Pierce College made a contract with virtual service Timelycare this year, intended to provide well-being and mental health access for students.
Given recent economic worries and health care difficulties for students who aren’t dependent on parents, it is meant to ease the already heavy burden of a college life.
Director of the Student Health Center Houry Tanashian said services have been open since Aug. 28.
“We are trying to do outreach to let students know this service is available to them,” Tanashian said. “The entire staff is learning how to work the Timelycare system.”
Through an app on a smartphone, this center can be accessed with a login register by typing an individual’s student email or through the website online. From there, a profile page can be filled with the name and a couple of identification markers. Mental health care services, personal counseling and yoga may be scheduled, which are free to the students and insurance isn’t necessary.
“The practitioners and the clinicians belong to the Timelycare agency– they are not a part of Pierce College,” Tanashian said. “But these are all licensed psychologists and clinicians that help the students.”
While the Student Health Center is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays (except Friday which is 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), Timelycare is a 24/7 service for every day of the week including holidays and breaks.
ASO President Gayane Zazyan said for either full-time or part-time students, the service may prove to be beneficial for their well-being.
“Student’s mental health is a priority for us,” Zazyan said.
Excluding private physicians and clinicians, the two major health centers outside Pierce are the West Hills Hospital and Medical Center and the Kaiser Permanente Center.
The United States continues to have the costliest healthcare throughout the world. Healthcare spending reached up to $4.3 trillion in 2021. That averages to approximately $12,900 per person, and it includes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic according to the Peter J. Peterson Foundation.
Despite efforts from the government to make it affordable, people still continue to feel stress from premiums and taxes.
Jonathan Green, a Pierce student double majoring in economics and physics, said he is fortunate to be dependent on his parents but knows many students who experience the woes of the healthcare system.
“I know many people who have trouble with healthcare with basic things like dental,” Green said. “They leave it alone until it gets bad enough that they have to get it treated.”
