Host: Hey, hello and welcome back to global connections at USF. Today, we're diving into an important topic for all students, especially our international community, Health and Wellness. 

In this episode, Health and Wellness 101, we'll be chatting with Natalie Townsend, the Director of Health Promotion Services HPS and Sophia Gomez, a student who works with HPS and has a unique global perspective from growing up in India.


Today, we'll be exploring how HPS helps international students navigate healthcare in the US. From understanding insurance to knowing when they can choose urgent care over the emergency room. We'll also touch on mental health wellness resources on campus, upcoming events like the Fall Health Fair.


So let's get started by hearing from Natalie about her role at HPS. Hello and welcome Natalie. Thank you so much for being with us today. To kick things off, could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your role?


Natalie: Yeah. It's great to be here. So thank you for having me. As mentioned, I'm Natalie Townsend. I'm the Director of Health Promotion Services and I've been here at the university since 2015, so almost 10 years. And within our department, you know, broadly speaking, our office oversees all of our students' health and well being from undergrad to grad, domestic and international. And not only are we looking at your health and well being from the physical standpoint of making sure you're not sick, you know, making sure you have your immunizations, but also providing you programs and events to help you flourish here as a student from the first time you step in to when you graduate.


Host: Awesome. Thank you. And Sophia, it's great to have you here with us today. Thank you. Could you please introduce yourself?


Sophia: Absolutely. So thank you for having me here today. And I'm Sophia Gomez, I am a junior physics major and I'm also a health department student assistant. I have been here in HPS for like two years now. It's just like, wow, but it's interesting because this is my third year into it. It's a really good community. I love all the people working there, they make me feel like home because when I came here, it was the first job I took in the US. So I was so lost. I'm a very introverted person, but I always try to look out for opportunities that make me feel extroverted and get in well with the community, communicate with others, like to have more experiences. And I think this was, this was a really good place for me. It was really good and I love being there.


Host: That's awesome. That's so good to hear. Do you mind telling us a little bit about your background? So I know you were telling me before we started recording. You grew up in India? So, how long ago did you move here?


Sophia: Ok. So I was born in the US, but then I moved to India for my studies. For every single thing, I literally grew up as an Indian. So I'm from the southern part of India, Chennai. So when I came to the US for my undergrad, I came in 2022. So when I moved to the US, everything was new, everything was new. Literally, I have my twin sister, so I have someone who I can rely on, but we both have different majors. So my community is totally different from her community. So when I go somewhere out, it's like strangers. I don't know anyone. So I'm as before I told you, like, I'm an introverted and I hardly talk with people. But then these two years have changed me so much. Like, especially when it comes to my job being a student assistant, like looking up for other students, answering their questions, answering calls, and like doing a lot of tabling with them. I think I have grown a lot with that, my personality has changed, my communication skills have changed. So I think it's a really good opportunity for me. So I'm really grateful for that.


Host: Yeah, that's awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here and it seems like your experience has been synonymous with most international students, even though you've, you were born here and grew up in India. So you're navigating being at a higher ed institution in America, just like all of our international students have. So your perspective is going to be crucial in today's episode. So not only for international students navigating the US healthcare system can be confusing. Can you explain how HPS supports students, especially international students and understanding health insurance and accessing medical care while studying care at us?


Natalie: Yes, absolutely. And it is very confusing and one of the most important things that I try to tell international students when I do meet with them, when I'm in workshops or you know, meetings or phone calls, whatever it might be is our insurance and accessing care is very different from their home country.


You know, the first thing that I talk about is like you have to have insurance while here at the University of San Francisco. And we don't have universal health care. I wish we did. And so things are gonna cost a little bit more or a lot more depending on the services that you're receiving from the clinic or the emergency room or the urgent care. And so I really, when I do meet with students, I really really try to emphasize that and educate them on the different types of facilities when it comes to accessing care.


