Your college-bound child just sent in his deposit for freshman year. Now the deluge of paperwork begins. First up, you'll want to make an appointment for your teen to visit his doctor and get all his
immunizations updated in May of senior year. But you'll have other things to discuss too:
- Health Forms: Campus health forms transfer your child's medical history from his current doctor to his new health care provider - the campus health center. Save yourself a second shlep to the doctor's office by reading the paperwork beforehand, flagging the sections that require the doctor's attention and checking that it's complete before you leave. (Make a copy before dropping it into the mail too.)
- Immunizations: The days of DPT shots and polio vaccine sugar cubes may be long over, but college kids will still need some key vaccines. Some colleges require the meningitis vaccine for students who will be living in dorms. Chances are he'll need a tetanus booster and TB test too.
- Existing prescriptions: Whether it’s birth control pills, migraine meds, an acne fighting gel, or medication for ADHD, depression or other issues, your child is going to need refills. How many refills are left on the existing script? What should your child do when it runs out? Will he have to get one from the campus health clinic - which will mean a new, diagnostic appointment - or can his old doctor phone it in? (If your child wears disposable contact lenses, this will be a major issue too. Schedule an appointment with his eye doctor this summer so he starts the year with sufficient supplies.)
- Disability reality check: Many new freshmen see the start of college as a new phase of life - new school, new them, says Marjorie Savage, author of You're on Your Own, But I'm Here if You Need Me. The only problem is, students with ADHD, learning disabilities or mental health issues may also see it as a chance to tackle a new life without the medication or counseling help that sustained them through high school. It's an understandable urge, says Savage, but "when absolutely everything in a student's life is changing - where and how she lives, who she lives with, even what she eats and how much she sleeps - this can be the worst possible time to give up medications and support systems that have helped in the past." Urge your child to discuss this with his doctor.
- Continued contact: The campus health clinic will be the go-to spot for your new college kid if he falls ill or trips over a sprinkler in the quad, but what happens if he gets seriously ill at school or falls sick at home during winter break or summer vacation? If your child is still seeing his childhood pediatrician, this conversation needs to happen soon. Some doctors have no problem being a trusted, long-distance resource for their college age patients; others transition their teenage patients out of the practice at age 18.
Worried you won’t remember all those details? Print out
a checklist for that doctor’s visit.
