Health Services expand

New equipment makes diagnosing patients quicker

Liberty University’s health service medical provider, Centra Medical Group, underwent a major scheduling change Jan. 9. Health services, located in Green Hall, now accepts walk-ins. In addition to this, new equipment, staff, rooms and medical record services have been added to accommodate this change.

Equipment — New high-tech machinery now allows medical professionals to properly assess patients quicker. Photo provided

“Just as Liberty is growing, LU health services has grown too,” office manager Paula Conway said.

Previously, students were required to have an appointment scheduled. Now the model allows walk-ins for acute illnesses or injuries to be seen by the next available health care provider.

Two new exam rooms, X-ray suites for diagnostics X-rays and the triage room for determining the patients illness are just a few of the new changes made within the last 10 months to the center, according to Conway.

Health services are available to all of the Liberty community. This includes the universities students, faculty, staff, Liberty Christian academy students and Thomas Road Baptist members.

Members and staff of health services began to notice during the flu season in the fall that they needed to change their office to accommodate services for the sick.

“We wanted to make sure that we could actually get to all the student population that needed health care and it’s nice, because we’re actually here right on campus for the convenience of the students,” Conway said.

Patients will be able to walk-in with no appointment necessary for any acute illness such as sore throats, fever, vomiting, nausea, aches, active bleeding or injury, according to a press release issued by health services.

“We have already set the expectation that we want to have patients in and out of the department in no more than an hour,” Conway said.

According to Conway, the speedy service of the center would not be possible without the new records system, which is filed electronically. Now the office is able to access records immediately when a person arrives.

If a person has an injury, the new state-of-the-art digital X-ray machine and on site certified radiologist will aid and diagnose him or her.

The newly acquired orthopedic supplies and digital X-ray will allow immediate care so a person can be diagnosed and treated for his or her injuries in the same visit.

If a person chooses to go to another orthopedic specialist, the digital X-ray allows the print to be sent quickly to any certified specialist, Conway said.

“If someone comes in and we find that we have several people waiting, we can pull some back, go ahead and get their assessment, their vital signs, their chief complaint and do any pre-testing that needs to be done. Then they can get back to see the physician. So by the time they get to the physician, most of the stuff has been done so the physician can take a look at them that way,” Conway said.

All appointments are scheduled within a 24-to-48 hour time frame. The center is open five days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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