And so I think about it in a three tiered system. So the first tier is our student health clinic in news flash, we don't have a clinic on campus. We have a partnership across the street with UCSF Saint Mary's and I always try our students there first and foremost to have a primary care provider and meet with the doctors there that are wonderful, the nurses, the medical staff to build a rapport and establish yourself. So they know your medical history, maybe you had you know, reoccurring ear infections or whatever it might be. So they have that documentation. So anytime you do need to see a doctor, you can go and schedule an appointment with them. Again, that's your first tier option when it comes to accessing care, it is not the emergency room. So you have to schedule an appointment. You cannot walk in and say I want to see a doctor. You have to bring your insurance card and your student ID. So they know you're a USF student. And the reason being is because you don't have to pay the copay. And so that is what I like to call it as an entrance fee. Every student will have to pay that copay when they go to a facility. 


From there, if you're like, no, I can't wait. I wanna see a doctor today. The next best option is urgent care. And so the way I describe urgent care is kind of like a walk in clinic. It is not the emergency room again where an ambulance will pull in and you know you're on a gurney. That is, that is not what it is. An urgent care is in between, you know, the clinic and the emergency room where you don't have to make an appointment. You can just walk in if you want to. And our urgent care facility is called UCSF Go Health. And again, this is all on our website and you can schedule an appointment but you don't have to. And there you can see a doctor like I said, same day or the next day if you need to. Because you're getting faster care, the cost is gonna be a little bit more.


The last option in tier three is the emergency room and I'm putting this disclaimer. I'm not a doctor, I'm not a nurse. So if it is an emergency, yes, go to the emergency room. But if you just have a stomach ache or you know, you have a rash and it won't stop itching. Do not go to the emergency room for that. Only go to the emergency room, if, you know, profusely, bleeding, broken bones, that sort of thing because it is very, very expensive. And I know in a lot of, you know, international students' home countries, that's where they access their care all the time. They just walk into the emergency room and get triaged and get the care, the medicine, et cetera, but that's not the case here in the US. You're gonna walk into the emergency room, you're gonna wait for three hours to see a doctor and you might just speak with them for 20 minutes. And then unfortunately, and sadly, that bill is gonna be very, very expensive. So again, only go to the emergency room when it is an emergency.


And I always have to put this plug. If you have questions or need any further resources on where to go and how to navigate it, please schedule an appointment. We have tons of appointments available regarding insurance and we can absolutely talk with you through that process and we also have workshops on this as well.


Host: So is the emergency room at Saint Mary UCSF or is that going to be when you call 911? Like where is the emergency? So you can just walk into the emergency room and it is going to be located at, you know, the UCSF Saint Mary's emergency room again where you know, all of the ambulances pull in and that sort of thing but if 911 was called, an ambulance would pick you up and depending on where you are in the city or your location, they might take you to San Francisco General. They might take you to CPMC, California Pacific Medical Center, or even a UCSF emergency room. So it kind of depends on where you're located. And where the ambulance is going to take you.


Host: Awesome. And a lot of our international grad students might be in our downtown campus or just live off campus as well. I know the closest healthcare facility to me was on Bush and Taylor. So are there other facilities outside?


Natalie: It's a great, great question and, and like I spoke about that tiered system.


So the first tier is our student clinic. So  the one I was speaking about is the one closest to Main Campus over on Hayes Street. But we do have two additional clinics within the city. The first one that you mentioned is on Bush Street, which is another kind of downtown Tender Knob area. And then there's another one actually where I refer a lot of graduate students who are at the 101 Howard building and it's literally located under the baseball field where the Giants play. So it's literally overlooking McCovey Cove. And so again, all of those nurses and the medical staff work seamlessly at all. Three of those facilities. So again, that's our clinic. So you have to schedule an appointment when you want to see a doctor there. But that is going to be the most inexpensive place to seek care. So that's why we really try to emphasize students to go to those facilities first, at least to meet with a doctor to build rapport. And then if you do need to see a specialist, they can refer you out.


Host: Awesome. And that outside of physiological care, of course, there is health wellness and mindfulness. So as a student assistant at HPS, what advice would you give to other international students who want to get involved in wellness programs? Or like peer support for students at USF?


