The Importance of Political Advocacy and Interprofessional Education: Week of September 22, 2023

 

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

Good morning on the first Friday of Fall! It’s been a busy and exciting week at Salus hosting our quarterly Board meeting and launching the Salus-Drexel Integration Council. Salus President’s Council members met their counterparts to develop plans for integrating academic, human resources, fiscal, student life, enrollment management, facilities and clinical processes between our two institutions. It was great to see everyone so interactive and involved. As I’ve said in the past, we will keep everyone up-to-date on the groups progress throughout the year. In addition to these things, here are some other items of interest:

RECOGNITION RECEPTION: Our annual recognition reception — always one of my favorite events — celebrated the outstanding achievements and extraordinary philanthropic support of our alumni. The event included our 2023 Presidential Medal of Honor recipients and 2023 Alumni Association Award winners. Each of our honorees has brought wisdom and expertise to the patients and people within their care and have transformed the lives of many. Look for details next week on our website.

CURATOR RETIRES: Our collective thanks and congratulations to Elynne Rosenfeld, curator of the D’Arrigo Family Gallery at the Hafter Student Community Center on our Elkins Park campus, who is retiring after six years. Her extraordinary contributions as curator and director transformed our community. Read more about Elynne’s dedication to the gallery here.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Earlier this week I had the opportunity to attend a hearing of the Congressional Subcommittee on Veterans Health. As the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reaffirms its right to allow VA health care professionals to deliver health care services in a state other than the health care professional's state of licensure, registration, certification, or other state requirement, they are establishing National Standards of Practice to ensure quality of care for all veterans.

This has become a contentious issue for several professions that intersect with other medical specialties. This week’s hearing focused on optometry and certified nurse anesthetists. Ophthalmology has challenged optometry’s role in providing laser eye surgery among other medical procedures, and anesthesiology has challenged the role of certified nurse anesthetists to serve as solo, independent providers in VA facilities.

As a proud member of both the American Optometric Association and the Association of Armed Forces and Federal Optometric Services (AFOS), I was privileged to help craft AOA’s statement, which was skillfully delivered by Dr. Paul Barney, an AOA trustee who practices full-scope optometry in Alaska, including laser treatments.

It was heartening to observe committee members, all veterans themselves, recognize the value that optometrists and CRNAs provide to the VA as medical professionals. They all recognized the importance of providing health care to veterans with an integrated team of professionals. One of the members even stated that healthcare was a "team sport". Which is why interprofessional education is such an important focus of what we do at Salus.

Legislative advocacy is a vitally important tool to support the efforts of those who literally write the rules under which we all practice. In accurately and professionally providing factual accounts of our education, training and patient outcomes, we help our legislators enact laws that better reflect and support what we do.

All of our professions are statutorily regulated. Recognizing Salus’ historic commitment to “impact the future of healthcare, education and professional practice,” I take time for legislative advocacy and I encourage you to do the same. This work is done at every level—local, state and federal levels of government. Stay on top of the issues, and participate in your state and national associations. Your livelihoods and ability to care for your patients at the highest level of your training are impacted by state and federal regulations.

As you prepare for this first weekend of Fall, take some time to look over your state and national association’s websites to see what issues they are currently confronting and get up to speed with them. Now is not too early to become involved as you prepare to become leaders in your chosen professions.

Stay safe, continue to practice prudent prevention measures, such as masking when around large crowds, when out and about. We want you all back here next week SALUS STRONG!

-Mike

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