Category Archives: Healthcare Issues

Announcement: new office locations for health services (Columbia Health)

Counseling/Psychological Services, Getting Things Done, Healthcare Issues

Alice! Health Promotion,

Student Health Insurance and Immunization Compliance Offices: John Jay Hall, 3rd floor

 

Alice! Health Promotion, Student Health Insurance and Immunization Compliance offices will move to the 3rd floor of John Jay Hall. The Gay Health Advocacy Project (GHAP) and Medical Services laboratory remain on the 3rd floor.  The central location in John Jay aligns these critical health operations with Medical Services and helps to streamline the student experience.  This change is Effective Wednesday, August 19th.       

 

Columbia Health Administration: 423 West 120th Street, Suite 107 

 

In order to make better use of space properly devoted to direct student services, Columbia Health Administration has relocated to 423 West 120th Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive. Offices include my office—Associate Vice President and Medical Director, Dr. Samuel Seward–as well as the Columbia Health Business, Systems, and Information Technology teams. This move is effective Thursday, August 13th.

 

Counseling and Psychological Services Expanded Clinical Offices: Lerner Hall, 5th floor

 

In response to growing and evolving student needs, Counseling and Psychological Services has added clinical staff and will expand its operations to the 5th floor of Lerner Hall. Clinician offices will be located in the space formerly occupied by the Alice! Health Promotion, Student Health Insurance and Immunization Compliance offices. Counseling and Psychological Services offices also remain on the 8th floor of Lerner. Students will continue to check in at the main desk on Lerner 8 and will be directed to the 5th floor if applicable.   The 5th floor CPS offices will come on line at the outset of the fall semester. 

Medical Services: John Jay Hall, 4th floor

 

Renovations to the Medical Services space are now complete and all patient services, including routine and urgent care, will be conveniently located on the 4th floor of John Jay.   The completion of this important renovation project reflects our commitment to quality and comprehensive health care services for Columbia students on the Morningside Campus.  This redesigned service model is effective Monday, August 17th. 

 

Disability Services remains in Wien and Bard Halls.

 

Sexual Violence Response remains in Lerner, Hewitt and Bard Halls.   

 

Please visit the Columbia Health website for a full list of our hours and locations, www.health.columbia.edu

Recruitment Announcement – Mailman School of Public Health

Healthcare Issues, Other Schools, Tips, Volunteer

This summer we researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health are conducting a research study to learn about how the environmental conditions in the bedroom – especially heat – affect sleep quality. We are looking for Columbia University faculty, research and administrative staff, and graduate students who do not have or rarely use air conditioning to take part in this study.

The study duration is 20 days. During this time we will monitor your sleep quality as well as the environmental conditions of your bedroom using unobtrusive loggers and surveys.

Participation is voluntary and there is no compensation. But you will receive a summary report and learn about your sleep and the environmental conditions of your bedroom.

Interested? Get in touch with us at ehs.sleep@cumc.columbia.edu<mailto:ehs.sleep@cumc.columbia.edu> or call (212) 305-5342.

MAJOR MEMO: Columbia Health – Student Health Insurance

FAQ, Healthcare Issues, M.A. Program, M.S. Program, Major memos, Newly-admitted students, Part-time Students
Greetings Students,

The warmer weather has finally arrived and change is blooming around the city.  With that in mind we wanted to take a moment to share three positive changes and address one change-related concern regarding the Columbia University Student Health Insurance Plan.

Positive Changes

New, Dedicated E-mail Address.  Please write to us at studentinsurance@columbia.edu.  Please also update any publications or webpage to reflect this new address.

The August Extension.  For graduating students we are offering a one-time-only extension of the plan so that it affords a full 52 weeks of coverage. The shift in plan dates led to some concerns and we are happy to make this available.  The extension is available upon request and enrollment must be complete no later than August 14, 2015.  Details are on our website at health.columbia.edu/insurance

Early Arrival Coverage For All. As you may remember, a major driving force for changing the plan start dates was the number of students on campus before September 1st.  Now that the Student Health Insurance Plan begins on August 15 we have eliminated the Early Arrival Plan.  One notable benefit of this change is that it provides coverage to many new students during orientation without the need to sign up for a supplemental plan.

