THE HEALTH STATION: The safety net for Tora and Thorvald
THE HEALTH STATION:
- The safety net for Tora and Thorvald
Feeling down? Got a bun in the oven? Maybe you miss your mum? Not to worry, the Health Station welcomes you with open arms. Even though you have to walk a bit longer to find them.
Journalist: Åsmund Godal Tunheim
Photographer: William Fredrik Bakke Dahl
Translator: Eva Weston Szemes
Web-distributor: Martha Ingeborg Evensen
The Health Station for youth and students in Ås is a free, easy-access health service for youth in Ås and all students who pay tuition fees to NMBU. Here, you can get help if you have problems with your mental health, lifestyle or sexuality. A whole department of heroes works every day to help you and me back on our feet.
New wrapping, same content
Before Christmas, you could easily pop by the Health Station on your way to the supermarket. You just went around the corner by Ås Kafé, through a door and up some stairs. Now, the whole preventive unit of the municipality has been moved to Moer Health House, an almost 15-minute walk from the town centre. The reason for moving it? Politicians saving money. The Health Station is now in a municipal building.
Even though the furniture and the practice stayed the same, maybe the bar for seeking help has raised slightly when the station has moved further away from the students’ “hot spots”? Well, yes and no. The Health Station might have been closer before, but now you don’t have to show everyone that you’re seeking help.
I pop by to check out the new place. The nursing home glows in the winter dark like a fever dream-like version of Soria Moria. Once you have entered, you just follow the signs, like a DNT-hike in Rondane. I am guided through a corridor, up some stairs (or a lift, for accessibility), through another corridor, and I am at my destination
A whiteboard of post-it notes with different times signalises that there are still free spots. I pick one and sit down in the new waiting room, both more spacious and nicer than the previous one. After a short wait, it’s my turn. A staff of experts are ready to assist: Four psychologists, three nurses, two doctors, one family therapist, one health secretary and one midwife with a specialisation in sexology are working at the Health Station. The expertise is broad and competent, and you quickly realise that these guys really want to help, and that they know what they are doing.
What kind of help can you get?
As mentioned, this service is mostly a preventive measure, where you are equipped with tools to deal with your daily life. It is perfect for you if you need advice or support dealing with your sexuality, domestic life, identity, STDs (sexually transmitted disease), difficult thoughts, grief, unhappiness, eating difficulties, sleep difficulties, substance abuse problems, stress, problems with overweight or mild psychological issues. The coverage area is broad, and if something is bothering you, it might be a good idea to pay them a visit. After all, what have you got to lose?
But the Health Station cannot fix everything. If you need long-term treatment from a psychologist, this is not the place, nor is it the place for emergencies. If the matter is urgent, you need to call the emergency room or an ambulance.
The drop-in solution is quite clever. Every Monday between 08:30-11:00, and every Wednesday between 14:30-19:00, you can just walk in for an appointment. Usually, the nurses are doing the consultations, and you have half an hour. If that’s not enough, you get another appointment another day. You can also get in touch by email or phone to book an appointment. The contact information is listed on the website of Ås municipality. The wait is about 2-3 weeks, a lot less than in the big, scary world outside of the student bubble, where everything costs money.
Pia, nurse and team leader, is telling me everything. She uses the opportunity to mention that they offer free testing for chlamydia and gonorrhoea, two STDs rapidly increasing in our age group. She makes it clear that you can get lots of free condoms in different sizes, types and tastes at the Health Station. The slogan is clear: “Use condoms!”
Easily accessible and free
How does this work? And how can it be free? I went to the AU-office to find out. The leader, Wilhelm Anthun, explains that The Health Station is mandatory by law for a municipality, and it has to be free. In Ås, SiÅs and NMBU pitch in with money, so that this service also applies to all university students. Therefore, the Health Station works closely with NMBU and SiÅs.
The Student Lounge
Do you need someone to talk to, or do you have questions about the life as a student? Directly next to the Student Post Office, in the middle of campus, you find the Student Lounge (Studentlivssenteret). You can come here between 11 and 15 Monday-Friday. Here, you get a warm welcome from Marit Raaf, whether you have any questions or just need a little break. Every Thursday 18-21, the Student Lounge has an “open house”- policy. They serve waffles and snacks, and they arrange arts and crafts, board games, quiz, Viking Chess tournaments and other activities.
The Health Station is involved in many of the gatherings and courses arranged by the Student Lounge, for these activities to get some academic believability. Examples are courses on sleep, courses for leaders of associations and courses on how to talk to large groups of people. These courses are always free and can be very useful for the rest of your time as a student.
Putting student health on the agenda
In the AU-office, Wilhelm and Martine Bingen talk about student health as something hugely important, especially considering the discouraging results of the SHoT-survey. “All this is part of the challenges with mental health. This is important to prevent, with the Health Station as an important safety net”, says Martine. She points out that it is almost more important to make sure all students feel like they master something, that they have meaning in their life and they feel like they belong socially during their time as students, so that nobody is left out. Arenas like Samfunnet, association life, the faculties, the Student Lounge, sports and the gym, should give the students a manageable and inspiring everyday life. A new edition this year is the certificate “Open association”, given to associations without entry requirements, so that they are spotted more easily.
Both AU and SiÅs work every day to make sure the life as a student is manageable and rewarding, so that you don’t feel like you’re left out. But in case it happens, having a safety net to help you back on your feet is crucial, says Martine.
That the Health Station includes students, is a bonus, says Wilhelm. He describes it as a clever partnership, where NMBU and SiÅs make the academic community bigger, and the service better for both youth and students. But because the service for students is not mandated by law, it is vulnerable to the shrinking budgets. In 2024, the government reduces the funding for mental health services for students. This might mean that they have to “use the cheese slicer” on some of the positions. Wilhelm can, however, assure us that this service will continue to exist at least until 2025.
“We have arranged protests to keep the Health Station before, when they have considered budget cuts,” say Wilhelm. “But it can be difficult to justify that the municipality should spend money on us, rather than families with children for example,” he admits. Many students don’t officially move to Ås, therefore free healthcare services for them are costly for the municipality.
Head of SiÅs Pål Magnus Løken pops by and enters the conversation. He says SiÅs works to make sure the students get the services they need. He points out that a grand total of 500 students officially moved to Ås last year, therefore the municipality receives almost 18 million NOK more from the government. This money should be sufficient to keep the Health Station services at an acceptable level, he says.
Let’s hope he is right, and that the municipality, NMBU and SiÅs will defend these fantastic services with their heart and soul. And remember – you can always pop by the Student Lounge or the Health Station if you need someone to talk to. The bar couldn’t be lower.
