Are you interested in a health career, promoting health and well-being, or just want to get involved on campus? University Health Services (UHS) has opportunities! Whether you are interested in getting involved on a committee, volunteering or working as a health navigator, working as a peer health educator at UHS or in the Duck Nest, or looking for employment experience or practicum hours in a clinical environment, UHS could be a place for you to explore health and well-being at UO.
Student Health Advisory Committee
The Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) members bridge the gap between UO students and UHS. SHAC promotes public health policies and organizes events and outreach to meaningfully connect UHS with UO students. SHAC is responsible for the following:
- Promoting a diverse and healthy campus culture
- Advising UHS executive leadership
- Participating in community action projects, events, and outreach
- Representing the student body
Throughout the years, SHAC has helped launch many initiatives, including the smoke-free campus policy, tours for the UHS building, installing a wellness vending machine into the EMU, and much more. Currently SHAC is working on projects around health equity, health navigation, built environment, and outreach. This organization is a great way for students to meet like-minded individuals, grow as leaders, and make a lasting impact on campus.
SHAC meets regularly during the academic year. For more information and updates on UHS and SHAC events, follow us on Instagram and Facebook @UOSHAC, and check out SHAC on Engage for more information.
Student Advisory Board for Counseling Services
The Counseling Services Student Advisory Board enhances Counseling Services initiatives and supports its services through advocacy, feedback, and peer education. SAB members represent the voice of the student body and support us in providing the resources and services that are relevant to the UO community.
For more info, go to counseling.uoregon.edu/sab.
Peer Wellness Facilitators at the Duck Nest
Peer to peer health education is a successful way for students to seek out and navigate health and well-being on campus. Peer Wellness Facilitators at the Duck Nest help students access resources and create and implement student-driven wellness programs. Our Peer Wellness Facilitators also offer one-on-one support for UO students including help with navigating the resources in the Duck Nest space and throughout campus.
Want to join us as a leader in peer wellness? The benefits include:
- Improved leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills
- Skill development and career enhancement
- Opportunity to make a difference in the well-being of UO students
- Being involved in social justice and equity
Email the Peer Wellness Facilitators at the Duck Nest!
Student Navigators
The Student Navigator Program helps students navigate UHS and empowers them to become informed, active partners in their health. Student Navigators gain hands-on experience in a clinical setting while helping guide patients through UHS. Navigators also interact with health professionals, get volunteer hours, and gain health-related experience. There is also opportunity for advancement, including paid positions.
Specifically, Navigators:
- Create a sense of belonging and welcoming for students and other patients accessing health care.
- Provide peer-to-peer approaches to patients to guide them where they need to go and providing answers to their questions.
- Use empathy when working with students, considering they may be unwell, frustrated, stressed, and/or confused.
- Provide information to students about key health policies, including informed consent, patient rights and responsibilities, and the Clinical Chaperone Policy.
- Serve as an active bystander to assist patients when they need help, including using motivational interviewing to gather information.
- Provide warm hand-offs to ensure that patients/students are moving to the right areas in the health center and connected with the right resources.
Goals and Experience for Navigators:
- Opportunity to learn about a health clinic and health professions
- Log volunteer hours
- Gain health-related experience
- Learn about the flow of a health clinic setting
- Learn how to effectively manage a patient’s privacy and confidentiality
- Learn how to effectively help patients navigate the health care process
- Gain and practice skills such as motivational interviewing, trauma informed care, empathetic listening, being an active bystander
- Work in a team structure, with student leaders, professional staff and executive members in a working multi-disciplinary primary care facility
Email the Navigator supervisor for more information.
Care Team
The University Health Services Care Team is available to help UO students when they are feeling ill, have been diagnosed with a communicable disease, or are looking for peer advice about what to do in public health situations. The Care Team can also connect students to resources on campus. Additionally, members support UO immunization compliance. As a Care Team member, you will have a well-rounded experience in public health activities including communicable disease investigation and management, immunization compliance, and public health messaging.
Care Team members will:
- Work in a confidential call center setting with team members.
- Empathetically listen, chart and give instructions to peers using current public health guidelines.
- Understand UHS immunization and communicable disease policies and share with peers.
- Abide by HIPAA and FERPA laws pertaining to patient and student’s rights and confidentiality.
- Learn to navigate electronic health record software.
- Be part of the public health response on a university campus.
- Work with professional staff to extend services to students and reduce transmission of communicable diseases.
Email the Care Team.
Oregon Public Health Corps
The Oregon Public Health Corps evolved from the Corona Corps, which was developed in June 2020 as a partnership between the UO Center for Global Health and UHS, in collaboration with Lane County Department of Public Health and the Oregon Health Authority. In 2021, with a $1.1M grant from Oregon Health Authority, the Corona Corps was renamed the Oregon Public Health Corps (OPHC) and funded to further assist the State of Oregon with the modernization of its public health work force and to assist in the support of historically underserved communities around Oregon.
OPHC is staffed by motivated, eager, and highly trained students, guided by professional staff. OPHC continues to support COVID-19 related activities, connects individuals in need to resources, and helps local and state public health authorities prepare for future public health challenges. OPHC provides the UO student workforce with a steppingstone to health and public health careers while providing a workforce pipeline to public health and health care. OPHC’s student workforce model works by funneling students’ desire to learn and eagerness to improve the health and well-being of fellow community members.
OPHC members may:
- Work closely with state and local officials on public health projects.
- Provide services directly in the community.
- With OHA, members may also:
- Support the ordering and processing of medical counter measures for emergency response as needed.
- Support development of medical caches for emergency situations.
- Support the access and functional needs of medical shelter operations for emergency response.
- Work with regional emergency coordinators to update contact lists for the Health Alert Network system.
Email the Oregon Public Health Corps.
Student Worker Positions
UHS is a great place for UO students looking for positions that offer experiential learning in various health settings. There are many ways students can apply their skills and interests in healthcare. Student employee roles include:
- Executive office
- Information services
- Lab and x-ray
- Oregon Public Health Corps
- Pharmacy
- Physical therapy
- Peer Wellness Facilitators at the Duck Nest
- Social media
- UHS Care Team
UHS Navigators Find out about student positions on Handshake.
Practicum Experiences in Physical Therapy Services
Physical Therapy Services offers a credited practicum each term (summer term excluded). This is a collaborative program between the Human Physiology Department and PT Services at University Health Services, which entails a 30-hour commitment to the department over the course of one (1) term, resulting in the accrual of one (1) credit through the Human Physiology Department.
Students who are accepted into the program are paired with a physical therapist and observe all aspects of care, including the opportunity to interact with patients, ask/answer questions, and assist with non-treatment related tasks. In addition, each student will be responsible for identifying an area of interest to research and will prepare a short presentation for the treatment staff during their final week.
Interested students must complete an application (available in PT Services) and return it to the PT Services Manager no later than Friday of week seven in the preceding term.
For more information, go to the Natural Sciences website.