California State University, Fresno’s 21,000 students will have a new place on campus to get information about their health beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, when the Wellness Lounge @ the USU opens in the Pavilion of the University Student Union.

From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Thursday, students will have access to a wide range of information about sexual, nutritional, psychological, physical and social well-being in the store-front setting.

Student wellness ambassadors, a registered dietitian, peer nutrition counselors, peer health educators, nursing students, physical therapy students and employees of University Health & Psychological Services will staff the center.

Programs of special interest to students are on the Wellness Lounge’s regular schedule. For example, “Happy Hour” three days a week will emphasize alcohol safety, and there will be specific times devoted to cold and flu prevention, healthy eating, violence prevention, blood pressure screening, sexual health and backpack posture evaluations.

“This is an outstanding opportunity for us to open a satellite of the Student Health Center in an area of campus where there are so many students,” said Kathy Yarmo, the coordinator of Health Promotion and Wellness Services.

“This idea has worked successfully at other campuses,” Yarmo added. “We are grateful for the opportunity made possible by the University Student Union and its board of directors who have agreed to pilot this project by providing this space to us at no charge this semester.”

The Wellness Lounge’s opening will get extra attention when the second seasonal flu shot clinic for students is conducted just outside to coincide with the Tuesday opening.

“The Wellness Lounge [also] will help us acquaint students with the many services we offer in the Student Health Center,” Yarmo said, noting that many students never visit the center. “This will be an opportunity for our ambassadors to tell them what’s available and give them a student’s perspective on what to expect.”

The Wellness Lounge also will provide an opportunity to find out what services students want that are not already offered and to collect data on wellness issues directly from students.

”The long-term goal of the Wellness Lounge is to improve the health literacy of Fresno State students by helping them to ultimately become health care consumers,” said Yarmo.

For more information contact Yarmo at 559.278.6739 or kyarmo@csufresno.edu.

Related link:

University Health & Psychological Services