• Emmons Health Center
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• Note Policy

Note Policy

Writing "notes" would place the Health Center staff in a parental role, which effectively denies the student the opportunity to assume adult responsibility for him/herself. It is the students' responsibility to be proactive in contacting professors if they become ill and miss class. The Health Center does not want to interfere with a professor’s decision about how to handle absences due to illness.  

1. Students seeking healthcare services at Emmons Health Center are evaluated by a nurse practitioner for severity of current illness. The nurse practitioner classifies the student’s illness as “minor,” “moderate,” or “severe.”  
2. In the case of a "minor illness," where the student is late to class or misses class, it is up to the student to personally contact their professors about missing class. 
3. If the student’s illness is determined by the nurse practitioner to be “moderate” or “severe,” with the student’s consent, the Health Center will notify the Dean of Students Office (and Coach- as appropriate) by the end of the day in which the student was seen at the Health Center, communicating that the student is either moderately or severely ill.  
4. The Dean of Students Office will then notify the students’ Faculty indicating that that the student is ill and the provider has recommended 1-3 days (moderate illness), or 3-5 days’ rest (severe illness).  
5. The Health Center does not follow the process identified above for students who retroactively visit the Health Center after the course of their illness. 

As stated above, ultimately it is each professor’s own discretion as to how/if absences are excused.