Kennesaw State University is one of the leading universities in the state of Georgia which offers various types of health services to students. The Health Promotion and Wellness Office, located in the Student Recreation Center, gives students and faculty access to all forms of health education.
Mental, physical, and sexual health topics are covered at the Health Promotion and Wellness Office. Licensed dietitians, as well as a peer health educator coordinator and 13 peer health educators, are all available on-site. All 13 of the peer health educators are students who are concentrating their collegiate education on the healthcare field. Junior public health major Angelina Allen is a student assistant, as well as one of the peer health educators. She is one of the first faces seen when entering the Health Promotion and Wellness Office. Allen shares her position with a few other people, and their duties consist of “conducting MicroFit tests and scheduling nutrition and dietitian appointments.”
The peer health educators travel across campus in order to talk to different classes to inform students of their health education options. Topics range from sexually transmitted diseases and contraceptives, to mental health issues and the symptoms of depression. Aside from going to classrooms, the Health Promotion and Wellness Office has “events that the peer health educators put on,” said Allen.
Dalida Brown is the Health Promotion Coordinator, so she is essentially the supervisor of the peer health educators (which she calls PHEs). Brown organizes and hosts the events alongside her peer health educators. “We [cover] alcohol and drug education; we do sexual health, of course, [as well as] stress management” said Brown.
One of the main priorities for the Health Promotion and Wellness Office is to teach people to be proactive, rather than reactive, and they do that by offering literature about birth control and contraceptives. “The only type of birth control that we have are female and male condoms,” said Allen. “We have dental dams, but we do not give out pills, implants, or anything of those sorts.”
Students and faculty can schedule appointments for MicroFit testing, which measures where one’s physical health lies. Some parts of the test include testing flexibility, endurance, strength, and blood pressure. Students and faculty can also schedule appointments with any of the licensed dietitians in the office. The dietitians will speak with clients about their diets and then assess the next step they should take to optimize their health and eating habits.
The Health Promotion and Wellness Office is inclusive to those who are enrolled or employed at Kennesaw State University, including the Marietta campus. When asked about the inclusion of the Marietta campus, Allen said, “We definitely make sure to include the Marietta campus. If we have HIV testing done here on the Kennesaw campus, we make sure to also have HIV testing done on the Marietta campus. [However],we do not have an office on the Marietta campus.”
The priority for the Health Promotion and Wellness Office is to promote wellness and encourage healthy habits to the student, faculty, and staff of Kennesaw State University. More information on their office can be found on their website.