Don’t Eat Too Many Oreos: Health tips for the college-bound student

Preparing to send a child to college, especially for the first time, can be a very busy and emotional time. Checking housing assignments, shopping, paying bills, and reviewing checklists can be admittedly overwhelming. One thing that may escape the planning process is your student’s health.

Until you get the call – “Mom, I’m really sick” or “Mom, I think I broke my ankle.”

I received both of these calls during my son’s first year at college. Because he was out of state, all of a sudden, I had to think of how to best handle these concerns remotely. I couldn’t just look at him and intuitively “know” how sick he was or how bad the injury was.

I had always coordinated the medical care for my family. And because he had been a generally healthy kid (and his Mom is a doctor), medical care would have typically been a very distant thought in his mind — until he gets sick and is no longer at home.

So, what I am sharing are some tips on how to best prepare for these types of situations…because they will occur.

• Review health insurance benefits with your student. Make sure he/she has necessary insurance identification cards and other information to access the health care system when needed.
• Review the health services that are offered through your student’s college or university, associated costs, and how those services may intersect with private health insurance benefits.
• Plan ahead for the management of any chronic medical conditions. Establish a treatment plan with current providers and potentially new providers in the area in which your student will be living so there is no interruption in care and appropriate medical records can be shared to ensure continuity of care.
• Develop a plan for prescription medications, especially for those taken on a regular basis. Locate convenient pharmacies your student can readily access or plan for mail delivery.
• Review pertinent family medical history with your student.
• Consider individual dietary needs and how to address these through available meal plans.
• Reinforce healthy behaviors, highlighting those gentle reminders and advice you have provided during their years at home.
• Make sure your student has a first aid kit with the essentials you would normally stock and /or use at home. In a time of need, this is very much appreciated by your own student as well as his/her friends.
• Remember sunscreen.
• Have the conversation about options for birth control. Although not always a comfortable conversation, it is an important one.
• Remind your student that not all medical advice on the internet is reliable. Work with them to identify a few reliable sources they can access when questions arise. Ask you medical provider or insurance carrier for recommendations if you are unsure.
• And finally, don’t eat too many Oreos (my kids’ own contribution to this list). No one wants that freshman 15!

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