If you’re a Clemson student, you’ve probably found yourself in Redfern at one point in time. Whether the Redfern Health Center and it’s employees serve as your regular medical care provider, your pharmacy, the place you stop by when you wake up with a mysterious bruise from a drunken fall or where you seek the therapeutic assistance that most of us should seek out, you’re somewhat familiar with the Clemson’s student health services. That being said, the chances of you having a Redfern horror story to pull out of your back pocket at any given moment are probably high. Although Redfern can provide services we desperately need as college students, it seems like they specialize in improper, inadequate care and miserable young adults. 

In order to confirm my speculation that my feelings towards Redfern were not isolated from the rest of the student body, I posted a story on my Instagram asking my followers if they had a Redfern horror story they were willing to share for this article. I received far more messages depicting awful medical experiences than I expected, with a few positive anecdotes peppered in, and immediately knew that the faint whisper of Redfern’s inefficiency across campus has been growing throughout my four years as a student. To the surprise of absolutely no one, most of these experiences came from female students as misogyny seems to brew in the Redfern break room coffee machine. 

In my own experience, I have faced a few doctors that simply do not listen to me. For example, when I went in with incredible stomach pain that began that morning, one doctor told me to head over to the OBGYN for a pelvic exam. When I got there, the male OBGYN not only refused to do the ordered exam, but kept asking me if I was pregnant -and wouldn’t listen when I told him a million times that I was not- and then told me I was fine. He suggested that I pop an Advil and return the next morning if I still felt bad. I tried to tell him that it was searing and the worst pain I have ever felt, but he just asked me -again and again and again- if I was pregnant, then repeated that I was fine. Well, ladies and gentlemen you guessed it, I went to urgent care that night and the female doctor told me to head to the ER – I had a severe UTI that would have completely screwed me over if I waited until the morning (as the male OBGYN suggested, since you know, he didn’t trust that I was in pain and wouldn’t provide any tests). That doesn’t even touch the surface of other experiences I have had there. 

Here’s the thing, that’s not even the worst story to come out of the Redfern. Some doctors truly do not know how to prioritize. In senior English major Madeleine’s experience, she passed out at Redfern because they forced her to take a depression screening before they stitched her bleeding foot up. Mental health is very important, obviously, but when your foot is bleeding and cut open to the point of stitches, I think taking care of that is a little more important than asking the patient to point at what emotion she feels on a plastic card. One female student, who wishes to remain anonymous, recalls a time where she hit her head and felt symptoms similar to that of a concussion afterwards, resulting in a trip to Redfern. She states that “I went to the Redfern and told the doctor all of that [her concussion-like symptoms]. Without taking any tests or any medical evaluation, he told me I had depression and sent me directly to CAPS”. She continued to mention that her therapy at CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) was short lived and very unhelpful. A male Clemson student who requests anonymity also has reported trouble with the CAPS approach to therapy. 

A female student, who also prefers to remain anonymous, was faced with missing test results and some questionable advice. When mentioning that she had her period three times a month for a little under a week, she was told that it was normal and that the solution was to simply consume more water. Even your dog knows that’s terrible advice. 

If you’re looking for another example of misogyny within Clemson’s student health services, look no further. According to Eliza, a senior English major, one Redfern medical professional decided on her level of pain for her. She states “the doctor told me I was fine/exaggerating my symptoms. I went back one hour later, another doctor actually took my temperature and I had a 104 degree fever and the flu! She was like ‘why didn’t you come sooner’ but I did and I was turned away”. Later on, when seeking help for dangerous thoughts and mental instability, she was simply given a pamphlet on better sleep patterns, because we all know that depression can be cured through a simple fix to your sleeping schedule. In a similar situation, another student that wishes to remain anonymous recalled one instance where Redfern failed to catch a 101 fever and brutal sinus infection. 

Another female anonymous source went to Redfern believing she had a thyroid issue, only to be refused certain tests in the beginning and told that her assumption wasn’t the case. He didn’t believe her symptoms or the research she had done before her visit. When mentioning that she was gaining weight but too nauseous to eat, the doctor’s advice was to not eat. Yes, he told her to do an intermittent fast as a solution to her weight gain, even though she was already having trouble eating. She states that he “ignored all my symptoms and only focused on the fact that I was gaining weight. Instead of actually listening to health concerns he rerouted the discussion back to my weight and ways I could lose weight”. He eventually scheduled the tests, and in the end a different doctor diagnosed her with the thyroid condition she already mentioned (two weeks of pain later). When reflecting on her experience, the source imitates the doctor’s basic reaction as “you are woman, i diagnose you with woman and also lying”. It seems like that could be used to imitate several of the doctors at Redfern. 

