Greetings from Florida: Week of October 25th

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

Greetings from a steamy, warm Orlando, where many of us have been attending the annual meeting of the American Academy of Optometry and the World Council of Optometry.  This is always a great meeting with fantastic continuing education and opportunities to discuss new and innovative ways of moving the profession forward.  What makes me most proud about this meeting is the fact that so many of our PCO faculty and alumni have been providing continuing education lectures and are contributing to both the  Academy's and the World Council of Optometry’s strategic direction.  It’s so gratifying to see PCO leading the way and setting the bar unbelievably high at every lecture they give.  That’s what happens when we have the most talented faculty and alumni in the country!  For those of you who are in Orlando for the meeting, please try to stop by our booth in the Exhibit Hall as well as join us for our Alumni and Friends Centennial Tour Reception tonight at 7:30 in the Orchid Room of the Hyatt Regency, honoring PCO’s 100-year legacy and contributions to the profession.

Back on campus, this morning, be sure to tune in to see our very own Brandy Scombordi, pediatric optometrist at The Eye Institute (TEI) and Chaitali Baviskar, assistant vice president of clinical operations, on NBC10 for an interview about next weekend’s Looking Out for Kids (LOFK) charity fundraiser. Thank you both for going and spreading awareness for LOFK - watch the interview live at 10:30 today! For more information on LOFK, visit salus.edu/lofk 

On Tuesday at 2:00 p.m., please stop by the Hafter Center for the official ribbon cutting reveal of our new Sensory Garden. Intended to be a teaching tool for each of the seven programs in the College of Education and Rehabilitation, the Sensory Garden is already a beautiful new edition to our campus, and I can’t wait to see it utilized by students, faculty, staff and the local community very soon. Learn more about the garden at salus.edu/sensorygarden

Next Friday, we will be hosting representatives from Cedar Crest College (CCC) in celebration of our newest articulation agreements. The four new agreements will include the Doctor of Audiology degree program; the Doctor of Optometry degree program; the Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies master's programs; and the Physician Assistant (PA) Studies Master of Medical Science degree program. We’re very excited about this new partnership and I look forward to hosting the signing next Friday. For more information, visit salus.edu/ccc.

Next Saturday we are holding our thirteenth Looking Out For Kids Charity fundraiser at the City Line Hilton.  If you have not already gotten your tickets, there’s still time.  Looking Out For Kids wouldn’t be around today if wasn’t for the work of Dr. Sue Oleszewski, who founded this great charity in 2007.  Dr. Oleszewski will be on hand to present Mr. Alan Lindy with this year’s Lighthouse award.  Just click here to get tickets.

World Occupational Therapy Day is this coming Sunday, October 27^th.  When you see any of our OT students, faculty or staff, please wish them a Happy World OT Day!  There might even some folks outside the cafeteria area where you can get more information!

It's going to be another nice Fall weekend, so if you get a chance, get out and check out the fall colors – we’re just about at peak time right now.  Be safe, have fun and look out for one another! 

Mike 

Fall Commencement, Week of October 18th

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

This morning I’m sending this update out from sunny and cool Charleston, South Carolina where I had the opportunity to meet up with Dr. Eckert who is attending the annual conference of the Association of Schools Advancing Health Profession’s annual conference and board meeting.  Our own Dr. Mitch Scheiman will be presenting to the group and Dr. Eckert sits on their board.  I am “double dipping” on this trip as I am also in town to speak at a retirement ceremony for one of my Navy colleagues who will be transitioning after 30 years of service to our great navy and country.  I love it when a plan comes together!

I’d like to give a “shout out” to Dr. Jim Caldwell and Ms. Shannon Boss and their staffs for all the work they did to ensure that Monday’s graduation lunch and long white coat ceremony and Tuesday’s commencement ceremony at the Kimmel Center all went off without a hitch!  Thank you for all the work you do to make it all look easy (and we all know it’s not!).

Closer to home, I'm excited to announce that a Blindness and Low Vision Studies (BLVS) grant proposal has been selected for funding by the Department of Education's Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA). The $750,000 grant will support Project MORE: Mentorships for Outcomes Related to Employment, a project designed to alleviate the nationwide shortage of qualified low vision rehabilitation (LVR) and vision rehabilitation therapy (VRT) personnel and address documented employment challenges experienced by individuals with visual impairments. Kerry Lueders, MS, COMS, TVI, CLVT, assistant professor for BLVS will be the Project Director. Congratulations to the whole BLVS team for making this happen! 

