Daily Staff Writer

Dr. Robert Patterson, director of the Student Health Center, will receive the Ollie B. Moten Award for his significant contribution to health services at Iowa State.

The award recognizes American College Health Association (ACHA) members who have made a significant impact on the institution in which they work, according to College Health in Action.

Ollie B. Moten was “one of the first nurses active in the field of college health,” Patterson said. “She is recognized in an ongoing way by this award.”

Patterson said receiving this award was a surprise.

“Being recognized by one’s peers is always very gratifying. I am in a responsible position. If something goes wrong, I am responsible. The other side of that is, when things go right, I get equally unjustly credited for it. I think it is a reflection of what the whole staff is doing here,” he said.

University health services, in general, have improved by becoming more mainstream in terms of medical care, Patterson said.

“Part of the mythology that has always existed in university health services is somehow they are the backwater of medicine, but in fact, we have a responsibility to meet national standards of credentialing and service,” he said. “We operate a full community-based outpatient medical facility.”

Since Patterson has been at the Student Health Center, he has seen significant improvements in health services at ISU.

“One of the newest things we do, and do well, is total health education, dealing with lifestyle issues and establishing the Wellness Center in Beyer Hall,” Patterson said. “A lot of effort, from both staff and students, goes into that.”

Patterson added that the health center has expanded its scope of services significantly in accessing reference laboratories and consultants, and in establishing a physical therapy program.

“The big thing now is that we are getting out of this 1917 building,” he said. “We are getting into a facility that is designed for delivery of health care.”

Patterson is pleased with the progress of the new health center being built west of Beyer Hall.

“It’s coming out of the ground, and that’s exciting,” he said. “There’s a lot of planning that needs yet to be done as far as equipment and things, but money has been secured and the building is in progress. It’s on automatic pilot at this point.”

Patterson anticipates that health services will move into the new building in early May, 1997.

“We need to move prior to summer term,” he said. “We can’t move during school session because it would be chaos.”

Patterson said the new facility will improve the quality of health care by improving efficiency.

“We are handicapped by not enough space for exam rooms and support staff here,” he said. “As an example, it is impossible for us to have a full appointment schedule in this building. We have no place to put adequate numbers of people to manage that.

“In the new building, clinicians will have, at any one time, at least two exam rooms available to them. We have every reason to believe that this will dramatically improve efficiency.”

Patterson said there are no plans to increase the number of doctors. There is a possibility that there will be expanded services for children of students, but this decision will be determined by need and cost. However, additional clerical staff will be hired to help with support services.

He said that he would like the health center to be able to provide lower fees for services.

“We have tried to modify that as much as possible,” he said. “We need to work at trying to minimize fees for services. The fees are very low related to other health services. The trade-off is a more significant fee coming from mandatory health fees.” Patterson came to ISU in 1979. He worked as a staff physician at the health center until 1985. Prior to that, he had his own family practice in Conrad. In 1986, he became director of student health at ISU and has served on the foundation board of the Mary Greeley Medical Center for the past six years.