able to get it at a time that works for them.
Panczer said students should come into the Health Center if symptoms persist.
“I’d say, you know, two, three days, if you’re taking your allergy medicine and it’s not really clearing up or you’re still having symptoms, you can come in and say, hey, I thought it was just allergies,” Panczer said. “We’ll give your lungs a listen. It’s probably just a cold, but we don’t want it to grow worse. So, we’ll recommend over-the-counter medication most of the time. And then if symptoms still aren’t improving, please come back, because then we’ll listen to you again, make sure it hasn’t progressed. And at that point, you might just need a little bit more help fighting off the virus.”
Staying diligent as the weather changes is important, as the temperature begins to drop and finals edge closer, you become more susceptible to catching colds or even the flu. To mitigate the likelihood of getting sick, there are steps you can take. This includes going to the Health Center if your symptoms get worse or do not go away.
Plumlee said washing hands and covering coughs and sneezes are good habits to have during cold and flu season.
“Washing your hands is the biggest thing, because we’re touching door handles,” Plumlee said. “We’re touching if we’re going up and down stairs. The handrails, anything you touch, have the germs. So, the biggest thing for all people is to have hand hygiene. Other than that, it’s just to cover your mouth when you are sneezing and coughing.”
Plumlee emphasized the close contact of students on campus.
“And then any time that you’re in large groups of people, you’re going to have that higher risk of being sick,” Plumlee said. “So, if you do feel like you are, you know, symptomatic or maybe even possibly getting sick, wearing a mask, if you need to, covering your mouth, those types of things, don’t share drinks with your friends.”