Local help line assists students

By VERA KLINKOWSKY
Collegian Staff Writer

Tonya Yacina was relieved when she called a local help line for assistance with her problem, but many people are not aware of local outlets for help.

Yacina (freshman-journalism) learned about the Centre Health Line when she was paging through the telephone book.

"It helped me as much as a tape could help," she said.

But Yacina may be in the minority. Many students are not aware of the help line's existence even though Centre Health Line is distributing information to Centre County residents.

Centre Health Line lists tapes in the blue pages of the telephone book that discuss various issues, such as drug problems, birth control, sexuality, pregnancy, and diet and nutrition. When someone calls the service, a Centre County Library employee answers the phone, and the caller requests the call number of the tape they want to hear.

Although Centre Health Line serves all Centre County residents, they receive the most telephone calls from high school students, said Judith Roberts, Centre Health Line coordinator. The health line receives a high number of calls for tapes concerning teen issues.

Besides high school students using the service, University educators have also found use in the local help line.

Rick Cain (graduate-health education) taught Health 126 --Elementary School Health Program -- last semester and had students who used information from Centre Health Line. His students worked on an annotated bibliography, which gives health education references for elementary teachers.

"Some made references to the Centre Health Line. I didn't mention Centre Health Line to them. They took their own intiative. I was impressed by that," he said.

On the other hand, Larry Olsen, professor of health education, makes his students aware of the service, and they call Centre Health Line to get additional information about topics they discuss in class.

"I never had a student displeased with what they heard," he said. "I never had anyone indicate the information they heard contradicted from anything we have said in our class."

Olsen added that people in the community should take advantage of this service.

"The problem you run into, (in) a relatively small community such as this, is there aren't the variety of organizations available to provide all the kinds of information that would be available with a relatively short telephone call," he said.

And the few students who have already taken advantage of the service have found it helpful.

Cain also has called the service concerning drugs, nutrition and weight loss.

"I wanted to find out what is being said. I was actually pleased," he said. "If people knew about it, probably they would use it."

But many University students are still unaware of the service.

Bridget Connell (sophomore-human development and family studies) is one student who did not know about the service. She said she believes that the service is a good alternative for people who have problems and are too embarrassed to talk to someone.

"I won't do it. I never felt the need," she said.

But some students disagree and would use the help line as an feasible option for solving problems.

Although Jennifer Coleman (junior-economics) has not called, she said she would not hesitate to call if she felt the need.

"I think it's a good idea. I don't have to talk to anyone. I don't have to be embarrassed," Coleman said.

Coleman added that she believes this service gives people the option to keep their problems to themselves and still get help.

Chris Snyder (senior-special education) has not called either, but he said he probably would call.

"It's easier than going to research it yourself," he said. "It sounds like a really good thing to me. There should be more of those."