All,
Today marks the beginning of our 4th week of online training, social distancing, hand washing reminders and sheltering in place. Again, thank you to our faculty, students and staff for adjusting to this new model. Yesterday, Holy Week began in preparation for the Easter holiday next Sunday and on Wednesday evening Passover begins. Ramadan starts a few weeks later. Without getting into a religious discussion, these holidays teach us about sacrifice, discipline, miracles and traditions. It doesn’t matter what your religious beliefs are, if you are familiar with either holiday, you’ll find people were faced with what seemed like insurmountable challenges and no clear solutions. That’s pretty pertinent when you compare them to today’s pandemic.
If you’ve been watching the news, you know that this coming week the country is expecting to see very high death rates, especially in New York, which has become the global epicenter for the pandemic. The importance of staying at home and social distancing may be a huge sacrifice for many of you, but it is a sacrifice that can save lives – perhaps the lives of members of your own family. Please - continue to take this seriously. Don’t go out unless you absolutely have to, even to the grocery store or pharmacy.
The sacrifices we’ve made up to now and continue to make in the next few weeks will pay off in fewer cases and hopefully, fewer deaths. We likely won’t begin to emerge from this for 4 – 6, or more weeks - but, there will be an end to this. We’ll look back and the entire experience will be a blip in time that hopefully, we will have learned a great deal from and can apply that knowledge to better prepare for when something like this happens again.
While you may not feel like you’re doing much by sitting and watching movies and playing games, you are really saving lives. Nothing happening while you’re sitting at home is a good thing! Dr. Emily Landon, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Chicago reminds all of us that, “Without taking drastic measures, the healthy and optimistic among us will doom the vulnerable.”
As I’ve mentioned in my previous messages to you, it’s important to understand that things will get worse before they get better, but they will get better. This is tough stuff because we’ve never been through anything like this before in our lifetimes. It’s okay to be scared or feel vulnerable; those are normal and natural feelings, given the current circumstances. Just don’t let those feelings overwhelm you and cloud your thinking. As I keep reminding you, our counselors are there to listen to your concerns and act as a sounding board for your feelings – take advantage of them if you need to. You can make an appointment here.
I strongly encourage all of you to keep your fitness schedules going to the best of your ability, get outside often (if around other people, wear a mask) and keep yourself busy by working on your academic goals and also trying learning something new. Think about learning more about American History or even trying to start learning a new language. Our fitness experts at Hafter Center have been providing great YouTube indoor video workouts and just the other day sent out a workout schedule for the month that looks like lots of fun.
Finally, the staff of the Pennsylvania Ear Institute have stepped up to provide emergency services, in line with the state and CDC guidelines, to their patients with hearing aids who might need some assistance during this crisis. While they will only be providing services a couple of days a week, they’re fulfilling their responsibility to those they care for. That’s central to what we are all about at Salus and I applaud their actions.
As you begin this week, I want to thank you for the sacrifices you’re making to keep yourself, your families and many others safe. Please keep the correspondence coming.
Be safe, be smart, wash your hands frequently, practice social distancing and wear a face mask if you go out, but stay home unless it’s absolutely necessary to go out!
WE ARE SALUS STRONG!
Mike
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