Mom… I’m sick!
Getting the call from your college student that they don’t feel well and are sick isn’t something anyone wants to hear, but it is going to happen. College students never get enough sleep, rarely take care of themselves the way they should, and are often exposed to all sorts of illnesses.
Before I went away to school, my mom and I put together a “first aid kit” full of things I would need if and when I got sick. This was stocked full of vitamins, medicines, thermometer, and anything else we thought I might need to cure my sickness. She also stocked it full of Emergen-C packs. She made me promise that I would drink one of these a day if I was feeling under the weather or if I had come in contact with anyone who had been sick. I drank a lot of these in my freshman year. I recommend making this kit for your students before they leave for school.
The kit should include Source Naturals Wellness Formula. It has been a strong herbal defense supplement in fighting an illness that was recommended; two a day for prevention but when you feel yourself coming down with something, you take 6 in the morning and 6 in the evening for two days. It has worked amazingly well. At the very least, have your student on some type of probiotic for immune strengthening regimen as along with their new-found independence comes to sleep, exercise, stress, an unhealthy diet, and hygiene habits that don’t embrace enough hand-washing and can be cured quickly and easily.
The beauty of UGA is the University Health Center which is our very own “minute clinic” for students. They can do anything from administering a flu shot, take a strep test, or diagnose a respiratory illness and they are typically way cheaper than going to a Walgreens, CVS, or Urgent Care. They are open Monday-Friday for appointments, closed on Saturday, but open Sunday for walk-ins. Appointments can be made online through your health portal, in which you use your UGA ID and password to log in. If all appointments are booked for a few days, call them. They leave appointments open daily for students who need to get in.
Another amazing part about UHC is their pharmacy; this is done so that you don’t have to go anywhere but UHC and can get everything you need to be done in one place. The UHC was a blessing during finals week this past year when my daughter came down with strep throat and had to get an appointment in between a final and a study session. She was in and out with prescriptions within an hour.
Sometimes the UHC can’t help, like on a Saturday, or after hours, and for times like that, Athens has a ton of off-campus Urgent Cares that usually open earlier and stay open later than the University Health Center. There are also online alternatives where doctors diagnose your sickness via a FaceTime call. A list of those options has been provided below.
- Bulldog Urgent Care
- CVS Minute Clinic
- Doctor On Demand
- Peachtree Urgent Care
- Piedmont Online
- Walgreens Healthcare Clinic
Hopefully, your student will never be in need of an Emergency Room or Hospital services, but if they are, Athens has some of the best hospitals in the state of Georgia, so they would be in the best hands. Your student, if in need of these services, will have the best doctors, nurses, and staff waiting on them until you can get there. There are three options that are highly recommended:
Throughout the year, many groups on campus (sororities, fraternities, the University Health Center, clubs, etc) will offer free flu shots to students and members, make sure you have your students participate in this. The flu runs rampant on college campuses, and you do not want to come down with it and miss classes, tests, etc. Find out if and when your clubs are doing it, and if they are not, contact the University Health Center and make an appointment to get it.
Another amazing thing about UGA is that the professors are real people and are typically understanding about illness. Although they will not work with you if you are sick every other week, if you email them and explain that you have strep, or the flu, or something of that nature, they will usually extend deadlines, give you remakes, and work with you. While I am not saying that all of them will be understanding, I am saying that most of them just want you to succeed, and therefore will help you out through your sickness. Make sure your student has their doctor visit receipt to show professors if requested.
If you want to send something to make your student feel better, there are many options from chicken soup your student can pick up at Chabad Jewish Student & Community Center at UGA to Insomnia Cookies that will deliver cookies straight to their door. See our blog on Care Packages for more ideas. Mouth is also a great website that has a sick care package filled with tea, honey sticks, crackers, and a wellness care package filled with tea and snow honey, fruit jerky, relaxing digestive bitters, healing turmeric elixir, an antioxidant-rich dark chocolate bar, healthy granola, and a hand-made candle. Finally, please make sure your student has filled out the legal forms necessary should an emergency arise and you need to know what is going on.
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