Groton legislators propose adding physical and mental health services at UConn Avery Point

Feb. 16—GROTON — Democratic state representatives Christine Conley and Aundre Bumgardner, who both represent the town, have introduced legislation to establish a pilot program providing physical and mental health services for students at UConn Avery Point and other University of Connecticut branch campuses.

House Bill 5027, which currently has the kind of one-sentence placeholder language routine at this point in the legislative session, was one of 11 proposed bills for which the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee held a public hearing Thursday.

Unlike the main campus at Storrs, the branch campuses ― which also include Hartford, Stamford and Waterbury ― don't have an on-campus health center. Conley said she has heard students question where they can get health care, especially those who are from out of state and therefore don't have an established primary care provider nearby.

Conley said if students have pink eye or need a strep throat test, for example, they may end up going to urgent care or the MinuteClinic, which can result in higher co-pays. She also said this is an issue because "many students carpool and have transportation issues, so finding time to go to a doctor can result in missed classes."

Conley said she and Bumgardner met with officials from UConn about two weeks ago, and she had other conversations with UConn and Rep. Greg Haddad, D-Mansfield, chairman of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee.

"I think you raise an important need for the study body that does attend Avery Point," Haddad said to Conley at the hearing. He added, "It's a good idea; we'll see what we can do for it."

Suzanne Onorato, executive director of student health and wellness at UConn, and Avery Point Campus Director Annemarie Seifert submitted written testimony on the bill, which Onorato read during the hearing.

Onorato noted that starting in 2017, UConn funded a mental health resource center on each of the four regional campuses, which assesses students' needs and refers them to treatment. Conley said she would like to see this short-term mental health care expanded.

UConn in April 2021 established the Task Force for Regional Campus Access to Care and Community Health, which Onorato said looks at the same question the proposed bill is raising. It includes faculty, staff and students from all campuses, who were tasked with assessing health care needs and recommending a way to address gaps in care.

Onorato said national college health data, UConn regional campus student survey data, and student focus groups informed preliminary recommendations, and one of the next steps is administering another survey to students this spring. A report of findings is available at projectwellness.uconn.edu.

Onorato said UConn supports expanding access to medical care and mental health services on regional campuses but voiced concern about funding.

She said the "cost to launch and maintain this expansion would be significant." Under the current funding structure, this cost would be absorbed by increasing student fees, as that's the way student health care services are supported at Storrs.

Onorato said the fee at Storrs is pro-rated based on credit hours, but for fully enrolled students, it's $343 per semester.

"The cost of expanding such services to our regional campuses would create a greater burden per student, just based on the smaller populations," Onorato said. Seifert said current enrollment at Avery Point is 559 students.

Aside from Conley and UConn, the only other written testimony submitted on the bill came from a 16-year-old Ledyard High School student named Kiersten. Writing in support of the bill, she said it could impact greatly impact rates of people with mental or physical issues "because of the convenience of having it on campus."