Health Services

Common Colds: Students with sore throat, runny nose, cough, or other common cold symptoms should be evaluated to rule out COVID-19. Most people with a common cold will recover in about 7-10 days.

COVID-19: Health Services can evaluate, test, and treat students who have COVID-19 or symptoms. You are encouraged to access rapid, home COVID-19 testing anytime new cold/COVID-like symptoms develop, available to students for free at health services on a first come, first serve basis. Students who have questions about COVID, symptoms, or exposures, should contact health services directly at 978.542.3240 or send a provider a message in the student health portal. See university COVID-19 information and updates here.

You can help reduce your risk of getting a cold: wash your hands often, wear a mask when in close proximity to others indoors, especially during peak cold/flu/COVID seasons, avoid close contact with sick people, and don’t touch your face with unwashed hands.

Illnesses: Illnesses include respiratory infections, rashes, headaches, sprains,  and other physical ailments.

Injury: For a musculoskeletal injury, we recommend initiating the RICE method as soon as possible after injury. Learn more about the RICE method.

With any illness or injury, if your symptoms are severe, worsening, or not improving after a week, it is important to schedule an appointment with health services or your primary care provider for further evaluation.

We offer many in-office lab tests such as pregnancy testing, Strep throat testing, and flu testing without any additional charge to you. However, some tests need to be sent to a third-party laboratory, Quest Diagnostics. Your health insurance is typically billed for these tests but in the event that you do not want to use your health insurance, you can discuss paying out of pocket with your provider. If you have an order for laboratory testing from an off campus provider, please upload this order to your health portal and schedule an appointment.

• You can book an appointment with a nurse practitioner to talk about an entire range of family planning, no matter where you are on the spectrum from never having had sex, wanting a child and needing prenatal care, to wanting to avoid parenthood. There is never pressure to make any decision, we are always happy to discuss all of your options.
• Birth control and reproductive medications are available on-site at reduced rates for students who choose not to use their insurance. We recommend visiting bedsider.org/methods as a good starting point to review current birth control options before your visit.
• For more detailed information about related services on campus please visit the sexual health resource page. 
• Medication abortion is available on campus up to 11 weeks of pregnancy and we have excellent referrals for off-campus resources.
• Plan B (generic levonorgestrel-based pills) and Ella are sold at health services during normal business hours at a reduced rate and is available in the wellness vending machine after hours and weekends. Plan B costs $10 and Ella costs $15. We can only accept Clipper Cash.
  • No appointment is necessary to purchase, but you can always request an appointment if you’d like to further discuss your options with a nurse practitioner
  • You can view the difference in emergency contraception types here to help you make the best decision for yourself.
  • You can also send a provider a message in your health portal to request a prescription be sent to your preferred pharmacy. This will allow you to use your health insurance to cover costs (varies for every insurance plan).

• Our nurse practitioners can provide consultations and answer questions you may have about gender affirming care, such as hormone therapy.
• We provide STI testing, HPV vaccines, PrEP and PEP for HIV prophylaxis or exposure, and Pap tests.
• We can work with your prescriber to perform lab work, medication administration, or other services you may need.
• We are closely connected with Health Quarters (located in Beverly, MA) who can prescribe hormones, provide medication abortions, and gender affirming treatments (such as laser hair removal) and can help get you connected to this care, if you’d like.

• Immunizations are required by the state of Massachusetts.  Please view the immunization requirements here.
• We accept many insurances including the student health insurance plan, and are able to provide vaccines to students in our office.  Vaccines are given at no-cost, as long as we accept your insurance plan.  If needed, many pharmacies offer vaccines without an appointment. Please message our medical biller in your student health portal or call 978-542-6413 if you have questions about your insurance coverage in our clinic.
• We also offer out-of-pocket reduced costs for immunity titers for Hepatitis B, Varicella, Measles, Mumps, and Rubella. This is helpful if you do not have any documentation of illness of vaccines for these requirements.

Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) testing is available and we can talk to you about limiting your risks for exposure and treatments (such as vaccinations and medications). More detailed information on our sexual health services page.