Bathtub mishap

When a Hamline Student sought help from Health Services he was met with a lack of resources and urgency.

Emma Hamilton, Reporter

On Thursday, Nov. 8, senior Gavin Jensen was driven to Health and Counseling Services, seeking treatment for a head wound that was the result of a bathtub explosion.

Jensen described the incident saying that the bathtub was originally going to be used for the fall play “She Kills Monsters.”  When it was decided that the bathtub was not going to be used it was Jensen’s job, along with a few others from the scene shop, to bring the bathtub back to a small storage center. When lowering it into the “pit” it became loose from the rops and fell. Pieces of bathtub shrapnel hit Jensen creating open head and arm wounds.

When seeking help from Health Services Jensen recounts his experience saying “The receptionist looks at me and I go, ‘is there a nurse?’ like ‘I had a work accident.’ And she just not urgent at all asked me if I was even a student. [She] asked if I was like an employee of the school. She thought I thought I was like, way older than I actually am.”

In reference to his wait time Jensen said “They just let me stand there and bleed.”

On Nov. 8 all of the medical professionals were at a professional development conference. This is necessary to keep their licensure up to date. The whereabouts of Health Service employees were confirmed by Jodi Metz, The Director of Health Services, as well as Barb Bester, a Registered Nurse who was working the front desk that day.

“I asked if anybody was there to help me and she said ‘No, they didn’t have a nurse on hand or on call,” Jensen said. “I thought that was weird because it was like three in the afternoon.”

Eventually Jensen said he was led to a bathroom where he cleaned himself up in a sink, was given band aids and the address to an urgent care. He said that, after that he was led into a different room, given gauze and advice to seek out help from urgent care and to check for a concussion.