The time is getting close when your student will be dropped off at Missouri State University and start experiencing the independence and final growth to adulthood you have been preparing her/him for. You have raised a great student, they have watched your interactions, and they will model your lessons surprisingly well.

At the Bill and Lucille Magers Family Health and Wellness Center, we recognize the significance of your student’s first visit to us for medical care.   Usually, this is the first time your student has been to the Doctor without you accompanying them.  It is a significant and essential experience for them which almost always goes very well.

How can your student have the best opportunity for a successful first visit to Magers?

• A submitted health history questionnaire helps us know their allergies and significant medical background.
• A submitted vaccination record, including the meningitis vaccination record, helps us in their care.
• Completed Covid-19 vaccination. Although not mandated, is essential for your student’s best medical protection and will allow them to have a safer and more enjoyable year. If your student submits a copy of their Covid-19 vaccination record to Magers, this summer, it will allow them to be eligible for marvelous incentive prize drawings: Student Vaccination Incentive Program – COVID-19 Information Center – Missouri State University
• Your student should know their medications and their allergies.  Have them write these down in their wallet/purse or smart phone.  You may know they swelled and had a rash after receiving penicillin at age one, but they will not remember it.  Talk about it with them and give them a written record.
• If they have significant, complex, ongoing medical problems then have their Doctor send a summary letter to Magers Health and Wellness.
• If your student is receiving allergy injections or periodic treatments, encourage them to visit the Registered Nurses in the Treatment Clinic.  They will help your student obtain the necessary documentation from their allergist or sub-specialty physician which will allow us to assist in their care here.
• Our lab and x-ray departments can work with your student’s hometown physicians if they need ongoing testing while at Missouri State University.
• Check our updated web site.  It has a host of helpful information and answers.
• A student-completed TB risk assessment survey is required by Missouri law.
• Each student is advised to have health insurance coverage.  Give your student a copy of their current insurance card to carry with them at all times and to present this when they come to Magers and other medical offices.  This also applies to a pharmacy card.

Don’t hesitate to come see us.  We would much rather help your student on the early end of a concern or sickness than when it has worsened for several days.

Remind them to call early for appointments.  If they call by 9:00 AM, we can almost always give them a visit with our primary care medical staff that same day.

Consultants may take a little longer, from a couple of weeks for gynecology to a month for psychiatry.  So, plan ahead if there is a problem needing ongoing care.  Also, our primary care physicians are always glad to bridge your student during a wait for a consultant visit.

The student should come a few minutes early for their appointments.  It is a shame when the student misses an appointment or comes too late for us to see them before the next patient on the appointment list.

We try to give a summary of the patient’s care to them at the end of their office visit.  Also, a copy of labs, x-ray reports, diagnoses, and recommendations is available for the patient through our MyHealth electronic portal.

In a complex or uncertain situation, feel free to have your student sign a medical information release form for that visit.  As adults, their health information is private HIPAA legally protected information.  In complex or uncertain situations, a signed release form by the student allows our staff to discuss the case with you and work together for a successful resolution.

We do have experience and the lab capability to evaluate patients for Covid-19 virus concerns.  Patients call ahead for a reserved appointment.  All patients and staff wear masks in Magers.

If your student has a question, the medical and nursing staff, appointment staff, business office, pharmacy, medical/lab, wellness personnel, and administration are all interested in helping them.  They simply need to ask.

Our staff loves working with the students and helping them make this transition.  We are specialists in university health services, and we know the homesickness, injuries, anxieties, and infections that commonly befall freshmen. With these steps your student will soon be partnering well with the Magers medical team so he/she can enjoy a successful college experience.