Need Medical Attention? Go to NYIT

By James Bonner

Staff Writer

In the midst of flu season, students looking to receive medical attention won’t be able to go to the Center for Healthy Living in most cases. They’ll have to travel off campus to the New York Institute of Technology. Medical and psychiatric referrals are made next door to the W. Kenneth Riland Health Center at NYIT.

Where the Center for Healthy Living at Post is built to only serve current undergraduate and graduate students, NYIT’s clinics are built to serve the whole community, according to director Lynne Schwartz.The center at Post pro-vides students with psychological counseling, nutrition counseling, and health services. Their hours of operation for counseling or nursing services are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; nutrition services are Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

According to its webpage on liu.edu, the center is equipped with licensed mental health professionals, nutritionists, and a nurse available to provide consultation and support for students. “The most important aspect of running our center is to provide supportive counseling and nutritional services to our students,” Schwartz said. The center’s staff are available to discuss concerns of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, self-esteem, eating disorders, sexual assault, gender identity, domestic violence, suicidal ideation, grief and loss.

NYIT’s medical facilities became the main clinical care facility for Post after a deal between the two campus was established in 2014. Services offered by NYIT’s clinics are family medicine, physical therapy, internal medicine, occupational therapy, speech pathology, psychology, acupuncture, physical medicine and rehab, radiology, exercise stress-testing, a wellness program, genetic counsel-ing and Adele Smithers Parkinson’s disease treatment center.

Dr. Brian Harper is the chief medical officer and an associate professor of clinical specialties at NYIT; John Lopez is the director of health center operations at NYIT.

“We operate year-round, so we’re talking about 8 a.m. to about 5:30 p.m.,” Lopez said. The center is open Monday through Friday. The health care center at NYIT is known for providing osteopathic manipulative medicine through their D.O. (osteopathic doctor school) program.

NYIT’s medical center promotes specialty services to Post, including sports medicine. “We work closely with LIU regarding the athletes coming to receive their physicals and what have you,” Harper said. “We work closely with athletes from our own college and local high school athletes as well.

Students can find the Center for Healthy Living on campus in the basement level of Post Hall or contact them at 516-299-3468 or post-healthyliving@liu.edu, as well as follow the center on Instagram @liupostcenterforhealthyliving. Shuttle service is provided to NYIT’s center when warranted.