Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,
I wish everyone a good morning from a cold, almost deserted Elkins Park campus. In light of the projected increase in COVID-19 cases secondary to the Thanksgiving holiday, all of our programs made adjustments to minimize their presence on campus and in our clinics to ensure student, faculty and staff safety. That said, our clinics have remained open thanks to our clinical faculty at TEI and those students who are currently assigned to clinical rotations in PEI and SLI. Even with the apparent lack of visible activity on campus, things still continue to happen. These include:
SIMULATION LAB RIBBON-CUTTING: We cut the ribbon this week on our new state-of-the-art Standardized Patient Simulation Lab that was made possible by a $500,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP). Now, all of our students will have the opportunity to work in a genuine clinical setting without having to leave the Elkins Park campus. To read more about the renovation project and what it means to our faculty and students, go here.
A BRIGHTER THANKSGIVING: Thanks to Dean of Student Affairs Dr. James Caldwell; Center for Personal & Professional Development (CPPD) counselor Tami April-Davis; vice president of Finance Don Kates; chief of staff Brian Zuckerman; and Matt Morett, chief manager of the University’s Cafe for Metz Culinary, for putting their heads together to make Thanksgiving a little brighter for our students who chose not to go home for the holiday. They created a “Turkey Gobbler” event that allowed 72 students to get a Thanksgiving dinner while remaining close to campus as opposed to traveling home during the holiday. To read more, check out salus.edu/TurkeyGobbler.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW: This week’s “Where Are They Now” feature is on Jenna Fenton, AuD ‘20. While at Salus, Dr. Fenton conducted research on cochlear synaptopathy, also known as hidden hearing loss, with her mentor, Dr. Martin Pienkowski, PhD, associate professor at the University’s Osborne College of Audiology (OCA). Read more about how Dr. Fenton has been able to continue working with hidden hearing loss patients in her professional career at salus.edu/JennaFenton.
LUNCH & LEARN EVENT: The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee’s most recent Lunch & Learn event featured Jeffrey Carroll, PhD, assistant professor of Political Science and the chair of the Center for Data & Society at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. Dr. Carroll offered his perspective on the topic, “2020 Election Results, National Impact and Marginalized Populations.” To read more about that discussion, go to salus.edu/ElectionEffect.
GRAND ROUNDS: The next Grand Rounds at The Eye Institute (TEI) will be at 7:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 11. The virtual event will feature Dr. Dominic Brown on “Triple Threat: Low Vision Rehabilitation Strategies for Central, Peripheral and Hemianopic Vision Loss” and Dr. Preet Dhami on “Ocular Complications of Uncontrolled Diabetes … Starring the Type 1 Diabetic: A Look into Diabetic Retinopathy after Cataract Surgery.” For more information click here.
FACULTY FOCUS: Featured in our Faculty Focus this week is Patricia Martin Mayro, who was one of our first faculty members when the Speech-Language Institute (SLI) opened its doors in 2015. Read more about how the Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) department has evolved and Trish’s role in the department here.
PEER MENTORING PROGRAM: Our Peer Mentoring program continues to be strong. The purpose of the program is for second-year students to help first-year students become acclimated to the Optometry, Audiology and Occupational Therapy programs (the Physician Assistant Studies and Speech-Language Pathology programs have their own, separate peer programs). To read more about the program, go to this link.
DEALING WITH STRESS: I know that many of you, in addition to dealing with the stress caused by the pandemic, are also in the midst of preparing for final exams, leaving for externships or other clinical rotations or planning for a trip home for the holidays. I encourage each of you to be looking out for each other. Consider some virtual get togethers or even a small group, socially distanced activity outside to help alleviate some of the stress. You can also make an appointment to speak with any of our counselors in CPPD here.
FINAL THOUGHTS: To those of you who opted not to travel during the Thanksgiving holiday, you have my sincere thanks. There have been a record number of COVID-19 cases both nationally and locally over the last couple of weeks and secondary to holiday travel, most experts expect those numbers to increase even more by early next week.
While the FDA is preparing to issue an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer vaccine sometime within the next week or so, which will likely be followed by an EUA for the Moderna vaccine shortly afterwards, we are not out of the woods. While the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter, I don’t anticipate we will be back to what anyone might consider normal until early or mid-summer of 2021. It’s easy to get complacent knowing there is a vaccine that’s ready to be distributed, especially after all the sacrifices we’ve had to make since March. The truth is, we need to remain focused on staying healthy and safe until a large majority of the population receives the vaccine, which won’t be for a while. That means remaining conscientious about following all the guidelines outlined in our Salus Safety Strategy that we’ve been successfully following all these months:
- Continue to socially distance
- Wear a face mask when not around others in your immediate household indoors and outside and on campus at all times
- Wash your hands frequently
- Don’t leave your home if you’re not feeling well
- For faculty and staff, if you don’t need to be on campus, please work from home
You have been doing an exceptional job in helping us get to the end of this semester. Because of your efforts, as a Salus Community, we have remained healthy and safe. We have been able to conduct our classes both in-person and virtually and provide required laboratory and clinical instruction in our own clinics and through external clinical rotations. That is no small feat in the midst of a global pandemic. You should feel extremely proud of this accomplishment. I certainly feel very proud to be associated with you as you’ve navigated through these rough waters. We still have some treacherous waters in front of us, but I have no doubt that we’ll get through those relatively unscathed as well. A quick reminder - if you already haven’t, please ensure you download the COVID Alert PA app here. This will allow you to opt-in to receive alerts if you have had a potential exposure to someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
As you prepare for the weekend, even with the rain predicted on Saturday, try to find some places outside that aren’t crowded and enjoy the fresh air. Winter break will be here before we know it and looking ahead, some much needed rest and relaxation.
Be safe, continue to act responsibly and remain SALUS STRONG!
Mike
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