Greetings from a soggy, warm and steamy Elkins Park. Pretty typical summer weather for around here! It’s been another productive week on campus and in our clinics as students and faculty continue to converge to meet their educational missions. Our Physician Assistant, Optometry and Blindness and Low Vision Studies students and faculty have been busy conducting important lab work, preparation for National Boards and clinics in addition to the online training many students and faculty are engaged in now. In addition to these on campus activities, many of our students are scattered around the country finishing up their external clinical rotations. While it may seem quiet at times, it’s really a busy time for everyone.
While all this is happening, our third-year optometry students have either taken or are getting ready to take Part I of their National Board of Examiners in Optometry (NBEO) exam and our fourth year students are preparing to head down to Charlotte, NC to take Part III of the NBEO in the very near future. I want to wish everyone taking these exams the best of luck (although you won’t need it, because of how well prepared you are) and safe travels back and forth from Charlotte.
Walking around the clinics it’s nice to see everyone taking all the necessary precautions to keep themselves and their patients safe. I think the scrubs you’re all wearing look professional and will help to serve the purpose of minimizing the risk of infections. Since wearing scrubs regularly is new to most of you, I just want to remind everyone that best practice is that scrubs are only worn at work and they are changed out after every shift. Otherwise, there’s little justification for them. I suspect you already know all this and you’re washing them daily, so thank you for that!
Yesterday, Congressman John Lewis was placed to rest in Atlanta, Georgia. Three U.S. Presidents, in addition to a myriad of civil rights and other leaders, attended the funeral to honor the sacrifices and achievements of this great man. Please take a moment today to reflect on what Congressman Lewis did for our country and how his work, which must continue, helped shine a light on the inequities Black Americans have faced in America for hundreds of years.
Provost Barry Eckert, PhD, will be one of the featured panelists from 1 to 2 p.m. today for a webinar titled “COVID-19 and Re-Opening Plans for Health Professions Education This Fall” by the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professionals (ASAHP). Dr. Eckert will share our plans for reopening this fall and the challenges these plans have on healthcare educators and institutions.
There is a two-part webinar next week, on Monday, Aug. 3 and Wednesday, Aug. 5, from noon to 1:15 p.m. each day titled “Addressing Racism in CSD Education.” Among the topics to be addressed include teaching multicultural counseling; support systems for underrepresented students; cross-cultural peer mentoring; multicultural and anti-racist curriculum; mentoring underrepresented doctoral students; cultural humility; implicit bias in CSD education; and inclusivity in CSD learning environments. For more information about the program, click here.
Ruth Shoge, OD ’06, Resident ’07, FAAO, assistant professor at Salus PCO and chair-elect of the ASCO Diversity and Cultural Competency Committee, was on the panel for a webinar earlier this week titled “Part 2 - Seeking Solutions - Race in Optometry: An Honest Conversation on Optometric Education” hosted by SUNY’s College of Optometry. It’s so important to keep having this candid and often difficult conversations and I appreciate Dr. Shoge both representing Salus at the SUNY event and taking on the Chair function of the ASCO Diversity and Cultural Competency Committee.
I want to wrap up today’s update with a bit of Naval history that offers a good lesson for all of us. On July 30, 1945, just three minutes after midnight, the heavy cruiser USS INDIANAPOLIS (CA 35) was struck by two Japanese torpedoes in the dark of night while conducting a solo transit of the Philippine Sea. Despite their best efforts, the ship went down in 12 short minutes. While around 900 of the 1,195-member crew escaped the ship that night, tragically only 316 were rescued. There’s a great deal written about the crew’s harrowing days in the shark-infested Pacific waiting to be found with few lifeboats, exposure to the elements, and almost no food or water. The one thing that became evident was that those unbelievably brave Sailors and Marines who survived while enduring almost impossible hardships, did so by working and staying together. Today, we must do the same as we confront the challenges of the global pandemic, social and political unrest in our country and around the world and the daily stressors we must deal with on a daily basis.
The pandemic will end in good time. We will get through this much more graciously and effectively if we continue to show respect for one another by wearing face masks and acting courteously and professionally towards each other. Our Salus strength is based on our desire to make the world a better place and I can think of no better way of doing that now than by setting our standards high and following those examples that Congressman Lewis and those Sailors and Marines who came before him all embraced. We are SALUS STRONG and we will get through this together!
As you think about and remember Congressman Lewis and the brave Sailors and Marines of INDIANAPOLIS, also please remember their courage, sacrifices and devotion to each other in the face of the most severe adversity. We can honor their memories and should draw strength from their legacies as we confront our own challenges.
Have a great weekend. It’s going to start out a bit soggy but then be nice and sunny. Be safe, wear your face masks, wash your hands frequently, maintain social distancing and remember that what you do off campus directly affects us all on campus.
Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment