Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,
Greetings from a very pollen covered Elkins Park Campus. It’s been another busy week with practical exams, in-person classes and labs and bustling clinics. Here are some additional pieces of information that I wanted you to have:
MIDDLE STATES ACCREDITATION: This fall we will virtually host a team of peer reviewers on behalf of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) as part of the University's ongoing two-year self-study review process. This process focuses on the University's commitment to continuous improvement and the ability to meet the required standards for re-accreditation. While a group of faculty and staff volunteers have been collaborating on this essential process, we all have a role to play by raising our awareness of their efforts. Over the coming months, in my weekly updates, I will provide some background on the subject matter of each of the seven MSCHE standards and introduce you to those in the Salus community that are doing this important work. More information can be found on our website. Up first, Standard I - Mission and Goals.
BIG RED BUS UPGRADE: In honor of her family’s more than 100 years of combined service to the optometric profession, to patient care and professional education, and after seeing first-hand the benefits of providing early vision care to students at their schools, Cathie Muhr has donated $100,000 toward replacing our aging vision van, so the “Looking Out for Kids” program may continue in a more suitable environment. Cathie is the third generation of her family to work in optometry. She joined the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) family as a technician more than 40 years ago. We cannot thank Cathie enough for generosity and dedication to our LOFK mission. Read more about Cathie’s generous gift here. And don’t forget the annual LOFK charity fundraiser is Saturday, May 1. For information, click here.
DEI COMMITTEE APPLICATIONS: There has been a good response to the call for applications for the DEI Committee, however there is still a need for more student participation. So, Dr. Juliana Mosley-Williams has extended the deadline for applications through the end of today, April 30. Contact Dr. Mosley-Williams at JMWilliams@salus.edu for an application.
NEW ORGANIZATIONS FOR STUDENTS: White Coats for Black Lives, Salus Hearts in Motion, National Perinatal Association, and Salam Muslim Student Association are just a few of the new organizations on campus that further emphasize the wide variety of student involvement the University has to offer. Read more about ways to foster engagement for Salus students here.
BLACK EYECARE PERSPECTIVE: Salus University alumni are leading a dialogue asking for 13 percent Black representation in the optometry community through the Black EyeCare Perspective. Dr. Jacobi Cleaver, OD ‘11, shares his experiences and thoughts surrounding his PCO optometry journey, beginning in the PCO Summer Enrichment Program (SEP), which will relaunch in June as the Robert E. Horne SEP after a six-year hiatus. Read more about Dr. Cleaver here.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW: This week’s Where Are They Now features Casey Heffelfinger, MS ‘20, CCC-SLP, a speech-language pathologist in a skilled nursing facility in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Find out why she said Salus was the right place for her to further her professional aspirations at salus.edu/CaseyHeffelfinger.
OUTDOOR OPPORTUNITY: The parking lot area outside the South building lobby on the Elkins Park campus has been fenced in for dining, meeting, studying and general use. This area will hold up to 44 people, with the chairs and tables placed accordingly to ensure social distancing. There are sanitizing supplies to wipe down the area you used. Access and egress from this area must be done through the South building lobby. We ask that you do not enter or go through this area from outside the fenced area or from the parking lot. You must be screened at the main entrance prior to using it. This area can be reserved for student events/meetings and can be scheduled through the facilities department at facilities@salus.edu.
FALL 2021 COMMENCEMENT: Salus University’s fall commencement will be Tuesday, Oct. 12. More details will be announced as they become available.
FINAL THOUGHTS: I wanted to take some time to share my thoughts about vaccine hesitancy. If you’ve been reading my Weekly Updates you will know that I strongly believe in the importance of being vaccinated and how that remains our primary path out of the pandemic. You should have also picked up on the fact that I believe, as healthcare professionals, we need to set the example for everyone and get vaccinated. Frankly, it is our professional responsibility to get vaccinated to ensure the safety of our patients and those working with us. These vaccines are safe and effective and have already begun to help curtail the spread of the virus in places where they have been widely distributed. The sooner we can reach herd immunity the more lives can be spared. In addition to receiving the vaccine ourselves, we also should be playing a key role in acting as vaccine advocates and educators to those who might be hesitant to receive it. There are several independent, scientific resources that will help debunk inaccurate theories and help to educate those who might be reticent to be vaccinated. They include: The Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine, New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), WebMD, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, to name just a few. Additionally the Black Doctors Consortium has been extremely successful in decreasing vaccine hesitancy amongst the African American community in Philadelphia. You can learn more about their efforts here. I would encourage you to review some of these resources to help educate yourself and others about the safety and efficacy of these miraculous vaccines.
As you probably read last week, we have announced that beginning June 1st, we will authorize university-sponsored travel for those who are vaccinated. We’ll be adding more incentives within the coming weeks to include a requirement to be vaccinated to use the fitness center. External to us, most clinical externship and clerkship sites are requiring students to be vaccinated, and we are considering the same for TEI, PEI and SLI. Please don’t put your professional education in jeopardy by not getting vaccinated. If you haven’t already received the vaccine, I strongly advise you to take the initiative and get it done now!
As you prepare for the weekend, try to get out and about and enjoy the spring weather. With the updated CDC guidelines addressing the use of face masks, remember, if you’re vaccinated, you still need to wear your mask if you attend a crowded, outdoor event. If you are not vaccinated, you should be wearing your masks when attending small outdoor gatherings, even with vaccinated people, when dining outdoors and attending crowded outdoor events. Just some more incentives to get vaccinated! Enjoy the weekend. Be safe, make arrangements to get vaccinated, if you haven’t already and remain SALUS STRONG!
Mike
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