SHS Podcast: Welcome to Texas A&M University – Student Health Services
[Narrator Voice #1]: Howdy and welcome to the TAMUhealth podcast. Conversations about health as it relates to the Texas A&M student. Brought to you by Student Health Services. You can find us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), our handle is @TAMUhealth, and visit our website at shs.tamu.edu. Thanks for tuning in.
[Female Voice #1]: Im Dr. Dena George
[Female Voice #2]: I’m Dr. Tiffany Skaggs.
[Female Voice #1]: We are starting this podcast as a way to reach you and to let you know that we’re available. Our goal is to help you stay well and do well, and as you’re learning more academically, as you’re learning more about your body, to help with that process, and to be a champion for great health.
[Female Voice #2]: Let me start out by doing a little introduction of myself. Howdy, I’m Dr. Tiffany Skaggs, Class of 1995 and 1999. I graduated from Texas A&M University with a BA in Biology in 1995, went to Texas A&M College of Medicine, Class of 1999, and then completed the Scott & White Texas A&M Family Medicine Residency in Temple, Texas in 2002. I’m a board certified Family Practice Physician and a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Practice. I’ve been a Family Doctor in Central Texas area, in the Branson, Missouri area, North Texas area around Wichita Falls, for the past 15 years, but I got back to Texas A&M as soon as I could and I’ve been here since June of 2016. Proud wife to Rick and mom to three teenagers: Will, Jillian, and Abby. I also happen to be the Director of Preventive Medicine here at the health center.
[Female Voice #1]: In addition, Dr. Skaggs serves as the Chief of the Medical Staff within the clinic so she has got an abundance of knowledge and experience on leading a team as well.
So, I’m Dr. Dena George and I got to Texas as soon as I could. I attended Medical School at Uniformed Services University, which is in Bethesda, Maryland, and trained in residency at Fort Hood in Texas with the U.S. Army. I’m also Board Certified in Family Medicine and mom to, I hope, a future Aggie, we’ll see. I’m married to an amazing man named Craig. We are glad to be in College Station.
[Female Voice #2]: A little bit about the Student Health Services.
[Female Voice #1]: Yeah, so, why are we doing what we do? The reason for this podcast is really to reach out and to make sure that folks know where we’re at and why we do what we do. The goal is, again, is stay well and do well, and it’s bringing together a large group of individuals that are focused on just that. So we have a group of Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, a Physician Assistant, nursing staff, and multiple departments that are all focused on serving the student so that when illness occurs, when something unexpected occurs, such as injury, when there are questions navigating the medical world, or symptoms that come up with the body, that we are the resource, that we’re here and we stand ready.
[Female Voice #2]: That’s true, unique to this healthcare system is that we really focus to promote student development at both the academic level and the physical level. We feel like we’re preparing them for academic success. Like you said, our motto is stay well and do well at Texas A&M.
[Female Voice #1]: The goal is to complement and provide continuity for care that students are receiving at home, so that it’s not choosing one place or another place, but rather working collaboratively to continue optimal health.
[Female Voice #2]: We’re committed to aligning with the University and the Division of Student Affairs under Dr. Pugh, their mission and priorities, and we follow the guiding principles of student-centered care, evidence-based medicine, and continuous quality improvement.
[Female Voice #1]: So we’re reaching out in a few different ways for this academic year. The podcast is one, a blog is another one, Howdy Week events, so please come by and see us during Howdy Week to say hello, pick up a t-shirt, and see what we have to offer.
[Female Voice #2]: Corps Health Fair, that’s another one. We are involved in The Big Event every year.
[Female Voice #1]:So in the spring, look for us. And we’ve got a great podcast lineup for this fall. So we’re going to be talking about ways to take care of yourself that may not require doctor’s visits, such as over the counter medications and how to use them, first-aid kit and what to have at home, talking about cold, flu, sore throat, talking about sexual health and contraception, as well as urinary tract infections and women’s health. There’s a podcast on eating disorders, on mindfulness and meditation, the roleof antibiotics and specifically the limitations of antibiotics and appropriate use.