During the last week of August, twelve Physician Assistant (PA) students, along with PA faculty members, returned to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a one-time workshop with Museum educators as a part of a series of workshops called “The Art of Observation.”   NBC10 was there to feature the educational workshop on a segment called “Growing Greater Philadelphia” which aired Tuesday night. You can watch it online here. I encourage you to watch the entire segment as it features local business leaders and entrepreneurs from our region. Our segment starts roughly at 16:30. Thank you to everyone who made this happen!  

Last weekend, Anna Grasso, MS, OTR/L, CAPS, assistant professor of our Occupational Therapy (OT) program, along with two OT students from the Phi Theta Epsilon OT Honor Society volunteered with the Rebuilding Together Philadelphia (RTP) Block Build event in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood. During these events, Ms. Grasso and the students were able to provide adaptive equipment and home safety recommendations for homeowners and their families to improve health and safety. Read more about their partnership with RTP at salus.edu/RTP-OT.

This Saturday, the Pennsylvania Ear Institute (PEI) will be hosting its annual Fall Open House from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Audiology students and PEI clinical staff will be hosting tours of PEI, providing hearing screenings, demos of hearing aids and other technology, “meet the experts” talks, and more. If you know anyone who would be interested in stopping by, send them this link to register! 

Also this weekend, students from our Student Academy of Audiology (SAA) will be attending the Pennsylvania Walk4Hearing event at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. Our students and audiology faculty members will also be providing hearing screenings for this years attendees. For more information visit http://hlaa.convio.net/site/TR?fr_id=2566&pg=entry.

With some of you now finished with mid-terms and others still looking forward to them, I encourage you all to take a “brain-break” and get out to enjoy the pretty fall colors and nice weather.  Have a great weekend – Many of us will be gone next week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Optometry.  For those of you who will be there, please join us for our Alumni and Friends reception on Friday evening in the Orchid Room at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at 7:30PM.

Mike

Giving Week: Week of October 11th

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

Good morning from Elkins Park!  It’s great to be back on campus to feel the energy after being gone for over a week!

Unfortunately, I need to start this week’s update with some sad news.  Mr. Richard DePiano, a Board member since 2003, passed away late last week.  Rich was a mentor and friend who brought a great deal of financial expertise and experience to our board.  He was the Chairman of Escalon Medical Corporation, which develops, manufactures and distributes surgical and diagnostic products for ophthalmic applications.  He also served on the board of LaFrace Corporation and Drexel University, his alma mater.  At Salus, he served on our Finance and Institutional Advancement committees.   He will be sorely missed.  Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers. 

On the much brighter side, congratulations to Ms. Donna Agnew, interim Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Director of our Physician Assistant (PA) program for receiving the Leadership Development award from the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA).  The award recognizes an individual who develops future leaders among faculty through mentoring. This is the third year this award has been given. PAEA is the education arm of the profession that supports those working in PA education.  Please join me in congratulating Donna on this well-deserved honor!    

This is also National PA week, which recognizes the Physician Assistant profession and its contributions to the nation's health. Before it was a week-long event, National PA Day was first celebrated on October 7, 1987 in honor of the 20th anniversary of the first graduating class of PAs from Duke University.

Congratulations to Dr. Victor Bray who was elected President of the Academy of Doctors of Audiology at last week’s meeting.  In his new role, Dr. Bray will work to forward the mission of the ADA which includes the positively affecting the advancement of practitioner excellence, high ethical standards, professional autonomy and sound business practices in the provision of quality audiologic care.

Last week, some of our faculty and students from Audiology, Optometry, Speech-Language Pathology, and Physician Assistant programs attended the 26th annual Pennsylvania Academy of Audiology (PAA) Convention in Lancaster, Pa. This convention is a chance to obtain continuing education units for audiologists and I’m very proud of our faculty across programs who came together for this occasion. PAA is especially significant to Salus, as Dr. George Osborne was its original founder and first president. Thank you to everyone who attended and represented Salus! 

On Monday, the Optical Women’s Association (OWA) partnered with Salus to present an evening of networking, learning and fellowship with University staff, students and local optical professionals. OWA is committed to enhancing and promoting the leadership role of women in the optical industry and raise the level of awareness of the multifaceted roles and contributions made by women. The event also included an opportunity to raise money for our Looking Out for Kids (LOFK) charity. Thank you to everyone who made this special event happen.

Yesterday was World Sight Day.  In the morning, I had the pleasure of introducing EyeSafe to our Salus community as we announced the release of the first-ever blue light handbook, “How to Save Your Eyes in the Digital Age.” Throughout the next year, members of our staff from Salus, led by Dr. Mitch Scheiman, will be working in partnership with EyeSafe on further research for the second blue light handbook. 

