Emergencies
An emergency exists when any of the following occur:
- a student in your area has harmed or has threatened to harm him/herself or another;
- a student has sustained a physical injury; or
- a student requests or, in your opinion, requires immediate attention from a professional.
The first two situations are quite clear and require no decision on your part. The third situation merits further comment. In short, an emergency exists if you think it does. If you have doubts or worries about a student, always respond as if this is indeed an emergency.
You must contact a professional in any of these situations even if a student requests that you not tell anyone. You would jeopardize the student's health and safety and commit an extremely serious breach of your duties by failing to seek professional assistance under these circumstances. It is far better for you to have to deal with a student who is angry or upset because you were forced to contact a professional against his/her wishes than to have to live with the potentially negative consequences of not doing so.
The procedure to follow in an emergency is straightforward and simple. During weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. contact Health Services (793-2276) if the emergency involves a physical injury; or contact the Counseling Center (793-3363) if it is psychological in nature. In the evening until 8 p.m., contact Health Services for medical emergencies, or Public Safety (793-2222) for psychological emergencies. Public Safety will in turn contact the psychologist on call.