By Ta’Leah Van Sistine, community reporter/editor
Concerns about transgender health care were a major topic Monday afternoon at UW-Stout’s virtual campus forum held to discuss the university’s upcoming partnership with Prevea Health.
UW-Stout announced in a brief press release on Sept. 27 that Prevea will provide health care for its students, replacing the university’s Student Health Services (SHS). The new partnership, scheduled to begin on Jan. 1, 2022, has drawn a range of reactions on campus.
In a recent e-newsletter to students, the university said Monday’s forum would be an opportunity for the campus community to learn about the partnership, understand “what it means to your health and wellness offerings” and ask questions about the change.
The Chippewa Valley Post reported previously that the partnership will give UW-Stout students access to Prevea Urgent Care locations, Prevea Virtual Care for common conditions and Prevea Care After Hours, which allows students to reach a nurse by phone 24/7.
Student reactions about this upcoming partnership have been mixed. Some are concerned about the availability of specific services, while others are excited for the opportunities Prevea will provide.
Making the decision
Devin Dumke, president of the Stout Student Association, said Monday’ forum is “pretty standard” for UW-Stout, as holding such forums allows the university to answer questions when on-campus services change.
Since students, including Dumke, have shared concerns about the partnership, Dumke said he believes the forum would be a satisfactory way for the university to address some of those worries.
In a statement to the Chippewa Valley Post, Dumke said to his knowledge, UW-Stout didn’t give students an opportunity to provide input on the initial decision to replace SHS with an outside provider.
Dumke said the change was mentioned to students only after the UW-Stout administration had already decided to move forward with a request for proposals from outside providers.
He said the fact that the administration didn’t speak with students first was out of character for the university, since UW-Stout students traditionally have a strong role in the decision-making process regarding student services and student life,
“The sentiment from the Stout Student Association was concern that we weren’t included in the process and now are locked into a multi-year contract without ever agreeing or even being consulted on that decision,” Dumke said. “To many of the members of our body, it feels that we had a right to participate in that decision.”
Dumke explained that under State Statute 36.09(5), the UW-Stout student government exercises authority to participate in the budget-development process for units, including student health.
The Dean of Students, Sandi Scott, said one student was on the committee that made the original decision to replace SHS with an outside provider. She said university officials whose work directly involves, or is impacted by, SHS were also on the committee.
Using the state Open Records law
Citing the Wisconsin Open Records law, the CVPost has submitted a Freedom of Information request to UW-Stout, asking for records that would clarify whether any student was involved in the original decision to move to an outside provider. That information has not yet been received.
Nor has there been a response to the FoI request seeking information on how UW-Stout’s partnership with Prevea was developed.
Scott said the decision to replace SHS with an outside provider was made because periodically, “a campus committee reviews a number of services and determines whether or not to proceed with an RFP for that particular service.”
Scott said that, since leadership in SHS had announced retirement, the committee recommended an RFP process to replace the on-campus unit.
After this decision was made, Dumke served on the RFP committee this past academic year. In that role, he said he helped to evaluate three proposals from outside providers this past spring, but declined when asked to identify the two in addition to Prevea, reportedly on the advice of a UW-System individual.
In response to its FoI request, the CV Post learned that the two additional proposals were from Marshfield Clinic and Weber Health.
Dumke said, as a part of the evaluation process, the RFP committee developed a survey that asked students to rank what services/attributes of a health services module they would like to see from their provider.
The survey results enabled the committee to create a scoresheet for proposals, and from there, determine which proposal would best meet students’ needs, he said. Following the survey and scoresheet process, Prevea was selected as the outside provider to replace SHS
In terms of students’ reactions to SHS – in its current state – Dumke said he’s heard that students have been satisfied overall and only seemed to be concerned about SHS’ hours of access.
Student reactions to new partnership
Other UW-Stout students have similarly shared both concerns and hopes for the upcoming partnership between the university and Prevea.
Harri Bien-Aime, a member of the University Student Senate, said she is concerned that Prevea will not provide the same care and services that SHS has.
“Basically, transgender individuals like myself — we’re going to be losing experienced nurses that cared (about students),” Bien-Aime said.
The CV Post reported previously that seven current SHS employees will be laid off at the end of 2021, but some will have an opportunity to apply for similar positions with Prevea.
Bien-Aime said she is worried that she will have to travel to cities like Madison or La Crosse to find doctors who are experienced with transgender health care, instead of being able to access such care right on campus.
“Maybe it’s just going to be a case of (making sure) our needs really get taken care of,” Bien-Aime said.
Maggie O’Brien, another member of Student Senate, said she is “actually kind of excited” for the upcoming partnership with Prevea.
She mentioned that Prevea Care After Hours is something she plans to utilize. She added that one point of concern is that students may not be aware of the opportunities the new partnership will offer.
“A lot of students don’t know what’s offered right now with Student Health Services,” O’Brien said.
For this reason, she said she believes advertising about the new partnership is important.
While O’Brien doesn’t think this partnership with Prevea was necessary, she said she is glad it will be happening.
“I hope it just offers more opportunities for a healthy lifestyle,” O’Brien said, “and helps in regard to where students need it.”
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