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Hospital allows ps^ By College Press Service Troubled college students don't have to interrupt their education while hospitalized at a private psychiatric hospital in upstate New York because they stay in school while working on the psychological iccnpc that hrmioht thpm thprp UV7UVU ^ "C" V "*W" "* The College Service of Saratoga is a joint venture of Skidmore College and Four Winds Saratoga hospital at Saratoga Springs, N.Y. It enables students to keep their student status, complete aborted coursework and remain insured while gaining emotional stability during a bout of mental illness. In a cottage on a campus-like setting, set apart from the main hospital facility, as many as 15 college students can be found poring over textbooks when not tackling personal issues in psychodrama, group horomr onH inrlitriHiiol CACC iAn C uivta[/j auu niui viuuui ovoaiv/uo. "Hospitalization can be a tragedy for students because it takes away their identity as a student and puts them in a sub-group, mental patient, that is devalued," said Dr. Xavior Mastrianni, founder of the program and executive director of Four Winds-Saratoga. More than 400 students from 150 mostly Northeastern colleges and universities have passed through the seven-year-old program that officials say is unlike any other in the country. "Being a student is the first identity we have," Mastrianni said. "We're someone's son or daughter, then we are a student. It is critical to maintain that identity." When mental illness forces a student to enter Four Winds, they receive an academic assessment along with a medical workup. Hospital officials, with the student's I? i High Que Produce See Us For Al 10?o OFF All /chiatric patients to permission, request academic p; records, have telephone conferences w with faculty advisers and coun- d; selors and make arrangements for tf students to continue coursework at neighboring Skidmore College. tf Hosnital officials often reanest n r 1 that the student's college or univer- w sity grant an incomplete for unfin- di ished course work rather than a failing grade as if the student was on tl an emergency medical leave. hi "We do all we can to keep the student's academic status," Mastri- f? anni said, noting that when college p students lose their insurance bene- p fits and student status they have F "lost their ticket to treatment." p tt K rum VVII1U5 MUUClll-pcllltIIU!> Mil" 11 fer from a variety of mental problems, with 60 percent having some b form of depression and 40 percent v with a secondary diagnosis of drug n and alcohol abuse, Mastrianni said, si Students with eating disorders also d make up a significant number of the p hospital's younger population. The average length of a Four h Winds stay is 30 days, during u which students can enroll in a Skid- b more course, do independent study t< as a special student or Finish pend- e ing coursework by working with a Skidmore faculty member who pro- n vides tutorial assistance at the cot- s< tage. s: Education is one area most of the S young people can excel in, Mastrianni said, and Skidmore faculty e members have reported that the stu- tl dents from Four Winds are among s the brightest they have taught. v Unless the instructor comes to e the cottage, Skidmore faculty are d unaware that students are from the b Four Winds program. ii When students are ready to leave Four Winds, about 50 percent take ilitv Meats Gi D II Of Your Tailgai Purchases Over $10 With < remain students art in an aftercare program in hich they attend school during the ay and stay in hospital dorms in ^ le evenings. M Unless students have symptoms I lat are unusually severe, Mastrian- , J i said he disagrees with counselors H ho advise troubled students to J rop out of school and take it easy. "It disconnects the person from ie tnrial cnnnnrt that thev need " mm e said. The idea that college is so stressjl that students crack under the ressure is false, Mastrianni said, ointing out that half the group at H| our Winds-Saratoga had been hositalized before college and a third ad been hospitalized twice before. H "Though counseling services may e undermanned, colleges can be ery supportive settings," Mastriani said, pointing out that healthy IW? tudents thrive on the rigors of acaemic life rather than finding the ressure unbearable. Mastrianni became motivated to m elp struggling college students m : /hen a young patient was advised y college ornciais 10 taice a semes- grj, ix off while she struggled with ^ c motional problems. "She spent two and a half ? lonths in New York City by herelf in her parents' apartment," he aid. "Her parents were working. | he didn't know what to do." "You are better off re-entering an ^ nvironment that is more supportive j hat stressful," Mastrianni said of tudents returning to the college tr /here they became ill. 'There are r xceptions when some face great ^ ifficulty or they are so far behind, Cut we find they are usually going i the other direction." \Mri iPM I' rocery I eli Items ting Needs! I itudent ID J hHMBHIMMWHMi * i Jr ^ ijMm ;::;i^| g|M| g|^H k^B I 1 '/ j 1 I v J"j 1 1 Emily Peterson/THE GAMECOCK in Comer, an international studies junior, eats at the Pizza Hut in Russell House. A production assistant is leeded for The Gamecock, kill in computer graphics is referred. Call 777-2833 or ome by Russell House 320. J . idKc uur wuru. You'll love it. WE REPAIR ALL TYlSSF HI Quick Service (often while you wait!) 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