The Student Health Center at Truman State University has expanded its services to include University employees and Sodexo workers as patients, in addition to their offerings to University students.
The Health Center has provided preventative and primary care services, such as physicals, well-women examinations, immunizations and more as well as treatments for colds, flu and injuries to students for several years through their partnership with Complete Family Medicine. Now, these same services are available to Truman employees.
“We’re really proud of our partnership with Truman,” said Dr. Jordan Palmer, director of the Student Health Center and University Counseling Services in the Jan. 13 “Truman Today” newsletter. “Being able to open up our services to Truman and Sodexo employees like this is something we don’t take lightly.”
Palmer also works as a medical doctor and family medicine physician for the Health Center and the Complete Family Medicine Kirksville Primary Care Clinic. In addition to Palmer, the Health Center currently employs two other medical professionals, a family nurse practicioner and a women’s health nurse practicioner.
Furthermore, many students have the opportunity to work in the Health Center with the nurse practitioners for scholarship jobs, which could add another layer of uneasiness between students and employees.
“I’ve only been to the Health Center once,” sophomore Maggie Thompson said. “But I think it would be awkward to walk in and see, like, my professor or somebody.”
Although the Health Center is now available to employees, University Counseling Services remains exclusive to University students. The Health Center and Counseling Services have both operated through the partnership with Complete Family Medicine since 2021, and it is unclear at this time why these services were not also expanded to include University employees. Palmer was unavailable for comment to The Index as to why this development did not take place.
Overall, it seems the Health Center is optimistic about how this change will affect the University.
“Complete Family Medicine has a really sharp team of providers and staff at the Student Health Center that have been preparing for this for a while now,” Palmer told “Truman Today.” “So we hope employees will come see us.”
Both the Health Center and Counseling Services are located in the McKinney Center, though they will be moving to the Kirk Building in a few weeks. One can make an appointment with the Health Center by calling 660-785-4182 and walk-in appointments are available as well.