Exercising Your Right To Vote To Preserve Our Democracy: Week of October 21, 2022

 

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

Good morning! It’s a beautiful, cool Fall morning in Elkins Park where I hope everyone is as energized as I am! With our commencement ceremony in the rearview mirror, our planning for the Spring is underway with lots to do between now and then! Planning for the renovation of the first floor, south building is nearly complete. I can’t wait for construction to begin! Here are some other items of interest:

A DAY OF PRIDE: Eighty-eight graduates from our Osborne College of Audiology (OCA) and the College of Health Sciences, Education and Rehabilitation (CHER) received master’s and doctorate degrees at our 125th commencement ceremony last week. Click here to read more about the special day.

‘COVID CLASS’ GETS ITS LONG WHITE COATS: The 47 students in the Salus Physician Assistant (PA) Studies Class of 2022 walked into the Hafter Center for their Long White Coat ceremony Oct. 12 to the strains of “Celebration,” the 1978 hit by Kool and the Gang. The “COVID Class” as it was known was ready to finally celebrate. Click here for more about the ceremony.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ADVOCACY: Salus student Weilong Li ‘23PA understands his impact on future generations of Physician Assistants (PA) and is using his personal platform to advance the PA profession. Read more about his efforts here.

CLASS OF 2022-23 RESIDENT: Since she was little, Allison Raff, OD ‘22, ’23 Resident, knew she wanted to be a doctor. While an undergrad student at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, she learned about different professions and decided she wanted to have a specialty. Now she’s one of our residents. Read more about Dr. Raff’s journey here.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Exercising our right and responsibility to vote is core to a functional democracy, and especially critical now, as a woman’s right to choose, health equity, gun control, economic stability, national defense and other consequential issues are hotly debated. Every one of the professions we train at Salus is statutorily regulated. Because of this, it is extremely important to understand where candidates stand on scope of practice issues, as well as all the other issues, no matter what profession you serve.

As we approach election day, I anticipate the ads we see will become more frequent and negative. I strongly encourage you to seek out multiple, reliable, unbiased sources of information when deciding for whom to vote. The U.S. government has a helpful guide with resources for making informed choices. Likewise, candidate voting records can predict how candidates will vote in the future. Social media posts tend to represent opinions rather than facts. I try to keep this in mind and verify facts using multiple sources before taking a position.

If you have not yet registered to vote, it’s not too late. In Pennsylvania, the deadline to register to vote is October 24th. If you decide to vote by mail or require an absentee ballot, it must be requested by November 1st and received by November 8th in order for it to be counted.

As you prepare for the weekend, get out and enjoy the Fall colors, which should be peaking around here. If you haven’t yet gotten your COVID bivariant booster and Flu shot, please get those scheduled as soon as you can. I’d like to ensure that we’re fully protected as we get closer to the holidays. Stay safe, remain healthy and stay SALUS STRONG!

-Mike