Change-Related Concern

Related to changes two & three above, we want to reiterate that there will be no gap in coverage for continuing students.  The current plan year runs September 1, 2014 to August 14, 2015 and the new plan year will begin on August 15, 2015.  While we have been sharing this with students, your help is assuaging concerns is most appreciated.

Thanks so much for your continuing collaboration and do reach out with any questions.  As always, please let us know how we may continue to be your partner in supporting students in the achievement in their personal and academic goals.

In health,
Catherine, Janelle, Michael, Stephanie, & Steve

Student Health Insurance

503 Alfred Lerner Hall
212-854-3268
studentinsurance@columbia.edu

Immunization
Compliance

503 Alfred Lerner Hall
212-854-7210
immunizationcompliance@columbia.edu

University Life: Sexual Respect and Community Citizenship

Community Service, Healthcare Issues, M.A. Program, M.S. Program, Major memos, Notes From, Part-time Students, School requests

From: Executive Vice President Suzanne Goldberg, Office of University Life

“Join the Conversation.” This is what the Sexual Respect and Community Citizenship Initiative poster urges. Hopefully you have seen it on College Walk or in buildings around campus. With a handful of days left before spring break—and the March 13 deadline for the Sexual Respect and Community Engagement conversation, I am writing with some updates and thoughts about how the Initiative is going.

For starters, I want to remind you that the Sexual Respect Initiative is one part of a broader University-wide focus on what it means to be a member of the Columbia University community. A central aim of this particular initiative is to encourage learning, thought and action on the link between sexual respect and community membership here.

So far, student response—in workshops, the arts, and all other options±has been impressive and inspiring. Thousands of students across the University have attended workshops, trainings, and film screenings through student organizations, academic departments, and sessions listed at http://bit.ly/SexualRespectCJS, with many more to come this week.

More than 200 submissions have come in through the Arts Option, which invites students to creatively express their understanding of “sexual respect” in the context of Columbia. The submissions are quite extraordinary –thought-provoking poetry, prose, visual art, plays, video, and more, accompanied by deeply thoughtful statements about what motivates or underlies the work.

We see the same in the serious thought and care given to reflections submitted as part of the “video and reflection” option. I just finished reading a large set of de-identified reflections and am impressed, again, by the profound ways in which so many students are considering the role of sexual respect in their own lives at Columbia. In the coming weeks, we will post faculty members’ responses to these reflections as another part of continuing this conversation.

For some students, complaints about the initiative have been the path to engagement, prompting important conversations about what sexual respect has to do with community citizenship at all.

With permission, I will quote from one student’s comment: “I’m embarrassed to admit it but I walked in with the attitude that these types of educational seminars, while well-intentioned, don’t do anything to fix the problem. All the education in the world won’t convince a rapist not to rape and everyone else who gets dragged into it feels like they’re wasting their time. But I realize I missed the point completely. The important thing is to educate the average person about the dangers of sexual assault and to create a culture of prevention. If we can learn how to recognize the warning signs that an assault might occur and encourage intervention, instead of feeling awkward about it, we as a community can prevent assault before it begins.”

Dissent, at its best, is yet another path to engagement. For me, it is especially exciting to see dissent inspire creation, as has happened repeatedly though students proposing ideas for new workshops, becoming trained as facilitators, and creating new forms of art that might be used to educate and engage others.

The Initiative provides many additional ways for students to weigh in, add suggestions, and make recommendations. Every student receives an evaluation survey after completing the “affirmation of participation” on CourseWorks, and the Sexual Respect website invites your narrative comments.

Hundreds of evaluations have already come in, and these will be used, along with research on learning theory, sexual violence prevention and more, to develop future programming. Wonderfully, too, many students have indicated that they want to become more involved; if you are interested, please share your contact information on the otherwise anonymous evaluation form.

I could go on, but in the interest of time, I will close by referring back to this Initiative’s core principle:

This initiative focuses on the ways in which an ethic of sexual respect is integral to University community membership. The programming and public conversations place the University’s core commitment to mutual respect alongside other bedrock University commitments, including intellectual exchange and ethical leadership. Through your engagement, both in thought and action, we can create a community and campus in which all can participate freely and fully in the robust, pluralistic life of this great University.

I look forward to your participation.

