/ NEWS / WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
CAMPUS
Counseling services struggle with demand
BY KIRSTEN KWON kkwon@kansan.com
The next available appointment at the Counseling and Psychological Services at Watkins Health Center is March 31 seven days from now.
For students such as Ashley, a sophomore who asked not to be identified, waiting at least a week to see a counselor is too long. Ashley said she made a call
to CAT's last September to schedule an appointment to discus her parents' divorce and was told she would need to wait two months for the next available appointment.
"There was a terrible wait and
"There was a terrible wait and I was pretty mad and frustrated. If it was an emergency that would be a problem."
I was pretty mad and frustrated," she said. "If it was an emergency that would be a problem."
toward the middle of the fall and spring semesters.
The CAPS department at Watkins most commonly sees students who seek individual counseling for anxiety and depression. Because of the heavy traffic of students seeking counseling and the staff of just nine licensed psychologists available, the wait list sometimes longer than the 10 days for which Pamela Botts, clinical director, said they aim. CAPS usually experiences a higher demand for counseling service
"Mid-semester it starts getting busy," Botts said. "I think by that time people are getting settled in and they can see if they're going to have difficulty in their courses."
Ashley decided to seek help elsewhere but also went to her appointment at CAPS. After she saw a counselor the first time it became easier for her to schedule
visits.
ASHLEY Sophomore
"O n c e you've established your counselor it's easier to see them and get appointments" she said.
Outreach Coordinator John Wade said that the department
tried to see students as soon as possible but that delays occurred because of scheduling conflicts and the small staff of counselors.
"I think it would help if we had more people on staff but I will say we try very hard to keep our waiting list very short, which it typically is," Wade said, "but it also depends on the students schedules as well."
Wade said the counselors set aside time for emergency visits. The CAPS receptionist asks students about the severity of their issues and asks whether they need
COUNSELING AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES
Staff: Nine licensed psychologists
Personal Counseling Services: First visit, which lasts about 50 minutes, focuses on identifying the problem or concern and creating a plan for goals and expectations.
Fees
First visit for individuals, couples and groups: $15
Brief psychiatric visit (15 mins): $25
Psychiatric evaluation (1 hour): $65
Extended psychiatric visit (1 hour): $65
Appointments:
to be seen that day.
785-864-CAPS (2277)
"If the person really needs to be seen, they need to let us know." Wade said.
The CAPS department is open all year. Botts said it was far less busy during the summer. She said the department tried to accommodate students' needs quickly.
"We have really worked on streamlining our system as much as we can," Botts said. "If the wait seems too long we do our best to work them in."
— Edited by Taylor Bern
LAWRENCE
Students volunteer to help visually impaired
BY ZACH GETZ
zgetz@kansan.com
Last year Molly Coon wanted to make a New Year's resolution that mattered.
"I felt like I was thinking about myself a lot. As a student you kind of have to, thinking about your major and your tests," Coon, a senior from Prairie Village. "I."
"The best thing is I feel I'm doing something for the community."
Audio-Reader volunteers also read magazines and novels, and users who want a special request read may send it to Audio-Reader, and then volunteers will record it
felt like it was becoming a burden and I wanted to do something for someone else."
MOLLY COON
A senior from Prarie Village
So for over a year now Coon has been one of the 14 students who volunteer at Audio-Reader, a University radio reading service for the blind and print disabled located at 1120 W. 11th St.
Volunteers read and record printed material through a closed circuit radio or a telephone service where users can call a special number and sift through various publications such as the University Daily Kansan, the Kansas City Star and the Topeka Capitol Journal.
onto a CD.
The service is free of charge and paid for with state funding, grants and private donations.
"We have special request from a grad student up on campus who is working on her dissertation, and we're reading about 2,700 pages of photocopied microfiche."
Jennifer Nigro, coordinator of vol unteers at Audio-Reader, said.
