Where they went and how they got there

BY: GENEVA NODLAND nodlandge@mnstate.edu

As of July 1, 2019 Hendrix Clinic & Counseling Center’s medical, pharmacy and laboratory services were discontinued. They are now focusing on mental health services.

In an email sent on May 10, 2019, Brenda Amenson-Hill, the vice president of enrollment management and student affairs, explained the reasoning behind the change. In this email there were suggestions of other medical services around the FM area and assistance in transportation for students, as well as a mention of pop-up clinics for things like flu shots.

“We’re making this change to meet the increasing need for emotional/mental health services for our students, and to be good stewards of university financial resources,” Amenson-Hill said in the email.

Another email came June 6, 2019, from Dean of Students Kara Gravley-Stack. In this email, Gravley-Stack confirmed that they are still working through the details of the Hendrix transition. Counseling Services said they were beginning to look for a Case Manager/Navigator, who has since then been hired. Jamie Skrove will start as Case Manager/Navigator on Sept. 30.

There is a FAQ page on MSUM’s website dedicated to assist students with the transition. On this page, students can find where their medical records are, where to locate help to find a doctor and clinic, details about transportation from campus to local clinics and pharmacies, and more.

Also included on this page is information regarding where current pharmacy prescriptions were going to be sent upon discontinuing those services. June 26 was the last day the Hendrix pharmacy was open, and the following day all active prescriptions were transferred to Medical Pharmacy Moorhead in paper form. Medical Pharmacy Moorhead is located in Hornbacher’s grocery store. There are two locations for this pharmacy in Moorhead; however the prescriptions were sent only to the 101 11th St. S, Moorhead location, which is only a few blocks north of campus.

The prescriptions are now located and to be filled there, unless a student calls another pharmacy and asks for a transfer from Medical Pharmacy Moorhead. According to an anonymous source familiar with the situation, there were many printed prescriptions delivered to Medical Pharmacy Moorhead in a box. These prescriptions are filled at the first request of the patient. If no one calls or requests the prescription to be filled, it will be destroyed when it is expired. Prescriptions were not transferred electronically from Hendrix.

Pharmacies usually transfer prescriptions electronically, although there are times when that is not possible. This was the case with the transfer of the Hendrix prescriptions. To transfer prescriptions electronically, the two systems used between pharmacies must be able to synchronize. The two systems wouldn’t have been able to synchronize if they were delivered by hand in a paper form. Hendrix used Point and Click Solutions for their previous services, but now uses Maxient for counseling services.

There are also existing medical records of students who used Hendrix Clinic services. According to the FAQ page, the Counseling Services staff will print out a copy of students’ records—which are being kept at Hendrix—if they come in and request them. Students will have to sign a release form for these records.

There are many parts to the transition that have been confirmed, including taxi services as transportation to other clinics and Family HealthCare in downtown Fargo as the clinic and pharmacy for international students (although all students are able to use their services as well). Even though there are components that have been decided, there are still some things that will need to be settled throughout the Hendrix transition.