'Cold pack' sparks student questions

As New England’s wintry weather thaws in its spring transition, Keene State College students experience the tail-end of the season’s health-related ailments and woes. KSC Health Services has just the goody bag for students with a multitude of symptoms.

Disguised in a mere child’s brown lunch bag, the cold pack, given out at Health Services on the third floor of the Elliot Center, consists of a travel pack of Kleenex, one individual bag of Lipton’s chamomile herbal tea, three yellow regular-strength menthol throat lozenges, three condiment-sized salt packets for gargling, six two-tablet packets of Tylenol, Advil and Sudafed equivalents, an individual package of chicken-flavored Ramen noodles and a Dum-Dum lollipop. But this collaboration of goods isn’t given out to students too lazy to walk down Appian Way and eat some Zorn Dining Common’s chicken soup.

Director of Health Services Christine Burke said every student who has obtained a cold pack has first been in contact with a triage nurse who conducts an overall health assessment of the student. Burke said, “Having the conversation with them about what are the symptoms, why are you here, how long have you been experiencing them,” are all part of preliminary communication and analysis of symptoms.

At this point, Burke said there are three criteria observed that would warrant a student receiving a cold pack. If, through the preliminary conversation, a triage nurse notes the symptoms are relatively recent, the student has not yet used over-the-counter medication stifling underlying symptoms or their severity, and there are no red flags indicating more serious health issues, the student will most likely be given the cold pack.

“If that’s where it is, usually the student is offered a cold pack,” Burke said, “and advised, if the symptoms get worse and they don’t improve in 24 or 48 hours, they should come back to be seen by a provider.”

Because most cold symptoms are the product of a virus, antibiotics provide no relief and can often cause frustration among students who simply want a quick fix. Burke said problems arise when students feel like they aren’t heard or that they cannot do anything about their symptoms. In this way, the cold pack serves as a psychological healing method. This mind over matter approach caters to the youth adult away from home and the care typically received from loved ones in a time of need.

“Most people, when you were sick when you were little, you wanted your mother to care of you, you wanted her chicken soup,” Burke said. “So there’s a little bit of TLC in there as well.”

Sophomore Mike Flynn said he recently sought help from KSC’s Health Services when he came down with flu-like nasal and sinus symptoms this winter. Flynn was given the cold pack.

“It cheered me up but I don’t really think I need a lollipop to get over a cold,” Flynn said. Freshman Kelly Sullivan said actually leaving health services with something tangible helped her.

“Since you can’t get anything [medically related], getting something makes me feel better,” Sullivan said.

While Burke said it’s often to the student’s benefit to allow their bodies to fight viral illnesses by building antibodies, the department is aware there are serious viruses like mononucleosis and strep throat that require further attention. If a student feels dissatisfied with initial diagnosis, he or she can opt to see a provider even if this goes against the nurse’s assessment. These include two full-time nurse practitioners and a physician who is in Health Services once a week.

The cold pack is more a hospitable gesture, often unseen at many other institutions. But, if the package contains nothing a student can’t buy in a general store, then the question remains, why are students seeking a cold pack required to withstand the initial assessment? Burke acknowledged this dilemma as one specific to a generation of students who have been overexposed to antibiotics.

“As children, doctors were over-prescribing and over-treating things and we’ve really pulled back from that,” Burke said. “So, it’s really hard when students come in and they think that they have something that they don’t have and they expected to be given an antibiotic.”
For these students, Burke said the cold pack can alleviate anxiety over not receiving a pill to instantly reduce symptoms.

For some, the cold pack is the college’s way of acknowledging their concerns and giving them the familiar treatment they’ve left at home. For others, it is nothing more than a child’s lunch made by a less-than-certified medical professional mother. Either way, no winter season is complete without encountering the favors of the KSC Health Services goody bag.

Tara Nathan can be contacted at tnathan@keeneequinox.com.