A Doctor Near the House

The track team can regularly cover the half-mile in under two minutes, but doctors at the University Health Service oftimes need ten times that to travel the half-mile from Stillman Infirmary to the Yard. Stillman took half an hour to get a doctor to the Indoor Athletic Building Tuesday night when a Freshman fencer was stabbed during practice. Last May a sophomore in Claverly died before a doctor arrived, forty minutes after students had called Stillman.

Such incidents only hint at the deeper ill in the University Health Service-scattering of facilities. Located in the Hygiene Building, Stillman, and six other spots, the department does not have a center, convenient to the Yard, from which all of its services can operate. Thus, the Hygiene Building's 5 p.m. closing forces sick students to make a night-time trek to Stillman. During last Monday's storm the building closed at 2:30 p.m. and posted a notice directing emergency cases through snow, ice and wind to Stillman.

The Health Center planned for Mount Auburn Street between Dunster and Holyoke would solve the problem by centralizing University health services near the College. The University, however, does not have funds to erect the million dollar building. Until the Administration finds the money for this project, the Health Service should provide a doctor within minutes of the Yard on a twenty-four hour a day basis. Stationing a doctor, or perhaps an intern, at the Hygiene Building after regular hours would do more than eliminate the trudge to Stillman, it would also enable a doctor to reach emergency cases, especially in bad weather, much faster than doctors from Stillman.

Although a doctor at the Hygience Building could have neither Stillman's laboratory facilities nor the companionship of nurses, he would provide much needed service without these conveniences. Until the University finds sufficient wealth for adequate health facilities, the medical service should provide the needed twenty-four hour service near the Yard. The added expense of maintaining two doctors through the night, one at 15 Holyoke Street and the other at Stillman, is a small enough price to pay for insurance against needless pain and possibly avoidable deaths.