Crimson and Gold Connection; Dr. Kathleen Sandness

Welcome to Crimson & Gold Connection, keeping you connected to the people and current events at Pittsburgh State University. This is Trent Johnson. Thanks for joining us for Crimson & Gold Connection. Today's guest is staff physician at the Bryant Student Health Center on the campus of Pittsburgh State University, Dr. Kathleen Sandness. Dr. Sandness, thanks so much for joining us today. You've been a contracting physician at the Bryant Student Health Center since 2011. You are now staff physician. What does that change mean for you? It means that instead of spending one morning, a week here, seeing students on a consulting basis, I'm now here for five days a week, providing ongoing medical care. In addition, I take care of those students if they have to be hospitalized at via Christie Hospital. For students that might have to utilize the Student Health Center more than a couple times a week, what do you think being there more than one day a week means for them is they kind of get some normality out of it and someone they will see every day? I'm a board certified internal medicine physician that's been in private practice for the last 25 years.

I am accustomed to taking care of both chronic and acute medical illnesses. We are here to provide ongoing medical care for students on an acute and chronic basis. We have three excellent nurse providers and a fabulous mental health center to provide a very holistic and comprehensive ability to provide medical care for our students. Anything from laceration repair, fractures, sprains, depression, anxiety, the common cough or cold, nausea and vomiting, any of these things that were available to help treat. You are a Pittsburgh State University graduate. What does that add for you as you get to remain so close to a university that you attended? Pittsburgh State University gave me the degree that enabled me to pursue an education in medicine. Medicine is both my passion and it's a gift to be able to give back to people and to take care of people. Pittsburgh State University was the one that gave me that degree that opened those doors for me. I am indebted for my life for that gift.

You received the Outstanding Alumni Award in 2002 and the Ralph J. Thomas Distinguished Service Award in 2011 for your efforts in the medical field and mentoring of various students. What do those awards mean to you as you look back on them? It's funny about honors. You always feel like if you get it then it must not be that hard to get. I am very honored to have received both of those. I considered it my obligation to give back to Pittsburgh State in terms of mentoring because they had given so much to me. We had developed a free clinic and the Pittsburgh State University pre-med club ran that clinic for about 22 years with the additional help of other physicians that donated their time. I was a coordinator of that but not the only participant in that. By and large it was really a student effort. It was not my efforts that made that succeed but really the students. While it was a great honor but I also consider it a blessing to be able to give back to this university and to the students.

Turning our attention to the Bryan Student Health Center. Talk about why it's such an integral part of campus and what services that it does provide. When the students pay their student health fee that gives them basically unlimited access to the Bryan Student Health Service on a as needed basis. It's a wonderful value for their money and again we provide all of the services that I mentioned before. I think it's that we are on campus and available five days a week eight four and we have the breadth of ability to deliver different services or provide different needs for the students anything from birth control pill to the counseling to the acute illnesses. It makes it a wonderful value for the student we were just recently built the facility is new it's clean it's well staffed our nurses and our providers are all about taking care of our students. What's the most enjoyable part of working at the student health center.

The youth the energy the looking forward to life in the future the coordination of the provision of medicine providing medicine between the mental health counseling part and with our nurses there. It seems to be seamless and the excitement about taking care of our students and the dedication to providing the best medical care that we can. For students why is it so important to have a very accessible place to health care professionals. When someone is sick if they present to a provider earlier many diseases are easy to treat waiting too long sometimes increases the complexity and the complications. If we are accessible and students feel comfortable coming there and asking us questions early we can really provide very comprehensive health care and avert disasters. Many students are tentative of going and seeking the help or care they need because they might feel that they're invincible or they'll just get over in a few days. Why do you think that is and what does the staff at the student health center and or the university do to try and convey to those students that have that mindset that they need to seek the help or care that they need if they have an ongoing issue.

We try to be available as possible and make students as comfortable as possible. We hope that other students advocate for each other and if they see a friend that is in need that they would advocate or bring them to the student health center in addition university staff professors and other ancillary help if they see students we would hope they would encourage them to come and access our services. How is the health center evolved in your time at Pittsburgh State University. We have increased number of providers the wait time for a student to be seen is usually two to five minutes which is unheard of in the delivery of health care. The comprehensive nature and the number of procedures that we have we can x-ray if a student has an injury or a cough we can get chest x-rays at the facility and we can treat immediately. And again, there's that coordination between the accessibility of my providing services at the Acrystie Hospital.

That is essentially unheard of in terms of university health care in the United States that the health center would also provide coverage and coordination between a local hospital and the student health center. Mental health issues on college campuses are a very important topic right now. Many of these individuals may feel scared nervous or even embarrassed to be seen by a health care provider. What would your advice be to any individual with such thoughts? I hope that our accessibility speaks to that above all others where again we're here on campus. We don't feel like there are any stupid questions. People can come to us and not tell anybody else that they're there and they are in a room with a provider one on one and can speak with us about anything. I can promise you we've heard it all. We've seen it all and nothing surprises us. We again encourage people to advocate for each other. If you see a friend in trouble or a need come talk to us.

Help us reach out to them if they won't reach out to us. The coordination between the mental health services and the medical side. We work hand in glove if we see a student that needs to be seen emergency on the mental health side. They are wonderful about getting them in and we coordinate the effort and the delivery of care for those students. I think that if we can just get people there and get them in our system. They will find providers and nurses and counselors that can make an incredible difference in terms of happiness and the feelings of despair and loneliness that sometimes challenges in a new environment such as the university setting. Our guest today has been staff physician at the Bryant Student Health Center on the campus of Pittsburgh State University, Dr. Kathleen Sandness. Join us for Crimson and Gold Connection Wednesdays at 850 and Fridays at 350.