For Amanda Kroy, student health care at the Polytechnic campus has not always been a pleasant experience.
Kroy first visited the Carl T. Hayden Veteran's Administration Medical Center during her freshman year, but help wasn't readily available, and she couldn't find the front desk.
"When you first walk in, you feel alienated, like you're an outsider," said Kroy, an exercise and wellness junior at the Polytechnic campus.
Without a health center of its own, the Carl T. Hayden Veteran's Administration Medical Center Southeast Extension Clinic has been the Polytechnic campus's solution to student health for the past eight years.
Since the new health center opened in January, her perceptions have changed.
"The staff seem very friendly, they're only concerned with students," said Kroy, who accompanied a friend to the Student Health Center.
Student response to the new center has been "very positive," said Beverly McCoy, nurse practitioner for the Health Center.
"We are a full-service family practice," said McCoy. "Access to services was limited, the veterans are their first priority. Access [to the Student Health Center] is better in a lot of ways. Appointments are usually available the same day."
This semester, the Student Health Center is open five days a week. A nurse practitioner and a medical assistant are available every day, and a physician, Dr. Deborah Garland, is available Wednes-day afternoons.
Also known as the VA clinic, the Veteran's Administration Medical Center provided two appointments per week for students.
"The VA clinic was very good in working for us, but they're really not geared up for working with college students," said Gary McGrath, dean of Student Affairs at the Polytechnic Campus. "It was very generous of [the VA clinic] to offer their services, but this situation was meant to be temporary."
The Polytechnic campus has had to transform an Air Force base into a college campus, and this was part of the evolution.
"It's one more step," McGrath said.
Reach the reporter at nicole.arrow@asu.edu.
