US Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, San Juan College officials tout on-campus health center

Her work to secure a $1.1 million federal appropriation for s student health center at San Juan College has special meaning for U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, who was one of several officials who spoke at an April 11 press conference on the college campus introducing the project.

The planned facility, which will be the first of its kind at the college, will offer medical and mental health services to students.

“I lost two brothers to mental health and substance abuse issues,” Leger Fernandez said. “They started in college. Universities and colleges are a great place to intervene (with people experiencing such problems).”

Leger Fernandez presented San Juan College President Toni Hopper Pendergrass with a symbolic, oversize check for the $1.1 million during the gathering, which will cover half the cost of the 2,700-square-foot project. The other $1.1 million will come from a state appropriation, according to Chris Harrelson, the college’s physical plant senior director.

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The Las Vegas, New Mexico, Democrat who represents the state’s 3rd Congressional District talked about how such on-campus facilities, designed to make accessing medical care and mental health resources easier for students, are a relatively new phenomenon.

“Ten, 20, 30 years ago, students might not have had ready access to this,” she said.

Leger Fernandez helped secure the appropriation for the project from a U.S. Health and Human Services Department program. She noted her office had received 174 proposals from entities across the state for the money and could only choose 15 to receive funding.

She described the student health center as a true community-support project, noting it will have far-reaching benefits, not just in the city of Farmington. The existence of an on-campus health center will assure the parents of the institution’s students that their children are being well cared for, she said.

“When you need help, you have somewhere to go to get that help,” she said.

Boomer Appleman, the college’s vice president of student services, echoed that point, explaining how difficult it can be for the school’s many Navajo students to be seen by a health care professional. For many of those students, he said, the process involves driving to the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock — which takes nearly an hour — and then likely enduring a significant wait before being seen. The student then has to drive back to the college campus in Farmington.

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All in all, he said, that can be an enterprise that takes most of the day, resulting in missed classroom, study or lab time. It also costs the student a significant amount of gas money, Appleman said.

“This facility is critical to our mission,” he said, referring to the college’s commitment to reduce or eliminate challenges that keep students from finishing their education.

The new center — which temporarily will be located in the college’s Cultural Center on the north side of the campus, adjacent to the soccer fields — will be staffed initially with three full-time professionals, Appleman said. Nurse practitioner Charisse Buchanan will serve as the director, overseeing a staff that includes a medical assistant and a mental health counselor.

According to the research the college has done, Appleman said he expects the facility to average 3,000 to 4,000 visits each year at first, although that figure is expected to increase as students become more aware of its availability. Each full-time San Juan College student will be allowed unlimited visits to the facility, a cost that will be covered by a flat $20 increase in student fees.

Appleman said that increase represented only a 2% hike for students, while the benefits will be considerable.

“For the price of a typical copay, you get unlimited service,” he said.

Harrelson said college officials examined a variety of options for where the new center could be located permanently, but they quickly settled on a space between the Health and Human Performance Center and the Zia Conference Center on the west side of the campus. That was for a variety of reasons, he said — its cost, its access to first responders, its convenience for students and its visibility.

He said the project already has been put out to bid for construction, and college officials hope to have it completed by the fall of 2024. The facility will include multiple treatment rooms, medical storage rooms, a group treatment room, a waiting area for patients and multiple restrooms, Harrelson said.

Leger Fernandez noted that the $1.1 million in federal funding she helped secure for the project is not a lot of money by today’s standards. But she said she has taken note of the way college officials continue to leverage such funds to improve the overall experience for students.

“I am very impressed with what you have done so far,” she said, addressing Pendergrass. “I’m very impressed with San Juan College. Your reach is huge.”

Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com.

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This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: San Juan College gets $1.1 million in federal aid for health center