I’d like to thank everyone who helped Salus and our Office of Institutional Advancement this week with our first ever Giving Week. It truly was a remarkable week of receiving support from faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends. Today is the last day to reach the goal of 100 gifts – as of yesterday afternoon, we were really close to meeting our goal!   Please help to put us over the top!  Visit salus.edu/givingweek to see exactly how this week has impacted Salus. 

Looking ahead, we have a special week ahead of us!  First, is the Graduate Luncheon followed by the traditional Physician Assistant Long White Coat Ceremony on Monday, and our 119th Commencement on Tuesday!  It's an honor to have Sen. Marie Collett deliver the keynote address at Commencement and as always, I look forward to this momentous occasion for our graduating students and their families. 

Tomorrow is the AOSA Optometry Cares 5K run at 9am in Alverthorpe Park in Jenkintown.  All proceeds will go towards the American Optometric Association’s Optometry Cares charity.  So, if you’re up for nice run, walk or combination of the two in a really nice place, come join us Saturday morning!

Finally, while it’s supposed to be a little cloudy, the weather is exactly what you’d expect for Fall around here.  I encourage you to get out and enjoy the weather while it lasts!  It will be snowing before we know it!  Have a great weekend – be safe and look out for one another!

Mike

Greetings from Germany: Week of October 4th

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

Greetings from Germany where I’ve been relaxing a bit after last Sunday’s Berlin Marathon. The marathon was an amazing experience, even with the rain and cool weather.  I finished the race within the time my coach had predicted, so I was happy. I felt pretty good up until mile 19, which is about par for the course. I’m thrilled it’s all behind me and now it’s off to the next challenge – whatever that may be! 

More importantly, around campus next week marks our first-ever Salus Giving Week. The event is designed to encourage alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends to come together to promote the importance of philanthropy and giving back to our Salus community. Gifts of any amount make a difference each and every day in the lives of our students. Our goal is to achieve 100 gifts in one week.  If you’d like to participate to helping us achieve our goal, please reach out to Kim Blodgett, director of Annual Giving (kblodgett@salus.edu) or visit salus.edu/givingweek  

Throughout Giving Week, to help spread the word about philanthropy at Salus, students will be able to participate in a 10 question scavenger hunt, where the answers can be found on either the Elkins Park campus or at salus.edu. Students who complete the scavenger hunt by the end of Oct. 11 will be entered for a chance to win in the gift card raffle. So, students, keep an eye out for more information on Monday.

Next week, the Office of Institutional Advancement will be hosting two ice cream parties to celebrate PCO’s Founder’s Day, commemorating 100 years since PCO actually opened its doors on Spring Garden Street. The first party will be held at The Eye Institute (TEI) Cafe on Monday from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., and the second in the Hafter Student Community Center on Friday from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Please come and join in the celebration and enjoy some cake and ice cream! 

Prior to the ice cream party on Monday, I will be fulfilling a promise we made to one of our most dedicated, talented and cherished faculty-alumni, Dr. Bernie Blaustein. When Dr. Blaustein retired, I announced that an exam room in TEI would be dedicated in his name.  I’m excited to say that Room 301 in TEI will now be named in his honor to highlight the impact Dr. Blaustein had on TEI, PCO and Salus to students, faculty and our patients.

As some of you probably know, next Thursday is World Sight Day! In conjunction with the holiday, we will be hosting a morning press conference to announce the release of the first-ever Handbook on Blue Light. Targeting the eye care and consumer electronics industry, “How to Save Your Eyes in the Digital Age” was written by optometrists, ophthalmologists, and electronics display specialists from Healthe. This event will also include the announcement that Healthe and Salus have agreed to conduct joint research for inclusion in the second edition of the handbook, slated for release in 2020. Please feel free to attend. The event will be held in the Bennett Lounge from 10:00-11:00 a.m.  Stop by early for a light breakfast and refreshments as well. If you’re interested in attending, please register here.

Next Friday is the final day to participate in the Speech-Language Institute’s (SLI) Back to School Book Drive. Children’s books (infants through teens) will be donated to the libraries of the Philadelphia Head Start and Charter Schools where our Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) students are participating in externship rotations. Books can be dropped off in Bob Serianni’s office (W330) or at SLI directly (N2100). 

Finally, it looks like the warm weather is behind us so get out and enjoy the great fall weather this weekend. I look forward to seeing everyone on campus this Monday! Have a great weekend – stay safe and look out for one another!

Mike