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Aggie med techs live in Health Center
By Mark Herron
Battalion Reporter
Steve Borron has been in the
Beutel Health Center every day for
the past two years.
But don’t feel sorry for him — he
gets paid for it.
Borron lives in a room on the
second floor of the Health Center,
where he’s a student worker. Frank
Felts and Jim Persons, also stu
dents, live there too.
David Sabado, also a student
worker at the Health Center, is mar
ried and lives off-campus.
Borron said he and the other
workers alternate working 5 p.m. till
7:30 a.m. each day. Their respon-
siblities include X-raying patients,
performing lab tests such as
measuring blood counts and driving
the ambulance.
Borron, a senior from Imperial,
said they make 15 to 20 ambulance
runs a month.
“Most of the calls are for people
who sprained their ankle while play
ing intramurals,” said Felts, a
sophomore from Houston.
“Some serious cases have come
up,” Borron said, “where visitors to
the campus have had heart attacks
or strokes.
“In those cases we take the pa
tient to one of the hospitals in
Bryan.”
Borron said the worst case he
remembers was a student who was
stabbed in the chest by his suite-
mate.
“We bandaged him up and took
him to St. Joseph’s (Hospital).”
“We’re required to be
Emergency Medical Technicians,”
he said about the qualifications for
the jobs.
“To be certified you have to take
a health education class, have 40
hours of experience working in a
hospital and pass an exam given by
the state.”
Felts said he doesn’t think the
Health Center deserves the name
“the Quack Shack.”
“I’d say the students get pretty
good care for their money.”
One area Borron is concerned
about is ambulance service. “We
use a I972 Ford station wagon for
an ambulance,” he said. “It’s got
96,000 miles on it and sometimes
we can’t make an emergency call
because the ambulance is in the
shop.”
Borron, a zoology major, and
Felts, a med student have hopes of
being accepted to Texas A&M’s
School of Medicine.
“If nothing else” Felts said, “hav
ing this job shows I have enough
interest in medicine, that I don’t
mind getting my hands dirty.”
Borron said he is paid $3.14 per
hour, while Felts, who has worked
in the Health Center four months,
makes $2.75.
Room and board costs around
$100 per month, Borron said.
Felts said they eat in the Health
Center cafeteria that’s only open to
the staff and patients. “We don’t get
room service,” he said.
Borron said the job rarely gets in
the way of his studies. But some
times a patient may require con
stant “lab work” throughout the
night.
“A diabetic may come in and you
might have to take his blood sugar
count every 30 minutes,” he said.”
You might be up all night before a
major exam and not get to study.”
“We usually work about 20 hours
a week,” said Felts.
Borron said living in the Health
Center differs little from living in a
regular dorm, “except there are no
panty raids.”
Their rooms consist of a small
living area with Health Center furni
ture and decor, two bedrooms with
dirty clothes draped across the
bunkbeds and one bathroom.
A stack of 28 take-out pizza
boxes sit in one corner the room.
“We average three or four pizi as a
week,” Felts said, “one of t lese
days we’re going to take the boxes
back to Domino Pizza and demand
a free pizza.”
Borron said they are able to play
their stereo, but not very loudly. “It
stays pretty quiet around here,” he
said. “It’s a great place to study.”
The main problem with living in
the Health Center, Borron said, is a
lack of privacy. There’s a sign on
the door that reads, “Staff Only,”
and that creates a lot of problems,
he said.
“Most people think this is an of
fice, he said, “so people barge in
while you’re sitting around in your
underwear.”
Lack of privacy is not the only
problem though. “Every time I go to
cash a check,” Borron said, “I go
through an interrogation.”
“The cashier never believes the
address on my check because it
says I live at the Health Center,” he
said.
“When people ask me where I
live,” Felts said, “I say the Health
Center, and they say, ‘you live
where?’
“Then I have to go over the whole
story of why I live here,” Felts said.
But, he also said, “It’s a great
way to get a conversation started.”
One of the four student workers who live in on campus. They make I5 to 20 ambulance
the Health Center, makes an ambulance run runs a month.