INVITE: UN – “Orange YOUR Neighbourhood”

Community Service, Conferences, Healthcare Issues, New York City, Non-Columbia Events, Speakers

UN commemoration of the International Day to End Violence against Women, 25 November 2014
“Orange YOUR Neighbourhood”

What: This year’s theme to mark the International Day to End Violence against Women, 25 November, and the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence is “Orange Your Neighbourhood”. The colour orange, bright and optimistic, has been designated by the UN Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women to symbolize a better future without this pervasive human rights violation that affects as many as one in three women and girls worldwide. The iconic Empire State Building, the UN Secretariat building and large screens in Times Square in New York will be lit orange to mark the day, along with the official commemoration event at UN Headquarters.

You are invited to the following press opportunities:
24 NOVEMBER
Empire State Building Lighting Ceremony
10.30 – 11 a.m.
Empire State Building Lobby, 350 Fifth Avenue, New York
*RSVP required: goo.gl/forms/YJi37F2IeN
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and actress Teri Hatcher, will “Flip the Switch” to illuminate the Empire State Building. Following the ceremony, there will be a photo opportunity at the observation deck. The Empire State Building will shine an orange light starting at sunset.

Lighting of the UN Secretariat building
7 p.m.
1st Avenue & 42th Street
At 7 p.m., the UN will be lit in orange; it is the first time that the two buildings –Empire State Building and UN Headquarters— will be lit simultaneously to highlight a cause. Photographers and camera crews should be located on 1st Avenue and 43rd Street.

On 25 November, the Nasdaq and Reuters Tower screens in Times Square, one of the world’s most visited tourist attractions, will light up in orange with UN Women messages.

25 NOVEMBER
Commemoration of the International Day to End Violence against Women
10.30 a.m. – 12 noon
Economic and Social Council Chamber, United Nations Headquarters, New York
Official commemoration at UN Headquarters to observe the Day. The event will include the participation of:
• Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General
• H.E. Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, Permanent Representative,
United Arab Emirates
• Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director,
UN Women
• Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, UNFPA
• Chirlane McCray, First Lady, New York City
• Teri Hatcher, Actress
• Danai Gurira, Actress

Moderator: Amna Nawaz, Correspondent for NBC News

Panel Discussion: Violence against Women: Best Laws and Policies – Learning from the winners of the 2014 Future Policy Award
3 – 5 p.m.
Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, UN Secretariat, New York
UN Women in partnership with the IPU and the World Future Council will hold a panel, followed by an interactive discussion, focusing on implementation of laws and policies, effective practices, gaps and the way forward in relation to the review of the Beijing Platform for Action at its 20th anniversary.

Speakers will include:
• Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General,
UN Women
• Margaret Mensah-Williams, President, Coordinating Committee of Women
Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
• Marja Ruotanen, Director of Human Dignity and Equality, Directorate General of
Democracy, Council of Europe
• Michael Paymar, House of Representatives, Minnesota and Ms. Melissa Scaia,
Executive Director, Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs (DAIP), Duluth
• H.E. Mr. Andreas Riecken, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of
Austria to the United Nations
• Nafissatou J Diop, Senior Adviser, Coordinator UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme
on FGM/C: Accelerating Change, UNFPA

Moderator: Ms. Alexandra Wandel, Director, World Future Council

Background:
Women are beaten in their homes, harassed on the streets, bullied on the Internet. Globally, one in three women will experience physical or sexual violence at some point in her life — mostly by an intimate partner. Of all women killed in 2012, almost half died at the hands of a partner or family member.

The International Day to End Violence against Women is commemorated worldwide on 25 November. The Day also kicks off the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, an international campaign which runs until 10 December (Human Rights Day), inviting individuals and groups to mobilize and call for the elimination of violence against women and girls. This year’s theme, framed by the UN Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women, is “Orange YOUR Neighbourhood”.

Note to media: A TV feed for the official commemoration on the 25th will be accessible through UNTV at:
http://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/pdf/UNTV_Transmission_Guide

Non-UN accredited media who wish to attend events at the UN should contact the Media Accreditation Unit: http://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/contact

Join the conversation: Follow @SayNO_UNiTE and share your messages using the hashtags #orangeurhood and #16days.

UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. For more information, visit www.unwomen.org. UN Women, 220 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017, New York. Tel: +1 646 781-4400. Fax: +1 646 781-4496.