Audio-Reader has been around since 1971 and is the second oldest program of its kind in the country.
"We cover not only people with blindness, but with other vision and physical problems that present them from reading normal printed material," Nigro said.
It serves around 6,000 listeners in Kansas and Western Missouri including University students and staff members,Nigro said.
Coon has read through a range of different media and is currently working on a novel called "Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky."
"With this novel I've started to use different accents like for French people," Coon said. "So that's really fun."
Coon said that the job was pretty straight forward and that she loved her work.
"Sometimes there are words that I don't know how to pronounce and have to look up, but then I learn a new word," Coon said. "The best thing is I feel I'm doing something for the community and that's a new feeling, and it feels pretty good."
Mary Beth Woodson, a graduate student from Baton Rouge, La., has been volunteering for Audio-Reader for the past five years. She said family was a large part of why she got involved.
"It's a nice little hour and a half away from things and I've been reading things I wouldn't normally read." Woodson said. "It's a nice little way to give back."
Woodson said she stuck with it so long because she enjoyed helping people out, and it was a good break from her school work and other responsibilities.
"Both of my uncles are legally blind." Woodson said. Her mother also teaches the visually impaired.
Edited by Kate Larrabee
Sunny disposition
Karsten Lunde/KANSAN
From left, Steven Kongs, a junior from Topeka, Adam Pfifer, a sophomore from Topeka, Garrett McGraw, a sophomore from Topeka, Elizabeth Waters, a sophomore from Topeka, and Elissa Frost, a freshman from Topeka, gave free compliment to passivity on Wescoe Beach Tuesday afternoon. The group made a list of things to do before the end of the semester and decided that, because it was such a nice day, to help make the day nicer for passing students. The temperature neared 70 degrees Tuesday, although the next couple of days may bring rain and cooler temperatures.
NATIONAL
States file health care lawsuit Minutes after Obama signs bill, 13 states sue to overturn it
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The White House says it isn't worried that 13 state attorneys general are suing to overturn the massive health care overhaul, and many legal experts agree the effort is futile.
But the lawsuit, filed in federal court seven minutes after President Barack Obama signed the '10-year,' $938 billion health care bill, underscores the divisiveness of the issue and the political rancor that has surrounded it.
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum led the effort to file the suit that claims Congress doesn't have the constitutional right to force people to get health coverage.
It also says the federal government is violating the Constitution by forcing a mandate on the states without providing resources to pay for it.
"To that I say, 'Bring it on,' said White House domestic policy chief Melody Barnes, who cited similar suits filed over Social Security and
the Voting Rights Act when those were passed.
"If you want to look in the face of a parent whose child now has health care insurance and say we're repealing that ... go right ahead."
A 14th state, Virginia, did not join the bigger lawsuit, but filed its own, which other states are also considering.
McCollum, a Republican running for governor, has been talking about suing to overturn the bill since December.
So far South Carolina,
Nebraska, Texas, Michigan, Utah,
Pennsylvania, Alabama, South
Dakota, Idaho, Washington,
Colorado and Louisiana have
agreed.
This month he invited other attorneys general to join him.
All the attorneys general are Republican except James "Buddy" Caldwell of Louisiana, a Democrat, who said he signed on because Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal asked him to and he felt the effort had merit.
The lawsuit, filed in Pensacola,
asks a judge to declare the bill unconstitutional because "the Constitution nowhere authorizes the United States to mandate, either directly or under threat of penalty, that all citizens and legal residents have qualifying health care coverage."
Robert Sedler, a constitutional law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, said the effort isn't going anywhere.
But South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley disputed that characterization, saying his state will have to cut education and other programs to make up for increased Medicaid costs under the overhaul.
"This isn't about attorneys general trying to break into the realm of telling what needs to happen with health care reform," he said. "This is attorneys general saying you went too far with unfunded federal mandates. You exceeded your power under the Constitution."
"This is pure, pure political posturing and they have to know it," he said.