TRAVEL TIPS
Europe’s low cost youth hostel
and railway systems are the key
to successful travel.
A fee of $11 to join the Interna
tional Youth Hostels Association
could save a student traveling in
Europe more than $20 a night in
hotel expenses.
YOUTH HOSTELS are located
in most major European cities. With
a membership card, a student can
stay in any hostel for only three to
eight dollars a night, with some
even providing breakfast. Although
it may be possible to write for an
advance reservation, it’s usually not
hard to get a spot.
The hostels are “big dorms" with
about 12 bunk beds to a room. And
even though they give you a tube
shaped sleeping sack you should
have your own sleeping bag.
There may be some thieves so a
good place to put valuables is in the
bottom of a sleeping bag.
Public transportation in Europe is
quite different that in the United
States and student travelers highly
recommend buying Eurail
Youthpasses because trains are
relatively inexpensive and go al
most everywhere.
A ONE-MONTH pass will make it
possible to travel in fifteen different
countries for $160. A two-month
pass is $260.
The European train stations are a
good place to pick up tourist infor
mation on where to stay, bus routes
or directions to a student travel of
fice.
Purchasing travelers checks be
fore leaving the U.S. is a good idea,
not only for protection, but usually
only big tourist traps will accept U.S.
currency. And banks charge 1 to 2
percent when changing currency —
so you would lose some money this
way.
Besides, Europeans really do
work bankers hours and some
close'as early as 1 p.m.
THE FOOD in Europe is expen
sive, especially in Switzerland and
Germany where the value of the dol
lar is low. The French sales-tax sys
tem makes its food also expensive.
While traveling, a way to take
care of some meals is to visit local
markets and buy bread, cheese and
wine, all of which can be easily car
ried in a backpack.
Since time is important to most
students, flying is the fastest way to
get to Europe. Choosing an airline
is difficult, but a good way is to
check newspapers and travel
agencies to compare prices and
quality.
Choose a reputable charter firm
or travel agency to protect yourself.
Tour operators are very competitive
and there are some airlines that fly
charters exclusively.
BY CHARTER, a round trip ticket
costs about half the price of a com
mercial flight. The pitfall of this way
to travel is the high risk of the char
ter not operating — that is the chart
operator may cancel at any time,
even on the departure date while
the passengers are at the airport
waiting for their plane to take off.
By charter, the student must
leave and return on specific dates.
Laker Airlines’ Skytrain goes
from New York to London on a “first
come, first served” basis. No reser
vations are taken except for those
who are not able to get on the first
flight they wait for.
A Skytrain now also flies round
trip from Los Angeles to London for
about $367. The round trip flight
from New York is about $254. In
flight meals are an additional $3.50.
Germs don’t need a passport
United Press International
An ounce of prevention could be worth more than a
pound of cure for Americans traveling abroad, medi
cally speaking.
Vaccinations against smallpox may no longer be
required since the World Health Organization has re
ported the eradication of the once-dreaded disease.
(China still requires inoculation, however.)
But even so, precautions may still be necessary to
protect the American traveler in foreign lands against
other potential health hazards, such as cholera, yellow
fever, typhoid and malaria. Check public health offi
cials, airlines and travel agents on conditions about 10
days before departure to allow time for any inocula
tions.
Americans planning to visit or pass through infected
areas should obtain necessary immunizations before
leaving home. Failure to do so could result in being
quarantined or even denied entry. And other countries
on the itinerary will demand proof of immunization for
admission, as will the United States on return home.
Cholera shots can be administered by the family
doctor or local public health services — usually two
injections at least seven days apart — and are good for
six months. Only one booster shot is necessary.
Yellow fever vaccinations — one injection — last 10
years but can only be given at U.S. Public Health
Service or officially designated centers in most major
U.S. cities.
The inoculations — along with other required and
recommended shots — must be recorded in the au
thorized International Certificate of Vaccination form
and validated with the official stamp of the health de
partment and-or immunization center.