On Monday, the campus community was alerted via email that after 33 years of operation, the Alternative Clinic would no longer see patients. Co-directors Christina Vitolo and Erica Basco explained in the release that a member of the SUNY General Counsel has deemed the clinic a financial liability for the college. The release read, “There has never been a lawsuit brought against the Alternative Clinic, but the student co-directors and interns are in a gray area that poses a legal vulnerability and potential financial risk to the College, according to the lawyer’s analysis.”
Personally, I am skeptical about this analysis, and it raised many questions for me. For example, why, after 33 years, is the clinic being deemed a “liability” now? Shouldn’t this have been determined when the clinic was first proposed, or first became a service on campus? Where will the 120-160 students that use the clinic annually get their exams, pregnancy tests, and birth control prescriptions? And, if the answer to the previous question is Health Services, how will they handle this influx of new patients?
In recent weeks, female health care has been under attack. Susan G. Komen threatened to remove their funding to Planned Parenthood, which provides breast exams and mammogram referrals to women around the country. The Catholic Church attacked new health care legislation that planned to make birth control free and easily accessible through insurance companies.
After these, and other incidents, I can’t help but ask: Is the closing of the Alternative Clinic another attack on health care for female-bodied students at Purchase?
The Alternative Clinic is an extremely valuable service at Purchase. I encourage all students to sign the petition to keep its doors open, as well as to follow FORTH’s Facebook group because there has been talk of an upcoming open forum about the clinic’s closing.
Here is a link to the petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/help-keep-purchase-colleges-alternative-clinic-up-and-running-overturn-their-decision-that-regards-the-alt-clinic-as-a-liability.
I would also like to commend Christina and Erica for their service at the Clinic, as well as their efforts to educate female-bodied students at Purchase about reproductive health. In their statement, they wrote, “This is a transitional year in which we will look for new ways to follow our mission of providing students with access to essential information about reproductive health. We plan on becoming more and more active on campus as a service that advocates for accessible gynecological healthcare.”
Thank you for all the work you, and the Alt Clinic interns, have done for Purchase students. I hope that the college will recognize how priceless the Alt Clinic is and reverse this decision.
— Christie Rotondo
Campus Correspondent of Her Campus at SUNY Purchase