The Grand Valley State University Injury Care Clinic (ICC) is offering virtual visits to students, faculty and staff for the first time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ICC exists as a partnership between GVSU Recreation & Wellness, GVSU Movement Science, Metro Health and NovaCare Rehabilitation.

The clinic is free to GVSU students and offers services including injury evaluation and prevention, physical therapy and injury rehabilitation, and treatment, said Amy Campbell, associate director of Recreation and Wellness.

Campbell said that it was important for the ICC to operate despite the challenging circumstances presented by the pandemic.

“Health care needs to continue to exist, whether it’s in person or virtually, as an option for individuals to be able to take care of themselves,” Campbell said. “Although it’s a little bit different and sometimes more challenging virtually, I think it’s just us being able to think creatively and being able to meet those needs for students.”

Franki White, Sports Medicine Coordinator and athletic trainer at the ICC, said that virtual visits present a unique challenge for the hands-on work she is used to doing at the clinic. Despite this, White said that virtual visits are an important and productive way for the clinic to connect with and help the GVSU community.

“It can be hard to do virtual visits, because injury evaluations are very hands-on, and you need to be able to palpate and do special tests if we suspect anything specific,” White said. “There’s still a lot we can learn from just talking a patient and figuring out how things happen, getting the whole story and what they’re experiencing, then we can recommend something from there.”

Both White and Campbell said that despite the challenges, there are many benefits to virtual appointments.

“Sometimes it’s hard to walk into a brand new place not knowing how to navigate it,” Campbell said. “I think about the convenience, you don’t have to drive someplace, you don’t have to walk somewhere. It’s one of the perks, the accessibility.”

Campbell said that like healthcare, self care and exercise are vital parts of students’ lives that need to be maintained regardless of the pandemic. Campbell said that by opening the clinic and offering virtual visits, the ICC team is facilitating just that.

“We really like to encourage students to try to stay active, especially for taking care of themselves, stress management, unplugging for a little while, I think that’s super important right now,” Campbell said. “It’s hard because if you’re not in the routine of things, you need to be cautious with that return to activity. But if you do incur an injury, we still have Care Clinic services available.”

Erin Colling, a GVSU student interning at the clinic, said that offering virtual visits is just one among many changes that the clinic has made to provide safe care to patients during the pandemic.

Due to COVID-19, the clinic now has a maximum occupancy of six people and has switched to doing paperwork virtually before appointments. Because of this, walk-in visits have become almost nonexistent.

White said that safety is the clinic’s main goal and that she is glad the clinic can service the GVSU community in any way during the pandemic. Looking toward the future, White said she hopes to see the clinic running like “normal” again.

“Safety is the primary goal. Just making sure everybody in there it is as safe as possible,” White said. “As far as long term goals, I’d love to get the schedule kind of back to where it was last year, having a busy schedule, where students are getting the help they need in order to get better.” 

The ICC, located in Fieldhouse Room B145, is open 2-6 p.m. on Monday-Thursday. More information about the clinic and appointment scheduling can be found on their website.