On Friday, Oct. 12, the Welty Health Center experienced an unusually large influx of patients during the graveyard shift and was forced to turn away one student seeking overnight bedding. The student, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that he was brought to the Health Center that night because he was heavily intoxicated after a party.

The center was not filled to capacity at the time, but unique circumstances made accommodating an additional in-patient impossible. The nurse on duty that night was Dawn Chlipala.

Although there were two vacant beds, Chlipala could not offer them to the student. Since the student was male, he could not room with a female patient due to the center’s single sex policy. The only other available double room was occupied by a patient who was described by staff as “too ill to share a room with someone who might need to get up and down frequently.”

Chlipala’s professional evaluation was that the incoming student was not dangerously ill and would be able to recover on his own.

“I felt really bad about having to turn him away,” said Chlipala. “But after taking his vital signs and everything, I was confident that he was going to be okay.”

The student did not object to the Health Center’s decision.

“I’m actually kind of glad,” said the student. “My friends brought me back home, and I slept it off on the couch. I felt pretty okay in the morning.”

Health Center Director Ellen Collette said that it was just chance that so many students happened to come in at the same time that night.

“It’s like going to an emergency room,” said Collette. “I used to be an ER nurse back in the ’70s. Some nights nobody comes in and other nights there are a whole bunch. Sometimes we have to prioritize decisions. It’s sad, and we’d love to take everyone in the world that came in. But we try our best, we really do.”

Collette said that although students have been turned away in the past due to a full house, such occasions are rare. According to Collette, Whitman is one of the best providers of on-campus health care among national colleges, boasting 12 in-patient beds and a 24/7 center. In contrast, Williams College, which has the highest endowment of any liberal arts institution, provides only daytime health service for its students and has no in-patient beds.

“I’ve been to a lot of colleges, and this is about as good as it gets,” said Collette.

Most college infirmaries don’t accept intoxicated patients because their presence often puts the staff at risk. The Welty Center does choose to extend care to intoxicated students, but violent incidents have broken out in the past, the most recent assault occurring within the past year.

“We’ve had nurses that have been slugged by intoxicated students,” said Collette. “Sometimes people bring in someone they can’t handle, and then they leave the nurse here all alone to take care of them.”

Although such incidents are rare, Collette encourages students bringing in agitated friends to stay with them until they calm down. When faced with a rowdy patient, the center relies on a panic button that summons campus security upon activation. Collette feels that the benefit of providing care to intoxicated students is worth the risk. She cited a recent tragedy at the University of Colorado in which a first-year student died from alcohol poisoning after a night of heavy drinking at a fraternity house.

According to the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, college-age drinking results in an estimated 1,700 student deaths per year.

Patient confidentiality is of paramount concern to the staff of the Health Center. Collette said that except in rare cases, such as when a student’s life is at risk, the center will never betray a patient’s medical information to an unauthorized third party.
“The Health Center is kind of like Las Vegas,” said Collette with a chuckle. “What happens here stays here.”

“We love taking care of students,” said Collette. “That’s why we have nurses that have been here for 25 years. We want [the students] to let us know if there’s something we can offer that they think would be helpful. We want to hear from them. This is their health center.”