She came to class looking pale as a ghost and feeling nauseous and ready to pass out.

“My immediate concern was to attend to her,” said Randall Beede, an Eastern English professor. “I wasn’t sure if whatever she had was going to pass, or if she was going to need help.”

Not long after her entrance, the ill senior English major, who wishes to remain anonymous, raised her hand, announced she wasn’t feeling well and laid her head on her lap and passed out.

Classmates shouted out questions like, “are you allergic to anything, or have you eaten anything today?” After receiving no response, one classmate suggested calling Eastern’s Health Services to receive medical assistance since its building was close to the classroom located in Coleman Hall.

But Beede said he knew what had to be done, and he had his secretary call 9-1-1.

No matter the location on campus or the intensity of the illness or injury, Eastern’s Health Services cannot send out emergency medical assistance for students or faculty.

“We aren’t able to drop what we’re doing here and run some place on campus,” said Lynette Drake, director of Health Services. “We’re not equipped for emergency transport either. We do have some equipment for emergencies, but it is not portable.”

In any type of life-threatening situation, Drake said she advises calling 9-1-1, whether on campus or not.

“It’s just a rule of thumb for life,” she said. “Potentially life-threatening emergencies are better handled by dialing 9-1-1; they are better equipped and will get there faster.”

Health Services is a primary health care center, which is similar to a medical clinic, where patients need to come in by appointment or walk in to the clinic themselves, Drake said.

“We do see patients who come in and have been injured on campus,” Drake said. “Usually a friend will bring them in, say for a sprained ankle or broken foot, and we’ll take them to the observation room where they are prepped for surgery.”

Though 9-1-1 may be a “rule of thumb” for emergency situations in life, Ashley Walz, a senior English major and classmate of the student who passed out, said Health Services seemed like the right option because of the building’s closeness to the situation.

“I thought we should call Health Services because I assumed someone would come over or someone would know what to do,” Walz said. “I don’t think if I were at home I would call Health Services, but I do think I would probably call them in an emergency if I were on campus, at least to ask questions.”

If an emergency situation arises in the classroom or in the residence halls, Drake said Health Services may be called, and a nurse will walk students through the situation while offering assistance by telephone.

So far this year, Drake said Health Services has received a few emergency calls, but most students just needed to know whether or not to call an ambulance.

“I think Health Services is great for students, but they aren’t designed to actually have someone come out and assist in a medical emergency,” Beede said. “I think the situation in my classroom was handled very well. (Calling 9-1-1) was absolutely the right thing to do because the student needed the professional assistance.”