Honoring the Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: Week of January 13, 2022

 

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

Happy Friday from Elkins Park, where we are excited to welcome our students back to campus!

WINNING ACADEMIC POSTER: Salus University faculty members recently authored an award-winning academic poster at a recent Interprofessional Education Collaboration (IPEC) virtual poster fair showcase. Titled “Evolution of an IPE Case: An Interprofessional Approach for Large Student Cohorts,” the event highlighted research scholarship on interprofessional education for collaborative (IPECP) projects. The lead author is Dr. Radhika Aravamudhan, dean of the Osborne College of Audiology (OCA). Read more here.

ALUMNI AWARDS NOMINATIONS: The Salus University Alumni Association annually recognizes the professional contributions and achievements of graduates and friends of the institution. You are invited and encouraged to nominate members of the Salus community for one of our annual Alumni Awards. Nominations are open here until Jan. 19, 2023.

DEAN’S WINTERFEST: Dean’s Winterfest is back to being held in the winter. This year, the event will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, at The Hafter Center bringing our Salus community together after the holidays for some fun and face-to-face interaction.

FINAL THOUGHTS: As we prepare to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, I am reflecting much on the principles he modeled through the life he lived and how we might apply these to address societal challenges, including our ongoing pandemic recovery, the war in Ukraine, inflation, and many others. Righteousness, equality, justice, and nonviolence were key tenets in the American civil rights movement that he led. How might we, as healthcare providers, emulate and apply these principles to meet the challenges we face?

I encourage you to carve out seventeen minutes today to watch Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. I suspect that while we’ve all heard parts of it, many have never listened to the entire speech. My hope is that you experience something far greater than the momentary satisfaction of social media.

To honor Dr. King, let me share two quotes that reflect what we do at Salus:

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” 

 

“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”

So many of us at Salus come from very different backgrounds and cultures. Together on our wonderful campus, we bring all our diverse strengths to impact the future of healthcare, education and professional practice.

Monday’s holiday is the only national holiday designated as a Day of Service to encourage all Americans to do something to improve their communities as a tribute to Dr. King. Dr. King lived his life serving others through his actions and words. On Monday, try to do something that honors Dr. King’s life. As Dr. King said, “Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.” Let’s try to live that adage in these turbulent times.

As you prepare for the weekend, try to reflect of some of Dr. King’s lessons and work to employ those lessons in your daily interactions with your patients, clients, family members and friends. Be safe, continue to wear a mask when around crowds, look out for one another and remain SALUS STRONG! 

 - Mike

The Importance of Advocacy: Week of April 29th, 2022

Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends, Good morning on a brisk Friday in Elkins Park. It has been another busy week on and off campus with finals, practical exams and political advocacy all happening at the same time. We continue to collect necessary items for all who have been displaced by the war as we keep Ukrainian people here and abroad in our thoughts and intentions.

Here are some items of interest:

UNIQUE INITIATIVE: Salus University and The Eye Institute (TEI) have entered into a new partnership with the State Correctional Institution (SCI) at Cambridge Springs in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, to custom-make eyeglasses for children served by the University’s Looking Out for Kids School Vision Program. Read more about this new initiative here.

FIRST-GENERATION STUDENTS: The three-part series “First-Generation Students: Experiences and Advice” highlights the graduate school journeys of first-generation students at Salus University, and provides their advice for other first-generation students looking to continue their studies at the graduate level. Check out Part One here.

WALKMS PHILADELPHIA: When the opportunity to raise money for the national MS Association of America emerged, students in the Salus chapter of the Student Occupational Therapy Association (SOTA) swung into action. The group organized the University’s participation in WalkMS Philadelphia. For details and to register, click here.

DEAN’S SPRINGFEST: Dean’s Winterfest, which has been on pandemic hiatus, was changed to the Dean’s Springfest for 2022. It accomplished the same goal as always — bringing the Salus community together to enjoy each other’s company. Read more about the event here.

AOA SUMMIT: Earlier this week, I participated in the American Optometric Association’s annual Federal Advocacy Summit in Washington, DC. The summit engages optometric leaders and students in legislative advocacy on key issues facing the profession. Groups are assigned to lobby on behalf of the profession legislators representing the districts in which we reside.

This year, we concentrated on four key areas:

1. Putting patients and doctors back in control of their healthcare decisions by passing the Dental and Optometric Care (DOC) Access Act which combats abusive practices in the federally regulated vision and dental plan coverage markets.
2. Asking Congress to take action to stop Medicare pay cuts to optometrist and other professions.
3. Ensuring that the over 1000 optometrists working at the Department of Veterans Affairs are permitted to practice at their highest level of training and licensure to assure veterans have access to full-scope eyecare wherever they are seen.
4. Reining in abusive contact lens seller practices by regulating contact lens verification robocalls from companies that too often lead to patients receiving a different device than originally prescribed. 

