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BY MICHAEL BYRD
It’s one of the “moat modern
facilities of a campus in the
state,” according to Dean of
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Campus physician Dr. Roy Denney examines student Brenda
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The man with the pills, pharmacist Doug Almon, dispenses prescriptions to student Andrea Robin
son.
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Infirmary called one of best in state
Student Services Bruce Lyon.
It’s open 24-hours-a-day, seven
days a week and it operates
entirely on fees paid by
students.
It is the West Georgia College
Infirmary headed by Dr. Roy
Denney, full-time physician.
Denney, a Carrollton eye-ear
nose-and-throat specialist who
has retired from private
practice, is at the center from 8
a.m. until lp.m. He has been on
the West Georgia staff since fall
quarter.
When the doctor is not there,
the nurses run the center in
three 8-hour shifts. Fifteen
beds are available for overnight
patients. The center is run on
the $lB fee paid by all students
taking more than six quarter
hours. The fee is optional for
students taking fewer hours.
The clinic also has a full-time
registered pharmacist in Doug
Almon, who works from 8 a.m.
until 4 p.m. Almon, who worked
for 10 years with Robinson Drug
Cos. before coming to West
Georgia February, says that
the campus pharmacy is
well stocked with 125
prescription drugs and some
over-the-counter medications
and is adding to the count all the
time. “We’re filling nearly as
many prescriptions as a retail
pharmacy,” he says.
Almon fills between 80 and 100
prescriptions in an average
day, predominantly
tetracycline, he says, and with
the hay-fever season ap
proaching, Antihistamines.
During the winter months,
however, the average was
much higher. One day in
January, Almon filled a record
212 prescriptions, and the
month saw over 2,000 filled.
The pharmacy has expanded
quite a bit since the state made
the requirement that a
registered pharmacist must be
at the center if prescription
drugs are to be dispensed.
Generic drugs are used to
reduce the cost and 95 parent
of the medications are bought
through a state-bid contract at
about half price.
It is not the practice of the
center to prescribe placebos
(inert medications having only
a psychological effect), ac
cording to a nurse, who
preferred not to be named. “I
don’t believe in that. Who’s to
say who’s really sick?” she
said. Almon agrees, and says
he has not filled a prescription
with placebos since he has been
here.
Some medications, such as
insulin for diabetics, anti
convulsants, and other
“maintenance”medications,
aren’t stocked at the center.
Other services, such as X-rays,
have to be handled by other
facilities, usually Tanner
Memorial Hospital. There is a
charge for these services. The
clinic is without its own am
bulance, and must rely on
Public Safety in some cases, but
is usually served by Metro of
Carrollton.
Several health programs
other than standard services
are offered by the infirmary,
including a gynecological
(GYN) clinic, formerly the
Family Planning Clinic. It is
held twice a month and is
usually full. Anyone interested
must sign up ahead of time
because the clinic can only
serve 20 people a session. It is
booked through May. Pap
smears are offered to test for
cancer with a charge of $3.50.
This is a good deal, according to
one nurse, because the fee for a
comparable service in a non
campus facility would be
around $35. Blood analysis is
done at Tanner.
A small lab at the campus
facility handles other types of
blood work, along with
urinalyses, pregnancy tests,
throat cultures, and tests for
mononucleosis. Veneral
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disease testing is done here.
There is no charge for V.D.
screening. If diagnosed,
Veneral disease is usually
treated with a shot of penicillin
followed by a prescription of
tetracycline.
Despite what rumors may be
circulating about the infirmary,
most treatments are not for
V.D., Almon said. Most of the
complaints are concerning
virus, strep, and “flu-like”
symptoms.
Some students have com
plained that they did not get
to see the doctor when they’ve
been to the infirmary. One
student who was suffering from
a stomach disorder which was
eventually diagnosed as
gastritis, said he was not
treated by the doctor, while
another student said that she
went to the clinic a short time
after 1 p.m. and, although the
doctor wasn’t in, codeine was
prescribed for her pain.
According to Dr. Denney, he
is available when patients need
him. His staff, which he
describes as “very competent,”
schedules the patients between
7 a.m. and 3 p.m. so that when
he is there he is constantly
attending to patients. Although
his usual hours are 8-1, he will
see patients at other times if
they make arrangements
ahead.
Dr. Denney says that he
doesn’t come in at 7 “if there is
no one to see.” Denney con
tends that health work is “done
by the job, not by the hour. We
don’t punch clocks here. You
work according to the work
you’ve got to do.”
“Overall, Dr. Denney feels
that the infirmary on this
campus is quite adequate for a
college of this size. Dr. Denney
says that, of course, you can
always improve on equip
ment,” but “we’re not a
hospital.”
Most students will never need
the full treatment a hospital
could provide, however. For
them, the infirmary provides
the care they’d otherwise have
to travel miles to home for.