Monday, September 9, 2013

Sharps Policy & Free Containers

Everyone in Primary Care Health Services and Residential Life wish you a warm welcome on your return to campus and hope that your semester is off to a great start!  We wanted to let you know about a new policy and service that is available to residential students who use sharps  (e.g. syringes, lancets, etc.); to either test their blood or to perform self-injections.

Barnard now has a Sharps Policy, which provides safety guidelines for students who need to use sharps in order to maintain their health and/or treat any conditions they may have.  The policy can be found on the web at https://barnard.edu/reslife/policies/sharps-disposal.

Our new policy provides free designated containers so students can deposit their sharps after use.  This will improve the safety of the student who uses the sharps as well as those who may live with that student.  Students can obtain an approved container by stopping at either Primary Care Health Services in the lower level of Brooks Hall, or at Residential Life in 110 Sulzberger Hall.  We will provide the container, and when it hits its full mark, the student can return the full container to Primary Care Health Services (Monday - Friday between 9am-5pm) and a replacement container will be provided.

We hope that you will take advantage of this free service - it provides our community with additional safety and is super convenient for the students who use sharps.  In addition, for students who are Type I or Type II Diabetics, there is a Diabetes Management Group on campus facilitated by Nicole Casten from Primary Care Health Service.  If you are interested in participating, please contact Nicole at ncasten@barnard.edu to learn about upcoming meetings.

Please let us know if you have any questions, we're here to help!

Best wishes for a successful academic year,

MJ Murphy, Executive Director of Student Health Services
Annie Aversa, Associate Dean for Campus and Residential Life