MIDLAND, Texas — Midland College is ushering in a new medical and mental health services for their students called TimelyCare.
The College's Dean of Student Life, Wendy Kane said this program is something they've wanted students to have access to for years now, "targeting mental health for our students has been on our radar for quite some time."
Then with the stress from the pandemic, the school knew students would need help in some way.
"The isolation and distance caused by the pandemic really exasperated some of those needs and so it became a really high priority for us," Kane said. "This is something we've been trying to do for our students probably for five years and we're finally able to make it happen."
TimelyCare provides free medical and mental health care, which means free visits for medical care if students get sick, emotional support counseling and scheduled health coaching to help promote healthy lifestyle choices.
"This is an opportunity for our students to have access to both physical and mental health that they wouldn't have without coming out of pocket and that lack of financial obligation on their part we feel like is a great opportunity for our students and we're very excited that we were able to bring it to them," Kane said.
The services are granted to students 24/7 and it's at their fingertips, all they need to do is access TimelyCare through the app on their phones or computers.
"You know college students don't typically run on an eight to five schedule and so the fact they can access this services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, they have emergency counseling as well as scheduled counseling. I think the accessibility after hours makes it really valuable to students," Kane said.