MAN: Can I help you?

STUDENT: Hi. This is my first time here at the Health Services Centre. I’m a new student, and was told by my admissions counsellor to stop by and, uh, I guess just get to know what your centre offers.

MAN: It seems you have an excellent admissions counsellor. They often forget to refer new students to us. Please have a seat.

STUDENT: Thank you.

MAN: Well, I’m glad you stopped by. As I’m sure you know, all students in the UK are automatically enrolled in the national health plan. So, if you need to see a doctor or take a trip to the emergency room, it’s free.

STUDENT: Yeah, I know all about that. This is why I don’t understand exactly what you do here. I, uh, hope that’s not offensive.

MAN: No, not at all. I do understand the confusion. And I assure you, you aren’t the first person to ask that. You see, we provide additional services to students to help them stay as healthy and fit as possible during their time on campus.

STUDENT: Mm.

MAN: Our primary purpose is to assess general health. If you are feeling ill, you can stop by and one of our nurses will take a look and see if what’s wrong is serious enough to warrant a trip to the hospital.

STUDENT: OK.

MAN: Often times, students just have a virus or are nutrient deficient. So in the case that a student has the flu or something, we can suggest some over-the-counter and home remedies.

STUDENT: And what if someone has nutritional deficiencies?

MAN: There’s an on-call nutritionist that will work with you to find out what your diet is lacking and to develop a dietary plan. Then you get three follow-up sessions with the nutritionist to monitor the progress.

STUDENT: But how do you know if someone’s, you know, lacking in nutrients?

MAN: Blood tests. We are allowed to take blood samples and have them analyzed by the nearby hospital.

STUDENT: Oh, I see.

STUDENT: What about vaccinations?

MAN: Yep, we can do those. We even offer travel vaccinations, as many of our students study abroad. You save a lot of time getting them done here. Um, another service we provide is medical examinations. We feel it’s important for students to get in the habit of having regular exams.

STUDENT: A fine idea.

MAN: So each student has the option of having two exams per annum. We can’t force people to, obviously, but the service is available.

STUDENT: That’s excellent. It really promotes preventative health.

MAN: Exactly. We also have occasional health workshops and information sessions catered to students’ specific needs.

STUDENT: Such as...?

MAN: We have a stress reduction specialist come in and talk about using meditation, stretching, morning walks, and the like to relax during difficult times. We notice that a lot of students suffer from chronic stress, which then results in lowered immunity.

STUDENT: ...which then leads to illness.

MAN: That’s right. Students end up with serious colds, even pneumonia, that would be preventable if they were taking better care of themselves.

STUDENT: Uh-huh.

MAN: Oh, and we give vitamin B and vitamin C shots for people who are feeling run down. That can also prevent serious illness.

STUDENT: I’m really impressed. It seems like a quite comprehensive health services program. I most certainly am going to take advantage of it.

MAN: I sure hope you do. And please refer your friends and classmates. Ideally, we’d like to be serving every student on campus.

STUDENT: I will. Thanks for the information.

Answer Key:

1. B

2. A

3. A

4. C

5. C

6. TRUE

7. FALSE

8. NOT GIVEN

9. TRUE

10. FALSE