The Medical and Counseling Care Center is hosting a come-and-go event to raise awareness for women’s health on Oct. 26, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Students are encouraged to walk the track at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center for a mile while learning about the women’s health screenings and services available for students. Everyone is welcome to participate, not just women.

Stephanie Rushing hopes to grow the MACCC’s recognition through her new position as the health promotions and outreach director.

“Every month I’m doing an event related to some health initiative,” said Rushing. “So October, everyone’s pretty familiar with breast cancer and women’s health, we’re tagging along with that and doing an event to promote better health services that we provide for women’s health screenings,” Rushing said.

Stephanie said that the nature of this event goes back to educating people about women’s health in a simple and casual manner, explaining why it’s a come-and-go event.

“We can have those conversations about women’s health, or you can just be catching up with a friend while you walk and get exposed to some information about our services,” Rushing said.

The event will offer complimentary drinks and the track will have flyers put up around the track to invite students to converse about women’s health.

“It’s awesome for women to connect and just enjoy some activity and learn about the services [offered by the MACCC] while they’re walking,” Rushing said.

Rushing said that since a lot of services are more individualized by factors such as age, students are encouraged to talk to the volunteers and staff about personalizing their approach to these services.

“We can individualize their treatment plan or their preventative care plan based on information that they give us because some of the things wouldn’t be applicable to people under 21,” Rushing said. “[The event] is just to start the conversation.”

Tyson Alexander, director of the MACCC, oversees both sides of the clinic– the counseling and medical side, while ensuring that the staff is equipped to serve the students as needed.

An important part of Alexander’s job is to work with students to make the MACCC more accessible in terms of location, services and finances.

“Also working with students to make sure that they’re aware of the services we are providing and that we’re coming at it from an angle where they’re easily accessible,” Alexander said.

Alexander is excited for the event and the MACCC’s work through Rushing’s new position in general.

“This event is something I was super excited about because we’re trying to specifically target and highlight certain things based upon the time of the year,” Alexander said.

The Rec Center is a convenient location for the event in terms of student flow, Alexander said.

“We can also have space to answer questions and provide connection and education about the resources that [the MACCC] provides,” Alexander said. “The Rec is always such a great partner; there’s always a great flow of people there too.”

Alexander confirms that the MACCC offers cheaper services than going off-campus and the insurance difference can be reimbursed.

“We’re absolutely cheaper because we’ve looked at everybody else’s prices,” Alexander said. “I think there is some of that perception because we’re cash pay, we’re not an insurance pay clinic, that students aren’t necessarily used to seeing their total bill whenever they go for an appointment.”

The MACCC offers visits for $10 through appointments, with additional costs coming in only when testing is needed.

“Students can take their appointments, take it home to their parents and then apply it to insurance and they get reimbursed,” Alexander said. “It’s the same level of care.”

Both Alexander and Rushing hope that this event goes beyond raising awareness for women’s health, but also encourages students to visit the MACCC when the need arises instead of seeking treatment from an off-campus institution. Rushing has also done a cost analysis and affirms that even though they don’t accept insurance, it’s still a cheaper service.

“Our costs can be a lot more reasonable than going out to the community and self-paying,” Rushing said.

Aside from October being set aside for women’s health, the MACCC has more events lined up.

For No-Shave November, the MACCC will have an event where students and staff will have a face-off to see who can grow the most facial hair.

“We’ll have a poll online or on Instagram, maybe about who wore it best, like fun mustaches or whatever it might be,” Rushing said.

The months to follow will feature different events that are subject to change, with details yet to be confirmed, but they each have the ultimate goal of raising awareness about certain topics.

• January – mental health with a movie screening of Inside Out
• February – focus on nutrition to raise awareness of eating disorders
• March – sleep awareness and highlighting adequate sleep by offering free 7 Up drinks in the residence halls
• April – alcohol awareness

“This is all evidence-based programming,” Rushing said. “It’s just more education and know your limits, know your friends, know how to be safe if you decide to partake.”

More recently, the MACCC has been involved in tailgating to put their name out there and will continue to get involved on campus in a variety of ways

“[This event] is just another way we’re trying to be present on campus in front of people,” Rushing said.

Rushing and Alexander hope to continue these events and make them a yearly occurrence, to remind students of the MACC and what services they have to offer.

To find out more about the resources the MACCC provides, students can call 325-674-2626 or visit their website, as well as their Instagram @acumaccc.