Health Services
One factor being impacted by the pandemic includes mental, physical and emotional health issues. When the students are on campus, they may have access to various mental health supports including counseling support groups and low-cost medications. Some students have an on-campus health insurance provider. Now that the university has switched to remote education the student’s ability to use their health insurance, obtain necessary medications may be disrupted or in total disarray. Rather than blame students for their situations or try to “fix a damaged” student, we should be employing a trauma-informed approach that focuses more on the inequities within the system.
When considering our students’ ability to thrive we must remember that they are organisms, and they too need a healthy internal environment. Therefore, we must bear in mind that their health may have been sustained due in large part to the availability of on-campus services. COVID-19 is scary and anxiety inducing even for the most composed and well-resourced student. For low income students, this is possibly a point where they could fall through the cracks of the education and healthcare system. It is incumbent upon instructors to be conscious of their voices in the virtual breakout rooms and their words in the chat for signs of excessive worry and distress. We cannot make up for lacking access to healthcare, but we can provide the support students need to survive a significant threat to their physical, mental and emotion well-being.