Sick at School and How to Cope

Mom…..I’m Sick…

We all know that feeling we parents get when our kids are sick. Will they be ok? How many classes will they miss and how much work will they have to make up? Who will take care of them if we’re not available? These questions are always important but compounded when your child is at school, living on campus, potentially hours or days from home. During my daughter’s first semester at the University of Maryland, she got sick. A lot. Just when something would pass she’d start having other symptoms. I felt like she couldn’t get out of her own way, and I felt terrible that she was suffering alone and trying to navigate health care in a new place.

Getting sick at school is nothing new. College students don’t sleep enough, aren’t necessarily taking great care of themselves, and are living with hundreds of other students with many germs. It’s no surprise that kids are coming down with so many different bugs. Before my daughter left for school, we packed an emergency health kit with lots of over the counter medicines and first aid supplies. I highly recommend doing this, and it was definitely handy to have but wasn’t enough when she got truly sick. She needed to see a doctor. If this happens to your student, you have options.

At the University of Maryland, students can visit the health center. It is kind of a one-stop-shop for all things medical. They can take care of primary wellness, like physicals, and although appointments are strongly recommended, they will take walk-in patients for urgent medical conditions. Students can get a highly recommended flu shot here. Additionally, you can find services for substance abuse, physical therapy, x-rays, allergies, immunizations, and many other services.

Sometimes getting an appointment at the health center can be a challenge, so your student may need other options. In my own experience, we had great luck with Express Healthcare Urgent Care, at 4701 Melbourne Place, College Park. Although it was a long walk from her dorm, she could uber the one mile there for pretty cheap and never had a long wait. Each time she was there (I think at least three times), they were efficient, caring, and helpful. The College Park Pharmacy is right next door if they need a prescription filled.

There is also a Patient First Urgent Care, at 10424 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville. This location has great reviews but is a little further and could be tricky for a student without a car. There are other options as well for students who need to fill a prescription. There are three CVS locations in College Park, all of which on Baltimore Avenue. Any of them can take care of prescription and over the counter medicine needs.

Hopefully, your student will never need an emergency room, but if they do, the closest one is at UM Prince George’s Hospital Center. They even have this handy checklist to help you decide if you need to see your primary doctor, urgent care, or the emergency department. Prince George’s Hospital is about a ten to fifteen-minute drive from UMD.

Remind your student to communicate with their professors if they have to miss class due to illness. Make sure to have them get a note if they are seen by a doctor to show they are being treated. Very often students need to email a picture of the note to their teachers to be excused. Additionally, make sure they have their insurance card on hand so that payment is covered. We all have kids who will get sick, but if they address it quickly they will be back to normal in no time!

HaveUHeard that if your student is under the weather, the Maryland Hillel Soup Squad delivers soup to sick students around the University of Maryland’s campus? The Soup Squad brings Kosher soup from the Rosenbloom Hillel Center directly to your student’s residence hall at no charge. They deliver soup Monday-Friday. (We are unable to deliver soup on Jewish Holidays or Shabbat) to Terps who live on campus or within 0.5 miles of campus. Please note that the soup squad can’t guarantee a specific time of delivery.

It’s always nice to get a care package when you’re feeling sick. Mouth 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.

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