Sophia: Yeah, sure. So we have a lot of programs in HPS. So one thing that I want to highlight is like we have the Jumpstart Wellness challenge. It's like a challenge where you like to track your workout routines. If you go for a walk, if you go for a jog, if you do any single thing, you can just log in hours in there. So personally, I at least try to work out like four times a week or something. But then if like everyone has a busy schedule, no one's gonna be working out every single day. So if you go for a long walk and especially for students at USFCA, we walk the flight of stairs every single day for literally, I walk the flight of stairs at least five times every, every single day. So I think that's a really good amount of parts you can log in and then you will also win raffle prizes for that. So I think it's a really good opportunity to get started, like knowing about wellness on campus and challenges like that.


Host: Awesome. Yeah. All of those hills get me every single time no matter how long I've been here.


So mental health is a big topic, especially for international students who face challenges like cultural adjustment and then homesickness adds on to that. So what specific resources or programs that HPS offer to address mental health challenges? And this could be like getting involved with some of the programs and challenges like health fitness challenges to be competitive with your peers. But also are there like any programs at the office that students can reach out to?


Natalie: Yeah. So we, we also have a road to resilience stress management workshops that we have and students and student orgs can request those ad hoc. 


But we also have a program called Wellness Coaching. So students can schedule one on one appointments with us just to talk about like you mentioned, like changes coming here, you know, to the States for the first time. How do you navigate your school, social life, balance school work et cetera. And so we work with students to set up goals as well as having accountability. So, if they want to meet with us every week, we can meet with them and see if they're achieving those sorts of goals. 


We also have on our website along with Wellness Coaching an assessment. And so we really look at health and well being within our department in seven dimensions. Obviously, we're talking a lot about physical and mental wellness, but there's also other aspects to our wellness. So obviously, you know, like I mentioned physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, environmental, financial, but it's a survey. It will take about eight minutes, 58 minutes where you can answer questions and it will assess your seven dimensions of wellness on a scale from 1 to 5. So if you're at the lower end, you know, maybe there's a gap in your intellectual wellness. So maybe you need help finding your resources in regards to CASA, the learning and writing center resources at Gleeson Library. And so we can help navigate with you and in making sure that you have those resources and making sure you are successful here. So it's a really great tool that I highly recommend students take at the beginning of the semester and maybe even at the end of their first academic year to see how their progress has shifted in regards to those different dimensions of wellness.


Host: Yeah, it seems like some of those wellness aspects take under consideration like cultural sensibility and accessibility for international students as well. So that's really good to know that it is well rounded in that sense, it's not just focusing on your physical health or mental health for that matter.


And then Sophia, from your experience, how do some of these health and wellness programs help students build a sense of community, especially for international students who may be far away from home. I know you've kind of built on your introverted personality now and feel comfortable enough to like to talk to students, like take those calls that might be coming in as like the face of HPS so to speak. So do you want to talk a little bit more to that?


Sophia: Yeah. Sure. I think specifically like joining in the Wellness program and things like that, you will definitely get to know a lot more people in the community and then you definitely have to speak up for yourself. So you're gonna interact with every single person. So if a person is like an international student and the first time in the US, everyone is going to be nervous. So if they talk to another person, like the other student, they get to know each other well and that creates a really good bond between each other. So I think that's a really good thing and I would definitely recommend getting involved in a healthy Wellness Challenge program. It is really helpful.


Host: Awesome. OK. And then what's been the one wellness resource that you absolutely recommend to all international students to check out? I know you said the challenge, is there another one that you're like, you absolutely must?


Sohpia: We actually have something called Dons helping Dons, like an ambassador program. It's a volunteer program. So we can have it like all the international students can sign up for it. Like any student can sign up for it. We do tabling and stuff like we do tabling before finals week, like around the semester, we do a lot of tabling. So when you do the tabling, you meet a lot of people. So I think that helps you build a community that makes you want to talk with other people, you have to talk and then you can like, you can bring your ideas into the table for as for me, I am a part of DHD and I am ambassador for that. So before the finals week, I'm planning to do some kind of tabling, which I'm not going to reveal now. You have to see it. So it's pretty good. Like every thought that I have inside me, I have like anything that I want to put out in the world and all the people in the community can get to know about it. So, which is really nice and I really like that. So I would definitely recommend DHD.


