Dear Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,
Good morning on a crisp, spring day from our Elkins Park Campus. Unfortunately, we began this week with the senseless loss of more lives to gun violence at a small Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the students and staff at The Covenant School.
To our PCO students completing Part I of the National Board of Examiners in Optometry exam and others working on practicals and preparing for finals ahead of Spring Break next week, wishing you much rest over the break. More on both subjects in my final thoughts.
Here are some other items of interest:
SEPCHE HONORS CONFERENCE: Last Saturday we were privileged to host the annual Honors Conference of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Consortium for Higher Education (SEPCHE) consortium. Students from Arcadia University, Chestnut Hill College, Holy Family University, Neumann University and Rosemont College presented original, scholarly work, voice and visual art presentations to over 130 participants. What an exciting, transformative learning experience it was to collectively enjoy such impressive and talented work!
A RETURN TO IN-PERSON CE EVENTS: On Sunday we welcomed our first in-person Continuing Education event on campus since the pandemic began. Special thanks to Dr. Melissa Vitek and our DICE staff for organizing “Dynamic Duos” featuring Drs. Navpreet and Jaspreet Hehar, Dr. Carlo Pelino, Dr. Mohammad Rafieetary, Dr. Erin Draper and Dr. Deanna Yoder-Black. Over 100 OD’s attended this exceptional professional development.
DECADE OF SUCCESS: Although the Biomedicine program at Salus University officially started in late 2012 — recently marking its 10th anniversary — the foundation for the program was underway a few years earlier. Read more about how it evolved and the continued success it has enjoyed by clicking here.
JOURNEY OF LEARNING: Seven months into her affiliated residency through the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Salus University and every day has been a learning experience for Kelsi Jones, OD, ’23 Resident. Read more about Dr. Jones’ journey here.
FROM MUSIC TO AUDIOLOGY: The path Michael Davenport, AuD ‘09, took to becoming an audiologist actually started with music. Find out how Dr. Davenport became a staff audiologist for the Veterans Administration for the past 26 years by clicking here.
CAPSTONE INFLUENCE: It was during a clinical rotation at a geriatrics practice that Lauren Bunnell, MMS ‘22, came up with the topic for her capstone project, inspired by her preceptor’s lecture on different types of dementia. Read more about Lauren’s project here.
FINAL THOUGHTS: The Center for Disease Control and Prevention lists firearm-related injuries as the leading cause of death in persons 1 – 19 years of age, surpassing motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death for this cohort
This failure to protect youth from this preventable cause of death only accentuates the magnitude of the public health emergency facing our country. Among 64 high-income countries and territories, according to the Institute for Health Data and Evaluation at the University of Washington, the United States ranks eighth out of 64 for homicides by firearm (age-adjusted). Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, two US territories, rank first and third on that list.
In 2021, the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) recorded 48,953 firearm fatalities, the highest since the CDC began tracking these in 1981. Of these deaths, 85.8% of fatalities were male and 14.2% female. 25.8% of the fatalities were Black, non-Hispanic; 10.4% Hispanic; 60.5% White, non-Hispanic individuals. Of note, firearm suicide rates were highest among White non-Hispanic men aged 80 – 84 years. In 2021, rates of firearm homicides among Black individuals were 22.5 times higher than the year before. (Trends and Disparities in Firearm Fatalities in the United States, 1990 – 2021, JAMA, Public Health, 29 November 2022).
It is long past time for legislators and leaders to act in a non-partisan manner to help curtail this public health crisis. Recognizing that there is no single or easy solution to this epidemic, numerous studies highlight promising policies to reduce gun violence. Research published in JAMA (Firearm Laws and Firearm Homicides: A Systematic Review, January 2017) demonstrates an association between laws strengthening background checks or requiring permits to purchase firearms with reductions in rates of firearm homicides.
Actively addressing the social determinants of health at a local and national level, curtailing the relatively easy access to certain types of firearms, such as military assault-style weapons, and continuing to raise the awareness of this epidemic are key to beginning to solve the issue.
As current and future health care providers, we have responsibility to continue to call attention to this epidemic to our local and federal representatives and advocate for increased resources that can address behavioral health issues, stronger gun control laws, including universal background checks prior to all gun sales, a limit on magazine capacities and a ban of military assault-style weapons.
The more we can learn about this epidemic, the more prepared we will be to help to curtail it.
For further information, I suggest you check out the following:
I also hope you will take the time to disengage from your normal work and study routines and find time to connect with nature, get outdoors and enjoy the beautiful spring colors. I look forward to seeing many of you upon your return in a week. For those celebrating Passover and Easter next week, I wish you a blessed and restful holiday.
In the meantime, stay safe, look out for one another and enjoy your time off so you can return SALUS STRONG!
-Mike
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