Keeping COVID Victims in Our Thoughts: Week of April 2nd, 2021

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

It’s been a relatively short week. I know that students, faculty and staff have been busy preparing for board exams and clinical practicals, in addition to attending virtual and in-person classes and providing patient care in our clinics. Here’s some of what’s going on around our Salus Community:

HOLY DAYS: This time of year includes several cultural and holy days that are significant to many in our community: 

• Passover (March 28 - April 4) — The Jewish holiday observed for eight days (sundown to sundown) celebrates the Israelites being freed from slavery in Egypt.
• Holi (March 29) — An annual Hindu festival held in the spring to signify the triumph of good over evil, the end of winter, and the arrival of spring and the harvest.
• Holy Week (March 28 - April 4) — Holy Week is a Christian observance from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, as a time of devotion to the Passion of Jesus, who died on Good Friday and rose on Easter Sunday to give new life to all who believe.

SAVE THE DATE: Mark your calendars for this year’s Osborne College of Audiology (OCA) Externship Celebration. The virtual event will be held on April 27, 2021, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of the Class of 2022 as they journey into externship. This year's event will be interactive with trivia and a few other surprises. Please click here to RSVP to the event.

BEHIND THE SCENES: In the latest episode of “Behind the Scenes at TEI,” we get some insights from Jeffrey Nyman, OD, FAAO, director of emergency services at The Eye Institute (TEI), and its most senior staff member. The nature of emergency care can be unpredictable, but Dr. Nyman gives us an inside look at how his day unfolds. To read more, click here. 

FACULTY FOCUS: This week’s Faculty Focus is on Amy Lustig, PhD, MPH, CCC-SLP, assistant professor in the University’s Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) program. Dr. Lustig plays guitar, piano, percussion and sings. For years she has had a particular interest in Afro-Cuban and Brazilian folkloric music. Find out more about Dr. Lustig here.

NEW CLASS OF RESIDENTS: Congratulations to the class of newly matched PCO optometry residents. They will be honing their skills in Primary Care/Ocular Disease, Pediatrics/Vision Therapy, Low Vision Rehabilitation, Cornea/Contact Lens and Neuro Ophthalmic Disease. We look forward to seeing you at The Eye Institute this summer!

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Check in on Alexandra Kistner, MS ‘17, and how her career has progressed since graduation in this week’s “Where Are They Now.” A member of the inaugural Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) class in 2015, she is now a speech therapist in the Central Bucks School District in Pennsylvania. To read more about Alexandra, go here.

VACCINE AVAILABILITY: Vaccine availability is becoming more ubiquitous in our region. It’s taken a while to get there but by the middle of this month, any person over the age of sixteen will be eligible. What has been incredible about these new vaccines is how effective (100%) they have been proven to be against severe COVID disease and hospitalizations. If you have not yet had the opportunity to receive either the Johnson & Johnson, Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, here’s a link to the Commonwealth’s website that will explain the vaccine rollout timeline and help guide you to one of many pharmacies in the area where vaccines will be available. I strongly encourage all of you to get vaccinated as soon as you can. Once you are vaccinated, here is the CDC guidance that outlines what you should and should not do.

FINAL THOUGHTS: As we look forward to having 4-days off from class, clinic and work, I ask that you take a few moments to remember all those who have lost their lives to COVID. To date, over 552,000 Americans have died, with the global toll over 2.8 million people. While we are not yet out of the woods, your perseverance, resiliency, creativity and stamina have allowed all of us to weather this storm better than most. That said, now is NOT the time to let our guard down. We must continue to be vigilant in all we do, even if we’re vaccinated, to help stem the spread of the virus. To that end, please continue to wear your double face mask when around others who are not in your immediate circles and are unvaccinated, continue to socially distance and wash your hands frequently.

Over the course of these next four days, try to take some time for yourselves and get out and enjoy the nice weather. Fresh air and exercise are great for rejuvenating yourself both physically and mentally!

We wish everyone celebrating Passover, Easter or Holi peaceful and restful holidays.

Finally, we are SALUS STRONG because of your unyielding commitment to excellence in everything you do. I look forward to seeing you around campus and clinics next week. Stay safe, stay active and continue to look out for one another.

Mike

Passover, Easter and Ramadan: Week of April 10th, 2020

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

Good morning from home where I, like most of you, have been working over the past several weeks. I hope that this week’s update finds everyone healthy and safe during these very uncertain and unsettling times.

April is Occupational Therapy month and we would like to take this opportunity to thank and celebrate all those OTs who are currently on the front lines, several who are working with COVID patients, fighting this pandemic, along with many of our other colleagues. 

We recently signed an articulation agreement with Immaculata creating a pathway for undergraduate students to enroll in several advanced degree programs to include audiology, optometry, occupational therapy, and physician assistant. To learn more about this, please click here.

We’ve continued our advocacy for additional assistance from the Federal government by writing to our local Congressional delegation to ensure they understood the very unique requirements our students. We are strongly advocating that graduate students be treated the same as undergraduates, making low interest federal student loans available to them and asking for low interest Perkins loans be re-instituted for graduate students.

Last week I announced that the Pennsylvania Ear Institute would begin to see emergency patients only. This week we saw our first couple of patients; one adult whose issue was handled "curbside" so that they didn't need to physically come into the clinic and the other, a two-year-old who needed earmold impressions so that he could get new earmolds ordered for his hearing aids. Needless to say, both were very grateful we could provide these services. The staff is strictly following CDC guidelines for any of these interactions. 

