Condemning Violence and Assaults on Our Democracy: Week of January 15th, 2021

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

Good morning from our Elkins Park campus where our students have been actively engaged in their lab work, virtual classroom learning and clinical interactions, both on this campus as well as in East Oak Lane and Chestnut Hill. We are now nine months into the pandemic and even having a limited number of students, faculty and staff on campus and in our clinics is a far cry from normal, yet, thanks to our dedicated and highly motivated faculty, students and staff, our consequential educational mission is effectively being executed.

A BRIGHT FUTURE: U.S. News and World Report recently reported on the 100 best jobs to pursue right now. Four of our professions are listed, including Physician Assistant at No. 1. Speech-Language Pathologist is No. 7, Occupational Therapist is No. 19 and Optometrist is No. 48. Look for a more detailed story about this in the future on our website.

COGNITIVE CLASSROOM: The Speech Language Institute (SLI) has partnered with ReMed, a care center for clients who experienced traumatic brain injury (TBI), to provide a weekly virtual group titled "Cognitive Classroom.” To read more, click here.

GRAND ROUNDS: The next Ground Rounds at The Eye Institute will be at 7:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 22. Dr. Elizabeth Marunde will talk about “Getting Down with the Lateral Rectus: Differentiating Between Heavy and Saggy Eye Syndrome,” and Dr. Korey Patrizi will speak on “A Prescribing Paradox: Steroid Response in a Chronic Case of Irvine-Gass Syndrome.” For more information, click here.

FOCUS ON DR. PELINO: This week’s Faculty Focus is on Dr. Carlo Pelino, assistant professor at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Salus and chief of The Eye Institute at Chestnut Hill. Learn more about Dr. Pelino, a Salus Presidential Medal of Honor Award winner in 2019, here.

HAFTER SURVEY: Please take a moment to respond to our Group Needs Assessment to help us continue to provide the classes and content you want to see at the Hafter Center. Click here for the survey.

FINAL THOUGHTS: On Monday, we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His life epitomized one of advocacy for equality (racial, economic, educational, and employment), service, non-violence and respect for others. Under more normal circumstances our Salus Community would actively participate in the day of service. Because of the pandemic, I hope you were able to register for one of the virtual opportunities sponsored by globalcitizen365.org. Beyond the day of service, through our Looking Out For Kids and other outreach programs, we have consistently been serving the communities we are a part of by providing vision and hearing screenings to children in underserved communities throughout Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties.

As we reflect on the horrific events at the U.S. Capitol last week and now look forward to the upcoming Inauguration of President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris next week, it will be incumbent upon all of us to actively embrace the attributes of hope, respect, unity, equality and justice that Dr. King so eloquently and effectively espoused and personified. In doing so, especially, as healthcare professionals, we will be holding ourselves to those same high standards, where we help to set the example at Salus for how that should look. At Salus, we continue to vehemently condemn violence and any assault on our democracy.

Please take some time this weekend to think about and reflect upon how we can all do better in treating each other with civility and respect; with honesty the hallmark in everything we do and say. Be safe, and even as many of you begin to get vaccinated, it’s important to continue to wear your face mask, socially distance, wash your hands frequently and stay SALUS STRONG!

Mike

Honoring Dr. King: Week of January 17th, 2020

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

Good morning from a very cold and windy Elkins Park! It’s been a busy week around campus. We’ve completed the renovation of W400, the Board Room, which will now serve as both a multi-purpose classroom as well as our Board Room. If you’re on the 4th floor of the west building, check it out.

I am pleased to announce that we have selected a new partner for our dining and catering services for the university. After a lengthy process that concluded with a lunch presentation to student, faculty, administration and staff representatives, we have selected Metz Culinary Management to provide these services. Metz is a family-owned, Pennsylvania-based company that has been providing dining services to higher education, schools, health care and corporate accounts for over 25 years. We are excited to bring them to campus starting February 24th. In addition to the change in service, we are in the planning stages for a complete redesign of our café and the surrounding South wing first floor. As we begin preparing for this transition, I want to take the opportunity to thank Culinart for their many years of service to Salus.

I encourage all of our students to attend the upcoming Career & Resource Fair on Saturday, January 25, from 11am - 2pm in the Hafter Center Gym. The event will include door prizes, free professional headshots, free food, and more. I especially encourage our third-year students, as it will be your last chance to see nearly 40 employers on campus before graduation!

On Monday we will celebrate the extraordinary life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, a civil rights leader who was taken from us much too early in his life, on April 4, 1968. Dr. King’s legacy of non-violence, justice and peace is something everyone should reflect upon today. To honor Dr. King, I wanted to share some quotes with you that I thought might be fitting to what we do at Salus:

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” That too, pertains to all of us, many of whom have come to Salus from very different backgrounds and cultures, but now have all gathered on our wonderful campus to learn to care for others.

Monday’s holiday is the only national holiday designated as a day of service to encourage all Americans to do something to improve their communities as a tribute to Dr. King. This is so very fitting since Dr. King lived his life serving others through his actions and words. So, on Monday, try to do something that benefits others to honor Dr. King’s memory and improve the lives of those around us. As Dr. King said, “Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.” Let’s try to live that adage in these turbulent of times.

Finally, it looks like it’s going to be a messy weekend, weather wise, so if you’re out and about, please be careful, especially if you’re driving Saturday afternoon into Sunday. Be safe, look out for one another and do something for others in your community on Monday. See you back on campus on Tuesday.


Mike