 My group visited the offices of Senators Toomey and Casey, Congresswomen Dean and Congressman Evans. Our representatives were extremely supportive and sensitive to the issues we raised. Two students in my group added valuable perspectives and context to our discussions.

FINAL THOUGHTS: All of our professions are regulated through legislation, most often at the state level. The legislative process governs the scope, safety and remuneration of our professions. Engaging actively in this process is a critical part of our responsibility and commitment as professionals.

I remember juggling my schedule when I was a student to do just that. At the time, we were fighting for the right to use therapeutic drugs -- something we all take for granted today. The four issues we addressed this week are similar to those we confronted over forty years ago - all asking legislators to assure optometrists can provide the best care possible for their patients. While the names of the bills may change, attempts to erode and restrict what we’ve been taught to do for our patients are, unfortunately, perennial.

For all who wonder, “Is this worth my time? Can one person make a difference?” The answer is emphatically, “YES!” Visits, letters and calls to our representatives help them prioritize and lead on the issues for which they find strong constituent support. Our profession is so much stronger today because of the advocacy efforts that we’ve been part of at Salus.

I encourage all, especially our students, to exercise our voices -- and to make a difference, through efforts like these. It’s an important part of leading our professions, and it’s an essential contribution to a thriving democracy.

As we prepare for the weekend, please remember to “mask up” when around others, wash hands frequently and socially distance when possible. Look out for one another and remain SALUS STRONG!

Mike

Greetings from Jerusalem: Week of January 10th, 2020

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

Greetings from a rainy, windy and cold Jerusalem where Dr. Vitek and I have been at Hadassah Academic College (HAC) providing lectures and workshops on Evidenced Based Practice, public and global health and leadership. It’s been a busy but very productive few days here in Israel. We signed a Memorandum of Understanding with HAC that will promote collaborations in many areas can benefit both their students and Salus, to include optometry, audiology and potentially clinical research. There likely will be other opportunities to work together, which we’re all very excited about.

Other than the weather, there has been little mention of current events in the Middle East while we’ve been here which is good! We both appreciated the messages we’ve received this week concerning the security situation, but all has been well - thank goodness! Since I’m 7 hours out of sync with everyone back home, I will send this out a bit off the normal routine schedule, since I head to the airport rather early tomorrow morning.

Last Monday morning was a special event for our Looking Out for Kids (LOFK) initiative. A local organization, Hogs & Honeys Foundation for Kids, recently initiated a partnership with us and as a result, LOFK received a $5,000 donation. Additionally, eye exams were conducted on the Big Red Bus for 19 students at Franconia Elementary School in Souderton Area School District in Montgomery County. Special thanks to Hogs & Honeys Foundation for their generosity and making that happen!

This week, our Admissions staff hit the deck running for the New Year with our first Optometry Learning Experience (OLE) of 2020. Our OLE program has run for over four decades now - allowing potential optometry students the opportunity to gain insight into the academic life of an optometry student here at Salus. I’d like to thank everyone who made this event possible and hope to see those students return to Salus in the future! If you know anyone who is looking to pursue optometry as a career and would like more information, have them visit salus.edu/OLE.

Next week we’ll be hosting State Senator Sharif Street at both The Eye Institute and the Elkins Park campus. We’re excited to show him the depth of training all of our professionals receive as well as the high-quality care we’re providing the community at The Eye, Pennsylvania Ear and Speech and Language Institutes. Senator Street’s district includes The Eye Institute and he serves as the Minority Chairman of the Senate Banking & Insurance Committee and also sits on the Appropriations, Agriculture & Rural Affairs, Health & Human Services, and Urban Affairs & Housing Committees. We’ll discuss scope of practice issues as well as our initiative to have the state designate a line item in the budget to help offset tuition for PA residents and the cost of indigent care with him.

I’d like to remind everyone of today’s (Friday’s) Dean’s Winterfest event, which will be held from 12:30 - 2:30 pm in the Hafter Center. This year’s theme is Winterfest en Blanc. The event will include free food, games, trivia, prizes, an ugly sweater contest, and much more.

Finally, I was sorry to see the Eagles exit the NFL playoffs so early but am still keeping my fingers crossed for the Packers this weekend! I hope everyone has a safe and restful weekend – I’m looking forward to getting back on campus Monday morning – hopefully, celebrating a Packers win!

Mike