Labor Day Weekend: Week of September 4th, 2020

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

Greetings from a very busy Elkins Park campus. Our students continue to participate in limited face to face (actually mask to mask) classes, labs and clinics. It’s energizing to see all the activity on campus!

GRAND ROUNDS: The next Grand Rounds at The Eye Institute (TEI) is from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 11. Dr. Patrick McManamon will present a program titled “IOL: Insight on Lenses.”
 
CONTINUING EDUCATION EVENT: On Sunday, Sept. 13, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. a synchronous online CE event titled “Current Advancements in Comprehensive Optometric Care” will be presented. I’m looking forward to presenting “Public Health Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic — A Look Back and the Road Ahead” As the final lecture of that day. I’ll be preceded by an all-star group of faculty and guests. Click here to see the full panel.
 
WELCOME NEW FACULTY & STAFF:  We have two new members of our Salus community I’d like to welcome: Nicholas Jones has joined us as Research compliance coordinator; and Gabriel Fickett, OD, is an assistant professor at PCO.
 
HAMPTON UNIVERSITY AGREEMENT: Salus University Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) recently partnered with Hampton University, one of the nation’s leading historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), to offer a new articulation agreement to address the underrepresentation of Black students in optometric education and healthcare professions. Paula Harmon Boone, OD, director of the National Optometric Association (NOA) “Visioning the Future” HBCU Mentorship Program and NOA trustee, helped initiate and lead the effort. Mirroring the goal of the NOA’s mentorship program to address the lack of diversity among optometry students, the partnership was established to give students who successfully complete a Bachelor of Science degree at Hampton a pathway to earn a Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree at Salus PCO. Under the agreement, students enrolled in the program will receive both financial and academic assistance from the NOA, advisement from the Pre-Health program at Hampton and mentorship from a Salus PCO faculty advisor. We are so proud to have entered into this agreement.  
 
HAFTER CENTER OPENING: We’re scheduled to reopen the Hafter Center on Tuesday, Sept. 8. The hours of operation will be Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Some things to keep in mind: the basketball/volleyball court will not be available; the track will be open and you will need a reservation to use it, with physical distancing regulations in place. For additional details about scheduling your workouts, please refer to your latest Hafter Happenings newsletter. 
 
FACULTY FOCUS: This week’s Faculty Focus is on Kimberly Edmonds, MS, CCC-SLP, a clinical educator who supervises first-year students in SLI. Read about how she tries to incorporate music in her teaching at salus.edu/KimberlyEdmonds.

VOTING: Voting is an integral part of our American democracy. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and as we read about potential postal delays it’s imperative that you plan ahead if you’re planning to vote by mail. Here are the steps to vote by mail in Pennsylvania:

1. Request your mail-in ballot with a mail ballot application.
2. Fill out the application completely.
3. Submit the request to your local election office. You should request your ballot as far in advance of the election as possible. The deadline to request a ballot by mail is (received by) Tuesday, October 27, 2020.
4. When your ballot arrives, read it carefully and follow the instructions to complete it and return it.

If you do decide to vote in person, please ensure you know where your polling place is. For those of you who might be interested in becoming a poll worker for the November election, you can get more information by going to the VotePA website here. No matter what your political affiliation or how you decide to cast it, please vote - it’s a privilege many have made the ultimate sacrificed for us to exercise.

FINAL THOUGHTS - LABOR DAY WEEKEND: As we approach Labor Day weekend, I always like to remind people why we celebrate this holiday, which celebrates the greatest workers in the world – American workers. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883. By 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday, and on June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September of each year a national holiday. So, there you have it. This is why we have this coming Monday off. I hope everyone enjoys their 3-day weekend and especially, Labor Day.

Have a great weekend. The weather is supposed to be fantastic, so get out and enjoy it! Please remember to socially distance, wear a face mask when around others, wash your hands frequently and that what you do off campus directly affects all of us on campus. Be safe, be responsible, remain SALUS STRONG!

Mike