Sending Off That College Kid: Doctors

I was talking with a friend about her college kids, and how their friends, who are from out of town and the health care system at school in this crazy time of Corona. Luckily her kids are close to home and can return to their longtime doctors, when they are sick or in need of guidance. This reminded me of my time when I shipped off from California to attend college in Rhode Island. From that experience I learned a very important lesson that all parent who have kids shipping off to school, should take into account.

FIND YOUR STUDENT A GENERAL PRACTITIONER before SCHOOL starts. Of course all students have access to healthcare at school, but whether you're in times of crisis or not, most schools have crappy services for students. In my first two years of college I had 3 medical emergencies that required care. The first one should have been a wake up call, I needed to find myself a GP who I could visit in a time of need. It was not until the second incident occurred and I had to go to Emergency Care because the school clinic was not only booked but had a huge waiting room line for walk-in’s. This is when I realized, I need a real doctor.

I had insurance, as most students now do, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. One of the stellar gifts that young adults today can carry on past college, thanks to Obamacare. I just never took the time to search for a general practitioner to care for me. I hind sight, when I went back to school to view the campus and make my decision, I should have looked for a GP. My advice to all parents who are shipping their students out of state for college. When you are visiting make sure you interview potential GP’s. I eventually started seeing a boyfriends physician when my third incident happened. 

Best choice I ever made in college was to get a GP. Every students journey off to college is different. I think finding a good GP is a lot easier than it was back in 1990’s, so you are already off to a good start. This is also a great life lesson for your budding adult. Not only discussing how to manage healthcare responsibilities but also, how to interview healthcare professionals. What I have realized is that life lessons are very important to raising a responsible adult. The lessons could be a simple as opening a bank account, which I strongly recommend at the end of elementary school or event the hard lesson of understanding the world of credit cards. I was not privy to the downside of credit to young or the dark world of credit card hunters, tell your kids run screaming from them. They set up shop in the quad and hand out free stuff like it’s candy. They literally are the creepy abductor promising candy from their car. Most of all avoid Discover card person. But that’s another post in itself.