Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,
Greetings from Elkins Park, where winter has visited us, yet again! The groundhog lied to all of us!
It’s great to be back from our trip to China where we had the opportunity to visit several great institutions and meet with many of our international alumni. I’m most excited about the possibilities of expanding our international presence with new partners and innovative programs. Working with some of our partners in China, we may be able to “push the envelope” a bit in developing some distance optometric continuing education as well as explore other educational models. What excites me about this, is that it’s consistent with some of the ideas we developed during our recent scenario planning. I’ll keep everyone posted as we move forward with some of these ideas.
Closer to home, in matters that can directly affect the practice of Audiology, the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA), the American Academy of Audiology (AAA), and the Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA) have agreed to join forces to develop legislation that expands access to and coverage of audiology services under Medicare. According to ASHA’s press release, "This legislation will include provisions that all three organizations have supported in the past, as well as a new provision to expand Medicare coverage to include both diagnostic and treatment services provided by an audiologist; align patient access to audiology services under Medicare with patient access to audiology services outside of Medicare; and reclassify audiologists from "suppliers" to "practitioners" under Medicare. This joint effort comes during a time when our nation's health care systems are focused on outcomes and evidence-based treatments. For Medicare beneficiaries who need hearing health care services, it is critical that audiology services be positioned in this new environment and that the full scope of practice for audiologists be appropriately recognized." We’ve had an active advocacy role in all of this and will continue to remain engaged.
Speaking of audiology, the Osborne College of Audiology on-campus students and faculty attended the American Balance Society conference in Arizona. Congratulations to Jenna Fenton, class of 2020 for her poster presentation, " Downward dog dizziness - A rare BPPV case". It’s always great to see our students presenting at national meetings.
Congratulations to Dr. Aravamudhan for being selected as a candidate for the Vice President for Academic Affairs in Audiology in American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) board of directors for the upcoming elections. Elections will be conducted electronically April 16 to May 29, 2019, and those elected will serve a 3-year term beginning January 1, 2020.
The Salus Got Talent show is today from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Hafter Student Community Center. The talent show is hosted by the National Optometric Student Association (NOSA) and is open to all students and faculty.
Congratulations to all of our PCO faculty who actively participated in the Southern Educational Congress of Optometry (SECO) meeting, this year held in New Orleans. We were well represented with Drs. Andy Gurwood and Rachel Brackley, presenting numerous lectures and many of our residents and other faculty members in attendance. SECO always provides a great forum for our folks to shine - which they do!
Also at SECO, Celeste Gomez, class of 2019, was awarded the Review of Optometry Rick Bay Excellence in Eyecare Education Scholarship. Celeste was selected based on qualities that embody Rick Bay, which include a commitment to optometry, integrity, compassion, partnership and dedication to the greater good. Congratulations Celeste!
Preparations for the Centennial Celebration continue. Tickets are now available online and most of you should already have received an invitation. Please take the time to read all about our Presidential Medal of Honor Recipients here. These people all have been pivotal in both PCO and Salus’ success over the years.
Don’t forget today’s Salus Time where Mr. Paul Sloate will be speaking on the topic of financial goal setting. This is something everyone can benefit from and I strongly encourage all of you to attend. The session will be held in the Lombardi Classroom from 2 - 3PM.
Finally, as the weekend approaches and the Phillies celebrate the signing of Bryce Harper for a mere $330 million (over 13 years), take some time to relax and enjoy the city.
Have fun, be safe and take care of one another.
Mike
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