We’ve all had days when the alarm goes off and we wake up feeling like death warmed up. The causes of this can be manifest. Sometimes we’ve simply had too much to drink, sometimes it was that extra couple of hours you decided were worth sacrificing to get that assignment done and sometimes it is simply because our fragile student immune systems have been over-powered by some virulent virus that seeks our destruction.

Admittedly it is far more likely that we’ve simply come down with a simple case of the snuffles or a little bit of food poisoning but when you have an 8:30 lecture everything feels worse. A bit of a headache suddenly feels like a herd of elephants in your skull, a slightly sore throat feels like sandpaper and your bed feels even more comfortable than it has ever felt before. There is a lot of debate over the best move to make at this point. Some recommend going to the doctor and others suggest shrugging it off and heading to class. I’m a strong advocate of lying on the couch, sipping Lemsip and watching Dr. Phil till I feel better. If whatever I’ve got hasn’t gone away by the next day then it’s time to head up to campus to make an appointment to see a doctor.

International students should breathe a sigh of relief here as OSHC makes it free to see a doctor on campus. They also partially cover the cost of some of the medicine you might get prescribed so keep the receipts and take them to the International office on Monday, Wednesday or Friday to be compensated. OSHC does not cover an ambulance unless there’s a serious emergency so unless you want to fork out $500 for a trip to the hospital you’d be well advised to take out separate ambulance cover when you arrive because you never know when you’ll use it.

As far as hospitals go Murdoch has one right next door, St John of God. However, it is a private hospital which means OSHC does not cover getting treatment there. In an emergency I’d recommend heading into Fremantle as the hospital there IS covered by OSHC, at least partially, so at least you won’t be stuck with a big bill after treatment. I do not recommend hanging out in the emergency room without a friend or two as some of the people that wander in can be rather scary especially at 3 a.m. on Halloween.

For sexual health and counselling services you can go to the Health & Counselling centre. Generally speaking the nurse is always on hand to help out people without needing an appointment. The nurse is very nice and won’t laugh at you when you have a minor freak out during a blood test, not that I’ve ever done that. I haven’t had any one to one time with the counsellors but they ran a workshop on shyness last semester and I found them to be very pleasant. There are also regular STD screenings that students can get if they feel they need it as well as free condoms available to help practice safe sex. All in all it’s a very useful service on campus.

I think students have pretty decent health services on campus apart from some problems with OSHC. If you can afford it then perhaps checking out some private alternatives wouldn’t be a bad idea but not essential. That’s probably enough rambling on this topic but I might blog a bit more about student health later in the semester, especially with the village being a breeding ground for flu, but more on that later.