The convenience of an on-campus health center often overrides the concerns over medical care. There have been several instances where I made an appointment at Redfern instead of, say, the CVS minute clinic, purely because it was closer to my apartment at the time, already has all my insurance information and the cost can disappear onto my student bill instead of ruining what funds I had at the time. It can also be easy to say “oh, well, next time I will have a different doctor who will actually listen to me” or “oh, maybe next week they will find a way to increase their CAPS availability” or even “maybe next time they will actually take my temperature or provide the exam that another medical professional requested”. I guess, sometimes, students just have either a little too much hope for their medical care or they’re a white male that the doctors are more likely to listen too. 

Clemson University should be as dedicated to their student health services as they are to their sports programs, and the constant anecdotes of terror that accompany treatment at Redfern prove that they are not providing the proper attention. If several students, over their three or four years as a student, can provide multiple examples of mistreatment and misogyny at the campus medical clinic, something needs to change. Whether funding needs to increase (and trust me, if Clemson really wanted to, they could find a few bucks to fix the facility responsible for the health and well being of their money providers- I mean students) or staff changes need to be implemented, a change has to happen. Too many students, especially female and minority students, are walking around with a horror story from Redfern. On a student affairs webpage, the university states that “We have defined our core values as Integrity, Honesty, and Respect. As a new student, whether you are an incoming freshman, transferring from another institution, or a new graduate student, Clemson University expects you to adopt these core values as your own.” Well, it’s obvious that those core values are sometimes hard to find at Redfern, so maybe Clemson should take a closer look at the adoption of their own policies. Obviously, stuff happens. People make mistakes at their jobs and patients can be snarky. However, that does not excuse nor does it explain the number of awful experiences that can be attributed to Clemson’s health care facility. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a few wonderful experiences at Redfern, and I know others have as well. When I fractured three parts of my ankle, I received excellent care from the staff at Redfern. I genuinely felt cared for and I was given proper advice under her eye, and I wouldn’t hesitate to see that one doctor again if I happen to break or fracture any more bones. Other students have left the building feeling taken care off, as Redfern isn’t completely awful. Sydney, a junior sociology major, stated that at Redfern “transferring my medication was easy and they always had it ready for me on time” which is nice to hear. Other stories of pharmacy refills aren’t so nice, but let’s give Redfern a little credit for a second. 2020 alumni Maci recalls that Redfern actually saved her life. She states that one time she had a severe case of strep two weeks after she recovered from the flu, to the point where her body rejected the strong antibiotic provided. She mentions that “I went to the ER throwing up blood, the ER didn’t give me fluids and I was extremely dehydrated. Probably would’ve died, but then I went to Redfern again and they actually gave me fluids and saved my life”. ER: 0, Redfern:1. 

Although some have had great, even lifesaving experiences, with Redfern, it’s a hit or miss. I feel like you should be confident when creating an appointment with any doctor, especially at a university where intelligence, transparency, “equality” and hard work are admired (equality rests in parenthetical citations because, you know, unfortunately that’s not exactly the most accurate way to describe dear old Clemson). At Redfern, you take a chance every time you log into MyHealth-e and have to see a different doctor or therapist. Oh, and don’t get me started on the parking situation there. 

Despite some of these comfortable and helpful interactions, it seems as if there are more Redfern horror stories than stories of praise. Back in 2019, The Tiger published an article about how inefficient Redfern seemed to be. Even now, in 2021, this concept still rings true. Students are still having complications with several aspects of Redfern, sometimes leaving the facility with more issues than they had when walking in. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that these stories and the opinion present is not reflective of the student body as a whole, but one section of it. Nevertheless, I hope that some changes will be made so future Clemson students do not have to add a Redfern Horror Story to their college experience. Maybe, just maybe, there will be another Outlook article in 2022 that praises rather than condemns the facility.