“Alternative milk sampling”

As the school year starts to wind-down (but more like wind-up, amirite???), we all need to take a little time to think about our health. Lucky for all of us, Monday’s SGA meeting was dedicated to discussing what Barnard does (and doesn’t do) to promote health on campus. Barnard Bearoness Lauren Beltrone reports.

The meeting featured the trifecta of Barnard health administrators: Jessica Cannon, Well Woman Program Director, Mary Joan Murphy, Executive Director of Student Health and Wellness Programs, and Mary Commerford, Counseling Center Director. Cannon was the first of the trifecta to speak, filling us in on all the cool stuff Well Woman does. If you still haven’t hung out at Well Woman office hours or attended a program, you should seriously go. Well Woman offers all kinds of programs (yoga, non-competitive running, alternative milk sampling…) and is obligated to give you chocolate and tea when you enter the office.

Murphy brought up Barnard’s Primary Care Health Service, announcing that BPCHS is working to offer in-clinic IUD insertions thanks to the Affordable Care Act. Currently, students have to get the IUD inserted off-campus by a Barnard-approved practitioner. If all goes well, the new IUD system will be up and running by this coming fall. Murphy also addressed BPCHS’s letter to the editor written in response to the op-ed by Paulina Pinsky, BC ’16. According to Murphy, weight (along with dozens of other factors like family history, blood pressure, and heart rate) is an important health metric. She went on to reiterate that weight plays a part in determining the efficacy of a medication, including birth control. For that reason, BPSCH is required to record a student’s height and weight. If you don’t want to know your weight, just say it, recommends Murphy.

Commerford, the Counseling Center Director, addressed concerns about the low level of satisfaction with mental health services on Columbia’s first-ever University-wide Quality of Life (QoL) Survey. Alluding to her own skepticism in regards to the survey, Commerford recommended taking Furman’s questionnaire offered at the Furman Counseling Center.

The meeting ended with a quick pitch by Francine Kershaw, GSAS ’15, and Katharine Celentano, GS ’17, from the Columbia University Family Support Network. The two reps discussed the group’s proposal to provide undergrad students with children the same benefits as parents at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Following in CCSC and GSSC’s footsteps, SGA approved the proposal. Finally, expecting Barnard mothers will receive enough funding to send their children to the Center for Toddler Development!

Girl drinks milk or yogurt in glass cups and gesticulating with the eyes as it is tasty via Shutterstock.