Campus Medical Clinic Opens

On Aug. 24, the University of the Cumberlands opened a new medical clinic on campus that is available to undergraduate and graduate students who need to seek medical attention.

            The medical clinic is located in the Browning Annex complex behind the science building and is open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. daily. A $20 copay will be charged with each visit and added on to the student’s tuition account. In addition to the copay, the remaining amount of the visit fee will go through the student’s personal insurance or the insurance that is provided from the school and billed to them.

            Dr. Eddie Perkins, a prominent physician in the community and the head of the Physician’s Assistant program on campus, is the clinic doctor.

            “The idea of this clinic was to make it easier on students to get the help they needed in a convenient way,” said Perkins.

This clinic provides UC students with a medical professional without having to go off campus and make appointments at local doctor’s offices. Since athletic injuries are very common on the courts and fields. The clinic makes it easier on the athletic trainers to maintain all of the injuries and check up on their students.

Peggy Haus, an athletic trainer on campus said, “The convenience of having a clinic on campus saves time, gas and transportation coordination worries for students.  The clinic is within easy walking distance on the main campus for almost anyone.”

             The clinic is not available to the staff of the university at this time; however, they intend to offer medical care to the faculty and staff in January 2012 according to Perkins. Furthermore, the program isn’t allowed to hire the PA students, but it is a requirement as part of their educational prerequisites to work in the office.

            “It would be great if the PA students could get paid to work in clinic but it’s against the program’s standards,” Perkins said.        

Dr. Eddie Perkins