Be Careful What Doc You Choose

Everyone knows that checking up on background information is the best thing you can do when it comes to getting a new doctor. You go to the right websites and you read the ratings and then you make your smart choice, but sometimes even that doesn't work out. Apparently, that's whats happening to me.

When I turned 18, it meant it was time to leave the pediatrician and finally go to the "grown up" doctor, so pretty much goodbye chalkboard wall that was actually entertaining and hello Elderly Magazine. I went to my mom's doctor, who my mom had only good experiences with and who was a woman so I felt more comfortable. It was good, until now.

At the beginning of this year I had to go get a yearly physical. Now I had gained the freshman 15 being away from home and I was dealing with it, but at the same time trying to deal with it in a way that would not cause me to lapse back into a previous eating disorder, so it would be tame to say that I was a little sensitive about my weight. So when I got there I asked the nurses and doctor "hey, please don't tell me my weight, its for personal reasons I don't wanna tell everyone" and they said "ok". Somehow "ok" turned into telling me my weight as well as that I need to check out some diet books and lose about 20 lbs.

I put this encounter behind me and said "fuck it, I'm gonna lose the weight safely, not get obsessed again" and thats what I've been doing, but now the ultimate letdown.

When you sign up with a new doctor, they give you this little yellow (or white or whatever other color of the rainbow, mine was yellow) form that says "yes you can request my medical history records" and thus you expect them to do this. Well I joined my mom's doctor at 18 and I'm now 20. So a week ago when I requested that they fax these forms to my school so that I could register for classes on time, they said no problem.

They neglected to tell me that they hadn't bothered to ever request them from my previous doctor. Then they neglected to still not request them. A few days before my registration day I noticed the medical history hold was still on my account. Like anyone would, I freaked out and called my school's health services department (the place that holds all the records) and asked why it was there, low and behold the didn't send any of the records from before I joined my doctor. With panic I called my doctor and the nurse on the phone said "no problem, let me make sure they're all ready and I'll call you back." I gave the nurse by number so that she could get a hold of me, but I never heard from her again.

Registration days has come and gone and I am not registered. The hold on my account has not been removed, my doctor's office never called my number, but instead the answering machine that only my mother can get into, only to leave a message that they didn't have the records, and yet again were for some reason not requesting them.

So what does this mean? It means my mom is being forced to play Wonder Woman with 5 different people acting as the villains in the way. It means that the classes I need to take are almost all full and waitlisted with at least 10 people. It means that I now may end up being a quarter behind when I was already trying to catch up. It means check up on who the hell your doctor is.

I'm now switching to my brother's doctor, and will most likely have to go through the giant pile of elephant sized shit again.

LGBTQ Community Club Needed

Whenever a high school student thinks about college, they envision interesting classes, being out on their own, and most of all, meeting new people from every community and culture and enjoying this through different clubs. This is the vision I was given at Evergreen State University, but here at SPU, it’s definitely not been the same.

SPU has clubs of every kind, but one club that isn’t allowed to be included in the roster of official SPU clubs is that representing the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning) community.

The interesting fact though is that there is a group seeking to be the missing LGBTQ club: SPU Haven.

Every community group needs a voice and expects one in college and at Seattle Pacific University, the restrictions and exclusions being forced upon SPU Haven need to change. Since 2007, Haven has constantly been trying to find acceptance as an official SPU club, but have not succeeded.

Having attended a high school that openly accepted LGBTQ youth, as well as being part of the Garfield High School GSA (gay/straight alliance), I was shocked and somewhat disgusted by the fact that there was no club at SPU, especially with openly gay students attending.

So why is there no official club for homosexual students and their straight peers and supporters to come together?     

The SPU Statement on Human Sexuality (a release that is gone over and copyrighted every year) states that while they promote tolerance that “Within the teaching of our religious tradition, we affirm that sexual experience is intended between a man and a woman.”

It is understood that as a private Christian college, SPU does have to be careful on the subject of homosexuality considering it is a controversial topic. Many students and faculty may not support the school if they openly accepted homosexuality, that they may see the school as promoting it if Haven were to become an official club, and thus to lose many donors and students.

But is the peace among the general student body and faculty really worth keeping away such an important club from many students?

All official clubs at the school are given spots on both the “SPU Clubs and Organizations” webpage and the SPU ASSP website. Along with this official clubs are able to gain club funding from ASSP, the group that runs events at the school, as well as get events shown on the ASSP webpage.

Because they are not being given official status, SPU Haven sees none of these benefits.

While the school does allow Haven a place to meet on campus, the group has been met more by obstacles from having their booth for Day of Silence, a day created to bring awareness to abuse towards the gay community, in 2009 being torn down, to being refused official status, even when complying to all the terms set to obtain official status.

One of the main responsibilities of a college is to give their students a place to congregate over topics in a safe environment. Missing a club the represents such a large number of students and community members can only hurt the student body.   

While I am not a current member of SPU Haven, I have attended one of the events they have put on and have seen firsthand the conversations and ideas that they have started and how much they benefit the school already.