Wrapping Up Orientation Week: Week of August 21st, 2020

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

Welcome on a beautiful morning from a busy Elkins Park campus where we’re wrapping up orientation week. 

WHITE COAT CEREMONY: Thanks to Dr. Jim Caldwell, Alexis Abate and their staffs for helping to orchestrate our virtual White Coat ceremony yesterday. We had about 325 people in attendance. It was great to be able to hold the non-traditional, virtual ceremony, even without distributing the white coats. This has always been one of my favorite ceremonies at Salus because of what it symbolizes – the transition from undergraduate student to becoming a healthcare professional. I’m looking forward to when each program will be able to distribute the white coats in person!

ORIENTATION SPEAKER: Earlier in Orientation Week, Juliana Mosley, PhD, chief diversity officer and community relations officer at Chestnut Hill College presented a virtual Zoom webinar titled “Making the Unconscious Conscious . . . Through Cultural Humility” as part of our Orientation Week for new students. I encourage you to read more about Dr. Mosley’s presentation at salus.edu/CulturalHumility.

 

FACULTY FOCUS: This week’s Faculty Focus feature story is on Laine Higa, OD, Resident ‘15. When he’s not teaching PCO students, Dr. Higa has utilized his quarantine time to explore and cultivate his love for cooking and baking. Read more at salus.edu/LaineHiga.

 

DONATION TO LOFK: Bruce Foulke, the dynamic president and CEO, and Dorian Smith, senior vice president for business development of American Heritage Credit Union, presented a check earlier this week for $10,000 to the Looking Out for Kids (LOFK) initiative. American Heritage Credit Union shares our mission of helping children in need and we greatly appreciate their generosity and the opportunity to partner with them on this important initiative. 

VOTING: The Postal Service has warned almost every state that voters may not get their ballots back to election offices in time because of election rules that are not compatible with the time needed for delivery and return of absentee ballots through the mail. No matter what your political affiliation is, if you have decided to vote by mail, I implore all of you to request your mail in or absentee ballot early and return it as soon as you receive it. We want to ensure your vote is counted!

FINAL THOUGHTS: It was great to be able to welcome some of our new students in person and most of you virtually to campus this week. I’m extremely excited about the upcoming school year. As I mentioned to you earlier in the week, while this year will present some very unique challenges to all of us, the training you will receive under these conditions will make you better clinicians and decision makers. When I was in the Navy, we would always say you fight the way you train. Training under pandemic conditions will teach you to think more critically about yours and your patient’s safety as well as to pay much more attention to details that would normally be considered routine. These additional pressures will build resiliency, more defined critical thinking skills and the ability to pivot under pressure. We will all get through this together.

Just a few reminders – it’s easy to fall into old habits and forget about social distancing when talking with your classmates before and after class. Please ensure you maintain those appropriate distances, even while wearing your face coverings. Speaking of that, please ensure that you’re wearing those face coverings properly – covering your nose and mouth. I’ve seen some creative variations of that this week which are not very functional. Also, I ask that you please restrict eating to the cafeteria areas which include the tent outside the south building, the outdoor seating around the pond, as well as the regular cafeteria and not eat in classrooms or the common hallways. It’s okay to drink and lower your mask for that, but not for prolonged times while indoors. Finally, please continue to wash your hands frequently and remember that what you do off campus directly affects all of us on campus – we need to minimize our risks as much as possible. 

It looks like it’s going to be a nice summer weekend, so I encourage you to get out and enjoy some of the local hiking, biking or jogging trails where you can remain socially distanced or just relax in a park somewhere. Next week, I suspect you’ll be pretty busy as classes and labs spools up, so take advantage of this weekend to recharge and prepare for the upcoming week.

Be safe, be careful and be smart.

Mike