As I mentioned on Monday, Passover, Easter and Ramadan remind us that our life here on earth and our work at Salus takes on a special meaning during this health crisis. Being able to care for and give unto others while sheltering in place and wondering when all this will end is in our blood at Salus.   Your positive attitudes and professional demeanor will help get you through this. As I’ve said many times, this will all end eventually and we will all have learned a great deal about ourselves and others. We will be more resilient and wiser.  We are SALUS STRONG, which give us an edge no one else has. 

Finally, many of you may have seen the announcement from Governor Wolf closing all K- 12 schools until the end of the academic year. That specific mandate does not directly apply to us. We are not permitted to resume in-person instruction or reopen our campus until the closure of non-life sustaining businesses is lifted by the Governor. I wish I could tell you when that will happen, but as I’m certain you realize, it will be dependent upon the trajectory of the pandemic. I’m hopeful it will be sooner rather than later. I can assure you, as soon as we get the green light from the state, we will start moving forward with our plans to incrementally open the campus. We will continue to monitor this with the hope that we’ll be able to return to face to face training soon. Right now, I know faculty is planning on programs continuing with online training through the summer semester. 

Tanis and I wish you and your loved ones a peaceful and hopeful holiday weekend. Try to get out and enjoy some of the sunshine, of course, wearing your masks and practicing social distancing at all times! Be safe and stay healthy!

Mike

Sacrifice, Discipline, Miracles and Traditions: Week of April 6th, 2020

All,

Today marks the beginning of our 4^th week of online training, social distancing, hand washing reminders and sheltering in place. Again, thank you to our faculty, students and staff for adjusting to this new model. Yesterday, Holy Week began in preparation for the Easter holiday next Sunday and on Wednesday evening Passover begins. Ramadan starts a few weeks later. Without getting into a religious discussion, these holidays teach us about sacrifice, discipline, miracles and traditions. It doesn’t matter what your religious beliefs are, if you are familiar with either holiday, you’ll find people were faced with what seemed like insurmountable challenges and no clear solutions. That’s pretty pertinent when you compare them to today’s pandemic.    

If you’ve been watching the news, you know that this coming week the country is expecting to see very high death rates, especially in New York, which has become the global epicenter for the pandemic. The importance of staying at home and social distancing may be a huge sacrifice for many of you, but it is a sacrifice that can save lives – perhaps the lives of members of your own family. Please - continue to take this seriously. Don’t go out unless you absolutely have to, even to the grocery store or pharmacy. 

The sacrifices we’ve made up to now and continue to make in the next few weeks will pay off in fewer cases and hopefully, fewer deaths. We likely won’t begin to emerge from this for 4 – 6, or more weeks - but, there will be an end to this. We’ll look back and the entire experience will be a blip in time that hopefully, we will have learned a great deal from and can apply that knowledge to better prepare for when something like this happens again.  

While you may not feel like you’re doing much by sitting and watching movies and playing games, you are really saving lives. Nothing happening while you’re sitting at home is a good thing! Dr. Emily Landon, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Chicago reminds all of us that, “Without taking drastic measures, the healthy and optimistic among us will doom the vulnerable.”    

As I’ve mentioned in my previous messages to you, it’s important to understand that things will get worse before they get better, but they will get better. This is tough stuff because we’ve never been through anything like this before in our lifetimes. It’s okay to be scared or feel vulnerable; those are normal and natural feelings, given the current circumstances. Just don’t let those feelings overwhelm you and cloud your thinking. As I keep reminding you, our counselors are there to listen to your concerns and act as a sounding board for your feelings – take advantage of them if you need to. You can make an appointment here.  

I strongly encourage all of you to keep your fitness schedules going to the best of your ability, get outside often (if around other people, wear a mask) and keep yourself busy by working on your academic goals and also trying learning something new. Think about learning more about American History or even trying to start learning a new language. Our fitness experts at Hafter Center have been providing great YouTube indoor video workouts and just the other day sent out a workout schedule for the month that looks like lots of fun.

Finally, the staff of the Pennsylvania Ear Institute have stepped up to provide emergency services, in line with the state and CDC guidelines, to their patients with hearing aids who might need some assistance during this crisis. While they will only be providing services a couple of days a week, they’re fulfilling their responsibility to those they care for. That’s central to what we are all about at Salus and I applaud their actions.

As you begin this week, I want to thank you for the sacrifices you’re making to keep yourself, your families and many others safe. Please keep the correspondence coming.  

Be safe, be smart, wash your hands frequently, practice social distancing and wear a face mask if you go out, but stay home unless it’s absolutely necessary to go out! 

WE ARE SALUS STRONG!

Mike

A Special Salus Weekly Update: Week of March 30th

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

This weekend, as our Jewish colleagues begin the observance of Passover, and as our Christian colleagues celebrate Easter it’s important that we take a moment with our family and friends to be thankful for all the gifts we have both in being able to care for others as well as having others care for us.

These holidays remind us that our life here on Earth and our work at Salus provide a means of being able to care for and give onto others. They are also a reminder of how we should treat each other with kindness and respect.

In this spirit of thankfulness and caring, Tanis and I wish you and your families a peaceful and blessed Easter and Passover. Have a great weekend.

Mike