Students, Faculty, Residents Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,
Greetings from our Elkins Park campus where things have been humming along nicely throughout this Summer semester. Just when we thought the pandemic was in our rearview mirror, we are now having to watch things much more closely as the Delta variant of the virus spreads throughout the country. We are aware of the new CDC guidance regarding indoor mask wearing for fully vaccinated people in certain regions of the country and are closely monitoring local and regional data to ensure we comply. As of this today, there is no local requirement for vaccinated people to wear a mask indoors because our numbers are relatively low, but this can change over time and we will make adjustments as necessary. If only everyone would get vaccinated! There are several things going on around campus that I wanted you to be aware of:
MIDDLE STATES ACCREDITATION: This week, we highlight Standard VI - Planning, Resources & Institutional Improvement. Our working group is led by Radhika Aravamudhan, PhD, PhD, CCC-A., FAAA, Dean & Associate Professor, Osborne College of Audiology, who is joined by Don Kates, CPA, Vice President of Finance, Jill Leslie, Director, Instructional Technology and Support Services, Rebecca Delia, MS, Salus University Board of Trustees, Margie Singer, Administrative Coordinator, Physician Assistant Program, and Wendy Woodward, Director, Sponsored Programs & Academic Finance. Together they are documenting how we plan, use and continuously assess our resources to support our educational offerings and the continued improvement of the university, as a whole.
MEET THE AMBASSADORS: Salus University has 17 students representing various academic programs who serve as student ambassadors at University events both on campus and in the community. In the third and final part of the series, meet six more student ambassadors representing what our Salus community is all about. Click here to read about them.
STUDENTS AT LEISURE: We’ve kicked off a new online series called “Students at Leisure” (SAL) that features some of the fun, interesting and unique outside activities that our students engage in when they’re taking a break from their studies. The first SAL story focuses on Katie Stanton ‘24OD, who practices “leviwanding,” an object manipulation discipline where the practitioner controls a seemingly floating stick. It has its origins in the magic world dating back to the mid-1800s and is known as the “Dancing Cane” trick. To read more about Katie and leviwanding, go here.
RESIDENT PROFILE: Since we just welcomed our newest Resident class to TEI, we’re profiling them over the next several weeks on our website so everyone can get to know them better. Kicking things off will be Rochelle Fleisher, OD, ‘22Resident, who was inspired by her mother, a nurse practitioner, to pursue a career in healthcare. Read more about Dr. Fleisher here.
PODCAST UPDATE, TAKE I: Join Robert Serianni, MS, CCC-SLP, FNAP, the Chair and Program Director of the department of Speech-Language Pathology at Salus University, as he moderates a podcast that focuses on the services provided at the Speech-Language Institute. He is joined by an SLI client, a student working with that client and the supervisor overseeing the care of the client. Click here for details.
PODCAST UPDATE, TAKE II: Check out this extremely interesting podcast featuring David Meltzer, OD ‘02, assistant professor at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University. Dr. Meltzer talks about his time in the United States Army and working as an optometrist in Germany, Iraq, and Italy before returning to the United States and his alma mater to teach the next generation of optometrists. We’ll also have a Faculty Focus story on our website about Dr. Meltzer next month, so look for that as well.
DONATIONS FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN: Hearts in Motion will be collecting school supplies to donate to schools in Gualan, Zacapa, Guatemala, during its mission trip at the end of August. The group is looking for unopened/new school supplies to give to the schools. Examples of what they are looking for: pencils/pens, sharpeners, crayons/markers, scissors, backpacks, paper, folders/binders, small toys, etc. There will be a box in the lobby at the Elkins Park campus for donations to be placed.
PA FORMAL: The Physician Assistant Program Class of 2022 will celebrate the end of the didactic year before they move on to their clinical sites all around the country with a PA Formal Saturday, July 31. Look for a story and photos on our website about the event.
FINAL THOUGHTS: I’ve spent the last few weeks talking about the importance of getting vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. The fact that the delta variant has been spreading so rapidly across our country (now with the greatest number of cases again) illustrates how, as a country, we have totally dropped the ball when we had the opportunity to finally put the pandemic behind us. Vaccine hesitancy has always been around, but because this entire pandemic has been defined both politically and scientifically, politics have played an unacceptably high role in determining who gets a vaccine and who does not. As healthcare providers we have only one acceptable avenue to determine efficacy of vaccines, treatments, etc. and that is SCIENCE. As we have learned throughout the pandemic, the science can change, depending upon how the virus mutates and changes. Clearly, science is telling us that the delta variant of the virus is more transmissible and potentially more dangerous than previous variants. What is scarier to me is that the more hosts this virus has the opportunity to infect, the greater the chance we have of confronting an even more virulent variant of COVID-19 that may even be vaccine resistant. Every person who is unvaccinated presents a greater opportunity for the virus to mutate and adapt. Most recently the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, the City of New York, a myriad of large health systems have mandated or required vaccines for front line healthcare workers and the Federal government just announced that all federal employees must attest to being vaccinated against Covid-19 or face strict protocols including regular testing, masking and other mitigation measures. Additionally, many corporate entities such as Netflix, Morgan Stanley, Saks Fifth Avenue, Facebook and Google are requiring all of their employees returning to work to be vaccinated. Like us, they did this to protect their patients, coworkers and each other.
Please, if you are not yet vaccinated, reconsider your decision – if not for yourself, do it for those of us who must work or live with you. If you are vaccinated, share your stories and help to educate those who have not yet gotten the vaccine to feel more comfortable about doing this. We’ve come to the point where, unless there’s a legitimate medical or religious reason not to be vaccinated, there is no excuse not to be. The benefits, individually and collectively, of getting vaccinated far exceed any perceived risks.
Please think about this over the weekend. The weather is going to be extremely nice, so I encourage you to get out and enjoy the fresh air. For those of you not yet vaccinated, please wear your face mask when around others. For those of us who are fully vaccinated, please check local positivity numbers if you go outside our region for your situational awareness. If in doubt, wear a face mask indoors, just to be safe. Enjoy the weekend and remain SALUS STRONG!
Mike
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