The Goshen College Center for Health and Wellness recently expanded their medical and mental health services for students. Along with GC’s long term partnership with Goshen Family Physicians that has served as the college’s primary medical care for students since 2014, two formal agreements with Maple City Healthcare Center and Center for Healing and Hope have been finalized. Both of these partnerships aim to provide affordable and easily accessible healthcare for GC students. 

Patty Hartshorn, director of health and wellness and Title IX coordinator, shares what prompted these new health service expansions. “When I arrived two years ago, we did an initial needs assessment to try to figure out where the gaps were and to be able to support our student population as far as their healthcare and mental healthcare. What we were able to determine was they were not necessarily equitable or inclusive,” she said.

“There needed to be better structure in place to ensure that there is accessible care and that it is equitably available across our student population. And because of that, we started exploring relationships with additional community resources.”  

Maple City Healthcare Center is a full-service medical provider located about three miles north of campus where they offer services such as nutrition and dietician services, women’s healthcare, in-office medical procedures and mental and behavioral health care. 

At the Center for Healing and Hope, located two miles north of campus, students can see a physician by paying $20 and showing their ID. Here, students can get physicals, acute and preventative healthcare, minor procedures, general practice and specialty care to those who are uninsured or lack resources to pay for care. 

These partnerships also provide transportation for students with free rides on the local trolley to the medical centers by providing their GC ID. The Center for Healing and Hope also has a ride-share network to aid students in getting to their appointments. 

Along with medical services, Goshen College Center for health and wellness has also expanded mental health support, allowing all students to have access to Indiana University Health Virtual Care Clinic, a telehealth service that offers same day diagnosis, treatments and other healthcare services. 

The college has also partnered with Uwill, a virtual counseling service for higher education that provides counseling based on students’ availability. The student can choose the counselor, the time for their appointment and other preferences such as language, cultural background and gender.  

“It’s worth the effort, it’s worth the patience and it’s worth the time,” Hartshorn said about the entire expansion process. 

“I think that students listen to students. Peers communicate best with peers, and so it’s more likely that a peer is going to be excited about an opportunity that is shared with them if they hear it from somebody else who is either utilizing that service or experiencing that service,” she said.

Hartshorn encourages students to reach out with questions or any needs that have not been met. “Our goal is to support students. We want students to succeed so if we can make the load lighter, let us know,” she said.

Additional information on the new health updates and policies can be found on the news tab of the website.