Appendix 1:
Summary of
Major Recommendations
From: Final Report, November 2004
Communications
- Develop communications strategies to increase awareness
of programs, services, and benefits related to health and
well being.
- Focus special attention on improving communication about
fitness and recreational activities offered by the Department
of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation.
- Develop strategies to encourage participation in health
education and disease detection and prevention programs,
and in programs that encourage fitness, wellness, and better
nutrition.
- Create a health and well being newsletter.
Student Health Plan
- Increase plan coverage for outpatient mental health expenses
from 50% to 80% of the cost of visits and increase the
number of visits per year from 24-30.
- Reduce fees for dependents so the ratio of the student
fee, the fee for one dependent, and the fee for more than
one dependent is 1:2:3.
- Charge post-enrolled graduate students (DCCs) the same
health fee as other graduate students, with no additional
fee for access to University Health Services (UHS).
- Increase the Student Health Plan fee by an additional
$250 to $350 above the amount ($50) needed to fund the
proposed plan improvements to help fund positions at UHS
that provide critical services and programs to students.
University Health Services Staffing
- Add approximately 11 FTE staff positions, at an estimated
annual cost of just over $935,000. These positions
would include:
- One additional physician and one additional urgent
care nurse to reduce waiting times, expand hours, and
for other purposes.
- Two additional support positions in medical/clinical
services to replace student workers and increase coverage
at night and on weekends.
- One additional health educator and one program assistant
to increase needs assessment, risk assessment and reduction,
health education and counseling, outreach programs, detection
and prevention programs, and other services, and to take
over the training and supervision of peer educators,
thereby freeing up time of the mental health professional
staff for increased clinical service.
- One clinical nutritionist.
- Permanent status for the existing term-funded position
of operations administrator and either one full-time
or two part-time positions in information technology.
- An expansion of academic year appointments to full-year
appointments to increase medical/clinical, mental
health, and support services over the summer.
- When possible add additional positions to achieve a level
of service closer to “best practices,” including
expanded physical therapy services for non-varsity athletes.
Faculty and Staff
- Designate a work/life coordinator to oversee the relationship
with Carebridge, serve as the University’s child
care coordinator, help identify elder care initiatives,
and improve communication about programs and benefits.
- Create an advisory group to help identify work/life needs
and priorities.
- Encourage greater awareness, use, and support of flextime;
explore possible pilot programs.
- Consider permitting carryover of up to 8 sick days and
create a mechanism to address special needs not met by
current policy.
- Consider improving dental coverage under the University’s
medical insurance plan.
- Consider providing on-campus physical therapy for non-work-related
injuries.
- Create an integrated “Healthier Princeton” program
of health promotion/education, disease detection/prevention,
and fitness/wellness for faculty and staff; in addition
to the UHS staff positions proposed earlier, this would
require one additional nurse practitioner and a portion
of an additional physician.
- Facilitate discounts and special programming for members
of the campus community at area health clubs.
Post-Docs
- Focus senior level attention on issues of concern to
post-docs, including housing, child care, health care,
and opportunities to teach.
- Provide better information and assistance to post-docs
and help them to integrate more fully into the campus community.
Fitness
- Significantly renovate and expand Dillon Gym.
- In the interim, expand hours, increase cleanliness and
repairs, improve maintenance, regularly replace equipment,
etc.; this would require 1-2 FTEs.
- Increase visibility and support for Dillon’s programs
of physical education, fitness, wellness, and recreation,
including expanded participation in intramural sports by
graduate students, post-docs, faculty, and staff; this
would require one or more FTEs.
- Consider a facilities permit fee scale based on ability
to pay or other means to encourage greater use of Dillon
by lower paid staff.
- Consider creating shower and dressing areas at strategic
locations around campus; a fitness facility/yoga room east
of Washington Road; and one or more fitness facilities
at graduate student housing sites.
Nutrition
- Sustain and expand the Healthy Eating Lab.
- Appoint the full-time clinical nutritionist proposed
earlier.
- Increase quality and health consciousness in food preparation
and presentation.
- Provide better and more usable information about nutritional
issues.
- Expand the quality and availability of food over breaks,
in the summer, and during hours not covered by the colleges
or Frist.
Facilities Needs—McCosh, Dillon—and
Integration
- Develop a plan to address the inability of McCosh Health
Center and Dillon Gym to adequately meet current needs;
these needs will increase when Princeton begins admitting
larger freshman classes in 2007.
- At McCosh, examine options that include renovation, expansion,
and possibly construction of a new facility.
- At Dillon, examine options for renovation and expansion.
- In assessing these options, examine opportunities to
encourage programmatic integration and other synergies
between UHS and Dillon.
Child Care
- Provide more and better information about child care
to graduate students, post-docs, faculty, and staff.
- Designate a child care coordinator to oversee the child
care aspects of the Carebridge program; disseminate information
about on-campus and off-campus child care programs and
resources; encourage awareness and improvement of University
policies and practices; serve as principal liaison to the
U-League and U-Now nursery schools; improve access to child
care resources and services in surrounding communities;
and examine possibilities for additional summer day care.
- Provide greater workplace flexibility for staff and more
supportive policies regarding tenure review and dissertation
completion for faculty and graduate students to permit
appropriate attention to child care needs.
- Clarify and enhance relationships between the University
and the U-League and U-Now nursery schools, which should
continue to play central roles in the University’s
comprehensive long-term child care strategy.
- Create a new University-affiliated child care center,
with particular emphasis on infant and toddler care and
with capacity for school’s out and back-up care.
- Construct a new facility for the proposed new University-affiliated
center and a new facility for the U-League and U-Now nursery
schools.
Continuing the Work of the Task Force
- Establish a clear understanding of responsibility to
ensure ongoing attention to issues related to health and
well being, to monitor the impact of steps taken in response
to these recommendations, to identify additional steps
that would be helpful, and to collect further suggestions,
questions, and concerns.
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