By Josie Loza
Lynda Nepinsky was among a handful of students standing in line Wednesday at the Student Health Services office waiting to verify her medical history.
Nepinsky was one of 5,000 students who had a registration hold placed on her account because the health office didn’t have her vaccination record on file.
Nepinsky, a mother of five, said she keeps all of her children’s vaccination records, but doesn’t have hers.
“The two doctors I had when I was a child are now dead,” she said. “So, I can’t get my medical history.”
Once she found out a hold was placed on her registration, she immediately came down to the office. Nepinsky, a junior, was afraid she wouldn’t be able to get into her classes until her record was cleared. Many of the students waiting in line were graduate students and seniors who were not able to register.
“Today is the first day of registration and a lot of us got hit with this,” she said.
Brian Connor, a senior, said the holds placed on students’ records were poorly timed.
“Why didn’t they tell me this three years ago when I was a freshman?” he said.
Connor said the only thing he’s worried about is getting into his speech class, which fills fast.
“If I can’t get in then I have to be around another year,” he said.
Adam Johnson, a senior, said he didn’t see any holds on his E-BRUNO account the day before. Once the notice was posted, he stopped by the office.
“It seems like they could have notified people sooner,” he said.
A hot pink flier was posted around campus warning students who were born after Jan. 1, 1957, to verify their measles-mumps-rubella immunizations, otherwise, their enrollment would be denied for Spring 2003. The flier was posted on Oct. 31, which many students felt was short notice.
Marcia Adler, coordinator of SHS, said each year incoming students are told to have their records verified. She said immunizations have been a requirement of UNO since the 1980s.
“We try to be very careful about the documentation,” she said.
She said that has been the case more so since there have been outbreaks of the measles at Creighton and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Adler said the Omaha Public Schools have made it mandatory for students to have vaccinations on record.
“People need to be more aware of their records,” she said.
The MMR immunization is available at SHS and costs $10 for students. Adler said waiver forms are available for students who are not able to take the vaccination because of medical restrictions, can’t find their shot records or simply refuse to get the shot.
“Student Health Services is certainly sorry if we’ve inconvenienced you, but we’re here to help,” Adler said.