[Female Voice #2]: Ways to keep yourself healthy: sleep.
[Female Voice #1]: And that’s just for the fall.
[Female Voice #2]: Meditation. So, yeah.
[Female Voice #1]: So every other week, we’ll have a podcast that you can listen to at your own time. So, we’ve talked about why we do what we do. Let’s be more specific about how we do it.
[Female Voice #2]: Okay, so how we do it is we have, of course, a physical clinic, a physical address on the beautiful campus of Texas A&M. For any of you old Ags who will know this, we are at 311 Houston Street, right across the street from All Faiths Chapel, between the YMCA and Sbisa, facing the Academic Building, right on Military Walk. You can see the Century Tree, sometimes we get to see people get engaged under the Century Tree. So, it’s really super, super nice, central location. We’re open Monday thru Friday, available to students. And what we do is kind of really actually pretty broad. We do kind of bread and butter general care like allergies, colds, flus, respiratory infections, nausea, vomiting, headaches, sprains, strains, laceration repair, IV fluid. But we also do a lot of prevention, including exams, we do physicals (athletics physicals, Corps of Cadets physicals, scuba physicals). We do a lot of sexual health counseling and contraception, screening pap’s.
[Female Voice #1]: It may be easier to talk about what we don’t do. [Laughing]
[Female Voice #2]: That’s true. We don’t do a lot of surgeries.
[Female Voice #1]:This is true.
[Female Voice #2]:Maybe minor skin things, we do that, but we don’t do surgeries.
[Female Voice #1]: Yeah, anything that’s serious or severe, we rely on the community and we serve as a connection to the community to receive that specialty care. The clinic really serves, as you said, such a broad range of problems that it’s a great place to start if you have any questions or concerns about your health. Start with us. On our team we have 15 physicians, a physician assistant, 5 nurse practitioners, at least 25 nurses, a lab, a radiology that performs x-rays and ultrasound.
[Female Voice #2]: We have a dietitian, we have physical therapy, we have a dedicated Women’s Clinic, Case Management that helps coordinate care outside of the clinic and inside of the clinic.
[Female Voice #1]: A preventive medicine and travel clinic.
[Female Voice #2]: Preventive Medicine, which really does a broad range and treats actually thousands of patients a year. They do immunotherapy for allergies, they do TB screening, treat latent TB cases, and then travel medicine including all the immunizations for pretty much anywhere in the world and preventive medications.
[Female Voice #1]: And then Emergency Medical Services has two ambulances, and a full team ready to respond to any emergencies.
[Female Voice #2]: I think they had over 900 runs in the last year, they’re busy.
[Female Voice #1]:The cost for the Student Health Services clinic is incorporated into the student health fee. There are additional costs for different services, including a very small cost for a visit.
[Female Voice #2]: We do file on pretty much any insurance also. Depending on what’s in network plays into that, but I think we keep costs really low to the student. One of the things that helps that is our in-house pharmacy. Absolutely, they keep costs very low on prescriptions and OTC products.
[Female Voice #1]: So whether you have insurance or you don’t have insurance, by being enrolled here at Texas A&M, you have a place to come to obtain medical care.
[Female Voice #2]: For a very low cost.
[Female Voice #1]: Yeah.
[Female Voice #2]: I think we should thank Dr. Martha Dannenbaum who’s our Medical Director at the clinic for supporting this project, and Dr. Anne Reber, and Dr. Pugh, who’s the Vice President of Student Affairs.
[Female Voice #1]: We’re so glad you’re here. Thank you for listening to us. Have a terrific semester, and we’ll see you at the A.P. Beutel Health Center.
[Narrator Voice #1]: This is a production of TAMU health. Please note that these conversations are never meant to replace your home primary care physician. For any specific health questions, and prior to making a change with your medical care, please discuss with your provider, or come see us at Student Health Services. If you have specific topics for thepodcast, you can reach us through social media (TAMUhealth) on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or send us an email at . More information about the clinic can be found at Thanks and Gig ‘Em!
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