Honoring Women's History Month: Week of March 10, 2023

 

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

Good morning from our Elkins Park campus where our flowers believe we’re in early spring, but today’s temperatures are still reminding us that it is still winter! It’s been another busy week on campus with clinics, labs and classrooms buzzing with activity. In addition to all this, here are some other items of interest:

WHERE ARE THEY NOW TIMES TWO: Check out the latest stories from our Where Are They Now series. One features Alta Fried, MSOT ‘14, who shares how being in the Salus University Occupational Therapy (OT) helped prepare her for a career as a hand therapist. You can read about her here. The other features Grace Gawron, MS ‘18, who graduated from our Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) program and now works with children and young adults with an autism diagnosis. Read more about her here.

SWEET SOUNDS OF SUCCESS: Michael Santucci, AuD ‘09, has been awarded the 2023 Samuel F. Lybarger Industry Award by the American Academy of Audiology. The award is given to an individual who has made important contributions in research, engineering or other technical achievements within the audiology profession. Dr. Santucci has also established himself as a leader in helping the music industry provide audiology care for industry professionals. To read more, click here.

LUNCH & LEARN: Yvonne D'Uva Howard, MS, CCC-SLP, PhD '22, is hosting a Lunch & Learn on Tuesday, March 14 from noon to 1 p.m. in room S300 on the Elkins Park campus. Her presentation is titled "Dyslexia and Dysgraphia: Multi-Disciplinary Considerations in Patient Care and Higher Education." Click here to RSVP.

FINAL THOUGHTS: As we mark the start Women’s History Month, we honor the many contributions and sacrifices that women have made to improve society. Last week, Dr. Juliana Mosley Williams, my Special Assistant for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, highlighted the state of women’s leadership in the academy:

“Th[e] underrepresentation [of women] in [college president] positions has been attributed to gender barriers, discrimination, and late entrance into academia, which is being reduced and challenged with more women enrolling in college (currently 60% of college students are female). Even here at Salus, females make up almost 80% of our enrollment. (3/1/23)

 

I am proud of the progress we’ve made at Salus. In addition to being majority female (80%) among our student enrollment, nearly 60% of our board of trustees are women and half of my cabinet are women.

This Sunday morning we begin Daylight Savings Time (DST), so we will set our clocks forward one hour. While we will gain an hour of daylight later in the day, we lose an hour of sleep! It generally takes me several days to adjust to the change, especially in the morning where it will, once again, be dark when we get out of bed.

For those curious minds, I thought I would provide the history of Daylight Savings Time. To conserve fuel, during the World War I, Germany began observing DST in 1916. The plan was adopted in the United States in 1918 for the same reason. After World War I, DST was abolished and not put into effect again until 1942, for similar reasons. This lasted until 1945 when again it was abolished. It wasn’t until 1966 that a national DST policy was put in place. Until then individual states could implement it as they deemed appropriate. Between 1966 and 1972, states were allowed to opt out of DST. During the 1973 oil embargo, Congress enacted year-round DST to help save energy. This lasted until 1975. After 1975, DST was once again only implemented during the summer months. It wasn’t until the mid-2000’s that it was extended beyond the summer months to what it is today.

The shift to DST is also not without broader health implications. Research indicates “an associated rise in cardiovascular disease, injuries, stroke, mental health and cognitive issues, digestive and immune disease in the week following DST.”

To counter this, experts recommend the following: 

• Shift your schedule earlier. Try to shift your eating and sleep cycle 15 minutes earlier ahead of the shift.
• Expose yourself to natural sunlight in the morning. Spending a minimum of 15-20 minutes in natural sunlight (even on a rainy day) helps reset your circadian clock.
• Develop sleep hygiene. Turn off devices a couple hours ahead of sleep and create a dark, quiet environment to support longer, uninterrupted sleep.

As you prepare to “spring your clocks forward” this weekend, please keep in mind that you will need to be more careful driving into school or work in the mornings due to the darkness. You’ll also likely be a bit more tired than you are used because of the time change. So please, be smart, be careful and remain SALUS STRONG as we once again enjoy that extra hour of sunlight in the afternoon!

-Mike