Host: Awesome. I'm curious now, I will have to wait around until final and walk over to your table to find out what all these ideas you've got going in your mind and then I know there are some exciting things like the Fall Health Fair and The Flu Clinic. Do international students have access to these? 


Natalie: Of course, of course. Yeah. So one of our big, big events this fall semester is our Fall Health Fair. And so that's taking place next Tuesday on October 1st. As well as we, you know, strategically plan it with our flu clinic, we are coming into, you know, flu and cold season. So highly recommend students to get, you know, their flu shot. So go to our website, sign up to get your flu shot completely free.


And at the Fall Health Fair, we're gonna have a bunch of events, free food, giveaways. We're gonna have pet therapy, potpourri making. We're gonna have a non-alcoholic bar. So it's gonna be a really, really great opportunity and if anybody is interested in just, you know, getting free swag, talking to, you know, San Francisco health community and organizations, if you're interested in community health, public health, anything of that sort. Come check it out, talk to people, meet people and again, just building on what Sophia said, like, building that sense of community, that's what we really want to emphasize to all of our students in regards to the programming that we do on our campus.


Host: Yeah, definitely. For me, I use the correct recreation facility pretty much every day and I know they have some free like yoga classes that all students have access to, spin classes, TRX training. Are you guys familiar with it? Do you recommend our students?


Sophia: Totally, I have been, I have never been to a spin class, but my sister is crazy about the spin class. So I think it's Saturday morning or something. Yeah, so I definitely recommend and I'm also taking like a lot of clubs on campus are recommending like they are taking the E-board members there and like doing a lot of stuff. So I think I would definitely recommend everyone going to a spin class or something.


Natalie: Yeah, class is great. I mean, it's a wonderful facility. Again, building that sense of community accountability if it's tough getting out of bed because that is the hardest part of waking up or going to the gym is just like putting on the shoes and going. So yeah, so if you could always like to take friends and go work out and you know, they have a humongous pool as well.


And yeah, a ton of different varieties of classes that are, you know, totally free to students and intramurals is a great opportunity. They have everything from volleyball to football. American football and football. Basketball and even some of the club sports, which are awesome. Tons of martial arts, soccer, rifle. I mean, a really, really huge gamut of opportunities for students down there.


Host: Awesome. And so to close this out, I'm going to ask both of you to give us your one Health and Wellness tip. It could be something as simple as going for a 30 minute walk every day to drinking more water. Just one simple thing that everybody should try and incorporate in their day.


Sophia: I'd say like working out, I like, relieve a lot of stress in my workouts. Even if I'm like, so tired after an exam or something. I'm like, I'm tired, but then I work out for like, at least an hour. I'm like, refresh.


Host: Yes, 100% my mantra is, you'll never regret a workout. Like I, I just say that to myself like I know right now I don't feel like it, but I will feel differently after.


Natalie: So I should just go with those endorphins.


Host: What about you, Natalie?


Natalie: For me. And this is what my mom told me and I think it holds true and it's so simple,  sleep and water. That is the best medicine.


And I think as especially an international student trying to navigate and you're here and, you know, in a new world, new environment, I mean, we haven't even been on campus, I think maybe a month. You know, making sure you're getting enough sleep and drinking water. Those two things go hand in hand and it's really, really important to make sure that you're getting both those things adequately and efficiently.


Host: Yeah, sleep doesn't get enough credit, but it is such a crucial component of your health and wellness. So, thank you for bringing that up and thank you so much for joining us today. It was a pleasure talking to both of you and we'll be sure to link all of the resources and details about the events mentioned today in the description below.


Natalie: Beautiful.


Sophia: Thank you.


Host: Thank you. And that's been another episode of global connections at USF. Thank you to Natalie and Sophia for walking us through some of the resources that HPS has to offer. Please check out their web pages for details about the resources that they mentioned and for details on the Fall Health Fair coming up.


Please join us for the next episode right here. If you have any comments and suggestions on topics that you'd like for us to discuss, please reach out via our Instagram. All of the links are mentioned right below. Thank you and have a good one.