Student Health and Wellness Center Gives the Gift of Health
Published December 15, 2022
By Darlene Muguiro
UTEP College of Health Sciences
This holiday season, the UTEP Student Health and Wellness Center (SHWC) gave the gift of health to nearly 400 UTEP students – free COVID-19 bivalent boosters that were offered through two on-campus clinics in mid- and late November.
Letty Paez, executive associate dean for the College of Health Sciences, said the Center decided to offer the clinics for a variety of reasons, including as a direct response to the rising number of COVID cases in the El Paso community.
“As reported on December 13 th, 300 new cases were reported in El Paso County,” she said. “And while that’s just a small number compared to the general population of El Paso, the disease spreads. Additionally, the Omicron variant is the prevalent virus right now, and that is highly more contagious than previous variants.”
The SHWC has been at the forefront of COVID mitigation efforts at UTEP since July 2021, when they first began offering COVID testing on campus for students. Since then, they have completed nearly 8,000 tests. While the bivalent booster is now generally available to the El Paso community, the Center decided to offer the booster on campus to make it more accessible to students with transportation issues. Community partners University Medical Center and Centro San Vicente were on site to offer support and administer the vaccines.
“There is also an educational component to offering the clinics on campus,” said Daniela Lerma, Wellness Manager. “A lot of the students I spoke to before we offered the clinics told me that they were already boosted and wouldn’t qualify for the service. They weren't aware of this new bivalent version.”
With the entire vaccination experience taking less than half an hour, including registration and the 15-minute waiting period, the SHWC staff are considering advertising proposed vaccine clinics in early spring to students as one of the most important New Year’s resolutions they can make.
Lisa Hendrix, nurse practitioner at the SHWC, said that UTEP students should understand the impact that the new booster has on general immunity and the importance of each individual’s actions on the health of the community overall.
“It is important to emphasize that authorized COVID-19 vaccines are effective at preventing complications from COVID-19,” she said. “Another important point is protecting our family members who may have other illnesses that make them more susceptible to severe illness and death.”
The SHWC plans to offer a third booster clinic in mid-January as part of Miner Welcome for new students. Free COVID testing for students will be ongoing throughout the academic year.
For more information about testing, upcoming booster clinics and general services of the SHWC, please visit: https://www.utep.edu/chs/shc/.