Welcome New Students: Week of August 16th

Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,

What a great week it has been with our new students on campus! Again, welcome to all of you. I’d like to thank everyone for all of their hard work and planning that made this week so special with a special call out to all those student and faculty volunteers and the Student Affairs and Admissions staffs for putting it all together. I look forward to today’s White Coat ceremony and watching as our first-year students receive their white coats as we celebrate the transition to becoming healthcare professionals at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts at 2 PM.  

 

This week, 21 members of the University’s Students in Optometric Service to Humanity (SOSH) along with Drs. Laine Higa and Navpreet Hehar, traveled to Panama in order to provide comprehensive eye exams to the community. Hosted by the Panamanian Kiwanis Club, the trip allows students to provide humanitarian vision care to individuals who have never had eye exams before (see photos that are attached).  I participated in this when I was a student and it is a life-changing experience.

On a similar note, Jeanne-Marie Pennington, MSPAS, PA-C, assistant professor for the Physician Assistant Studies (PA) program will be accompanying seven PA students and two students from the Occupational Therapy (OT) Program on Saturday to Guatemala for a mission trip. This year’s sponsor is Hearts in Motion, a non-profit organization that has served in Guatemala for over 35 years providing quality medical care and assistance in the development of social programs to improve health, education and welfare of people in the community. We extremely proud of our faculty and students for their humanitarian efforts. I wish them safe and happy travels!

 

Next week, I’m excited to do some traveling of my own - although not as far – to New York City for our first of many Centennial Tour stops. In celebration of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) and its 100-year history, we are thrilled to be hosting a series of alumni and friends events in 16 cities over the next three months. For more information, visit salus.edu/centennial-tour.

 

Also next week, faculty members across the Salus community will gather for our bi-annual University Faculty Development Day. The two-day event is an opportunity to provide professional development opportunities, important group discussions, and the chance to connect with fellow colleagues. I’d like to thank those who helped organize this event and I look forward to attending. 

On Thursday, August 22, Salus University Health will be one of over 100 sponsors at the School District of Philadelphia’s Back to School event at the School of the Future. The event is designed to help Philadelphia area students and their families as they prepare to return to school. As one of the most popular and well attended events that Salus sponsors, the Office of Communications is still looking for volunteers. If you’re interested and available anywhere from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., please email communications@salus.edu.

Given recent events, I believe it is fair to say that we are in the midst of a public health crisis.  According to the most recent report on gun violence from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, our country has the 28th-highest rate of deaths from gun violence in the world.  If you include suicides in those data, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 39,773 gun-related deaths in 2017 which equates to 12 deaths per 100,000 people with approximately 60 percent attributed to suicide and about 37 percent to homicides.  These numbers represent the highest rate of firearms deaths in the U.S. since the mid-1990’s.  Military-style semi-automatic weapons have been used in many of these shootings. And just this week, in our own City of Philadelphia, 6 policemen were injured and hundreds of rounds of ammunition was fired by a lone gunman being served a narcotics warrant.    

Despite a 2017 Quinnipiac University poll finding that 94% percent of the public supports certified background checks for all gun sales, depending on where and how you attempt to purchase a gun, certified background checks are not universally required.  For example, even the Federal gun statute exempts unlicensed sellers from having to perform certified background checks. 

As healthcare professionals, I believe we have an obligation to weigh in on this public health crisis.   If like me, you believe that our gun control laws need to be changed, I encourage you to contact your local and federal representatives and advocate for stronger gun control laws,  including universal background checks prior to all gun sales, a limit on magazine size and a ban of military assault-style weapons.  If you disagree, I fully respect your right to do so and welcome your participation in this essential debate. 

In closing, I again want to welcome our new students and those current students returning to campus. It’s going to be a nice weekend, so I encourage you to get out and enjoy some of the local scenery. Be safe, look out for one another and have fun!

 

Mike