In Memoriam of the Health and Counseling Center
Reported By: Benny Schorie
Photographed By: Allison Martinet
During the summer of 2023, the Student Life department at George Fox University (GFU) announced to students that the Health and Counseling Center (HCC) would be changing its model for medical care. GFU decided to switch from providing its own private care to instead having the staff and practice of Providence Medical Group (PMG) provide care for students. GFU students will always remember the convenience and affordability of the past and now deceased HCC model. Before embracing a new model, we must look back and remember the life of our old friend, the bygone HCC model.
According to Bill Buhrow, dean of Student Services and director of Health and Counseling, the previous HCC model was frequently used by private colleges. Students would pay a fee each semester, or provide their insurance policy, to fund the services they would receive from HCC: “It’s a good model. It serves students well, and it's really economical,” Buhrow said.
It also allowed greater integration between medical and counseling services. According to Buhrow, the new model will still offer counseling services without extra charge for undergraduate and graduate students. However, there will no longer be parallel operations between the medical and counseling services, and they will now be less connected.
The old model met its demise at the hands of the President’s Office; according to Buhrow, “The primary factor driving this decision, that [he was] aware of, was the decision that providing medical care directly by the university had too much potential risk, meaning liability risk.” Buhrow added that it was for this reason that “having an outside provider (i.e., PMG) provide medical care to our community on campus, eliminated that liability risk to the university.” Thus came the loss of the well-known and appreciated HCC model to make way for the new PMG model.
The hope is to mitigate the stress that this change will cause to students: “The services we have now and the current structure is just going to be lifted and dropped in, including the same hours as last year,” Buhrow said.
However, these new changes will also come with the plan to move the services to a new building across the canyon.
“[HCC] is likely going to move in January to the old [Providence] Sleep Center alongside the Behavior Health Center,” Buhrow said. The building has been owned by GFU for a few years but was rented out to PMG. While the relocation of HCC was scheduled for Aug. 1, construction is still underway so the building is not yet ready to be moved into.
Another change is the functioning of health insurance and payment for students. PMG can only accept insurance within its list of in-network providers. To prevent potentially burdening fees for those out-of-network, “There’s money that [PMG] has put up that can be tapped for students who don't have contracted insurance plans. [GFU] is going to set up this bucket themselves for next year to continue it. However, we still aren’t sure how it's going to function,” Buhrow said.
The primary concern for Buhrow is to create a system that does not financially burden students and prevents them from accessing the necessary care; this was the crucial feature and goal of the old model. The important thing to note is that “medical care is available to students on campus; any student can use it.” Buhrow “encourage[s] students to be good consumers of medical care,” and to “[c]heck to see if their insurance is accepted by [PMG] and call and see how much it will cost them.”
Although many are saddened by the loss of the old HCC model with all its perks, we must look forward, as there is still hope to be found in the life and potential of the new care model.