The Auburn University Medical Clinic offers more than just primary care, expanding its services to many types of tests and even massage therapy.
Juan Barnes, laboratory supervisor at the clinic, said the clinic can test for the flu, strep throat, anemia, mononucleosis, diabetes and even colorectal cancer, among other things.
Many test results can be obtained on-site.
"The test we have is one of the best tests I've seen for colorectal cancer," Barnes said. "It's also a very quick test, a very easy test."
He said the A1c diabetes test allows doctors to look back two to three months.
"With the old test a person could just fast the night before and this would tell the doctor nothing about their glucose," he said. "This new test helps doctors monitor diabetics much more effectively and can actually help identify diabetes in a person."
Barnes said the clinic can also test for HIV and STDs.
"We see a lot of students that are not really knowledgeable about sexually transmitted diseases," Barnes said. "They do take comfort in knowing that they can come in here and find out their status."
Drug testing is also available to patients and is done on-site.
"Results aren't sent to anyone or to the authorities," he said. "The drug screening we do here is for the patient and to make sure the physician knows what's in the patient's system before prescribing them anything."
Barnes also said many parents want their children tested.
"We have a lot of parents monitoring their children," he said. "This is usually as a condition of paying for their education."
The medical clinic also offers massage therapy, which includes therapeutic massage, hot stone massage and Japanese facial massage.
Terri Gilmore, one of the massage therapists, said a massage is a great way to help eliminate stress.
"Massage is very important no matter what stage of life you're in or no matter how old or young you are, because everyone has stress," she said. "Keeping ahead of stress is vital for total wellness. Massage is one great way to do this."
She said students most often come in for neck and shoulder massages.
"They sit in the study position," Gilmore said. "Their backpacks are too heavy and a lot of times they aren't getting enough sleep. All of this tension in turn leads to headaches."
Gilmore said only about a third of the people she massages are students, and the rest are faculty and community members.
"I've had the privilege of working on quite a few professors and associate professors," she said. "Those staff members are also grading and reading, and they get aches and pains too."
Gilmore said gift certificates are available for massages.
"A lot of parents like to reward (students) by giving a gift certificate after a big exam or a final," she said.
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