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

Processing, Healing, Progressing: Week of April 23rd, 2021

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

Once again, there’s lots going on around campus. Here are just some of the things that I’d like to highlight:

LOFK SUCCESS STORY: Unlike many of Philadelphia’s children, Colbie and Addyson Sparks were able to attend school this year in-person at Our Lady of Port Richmond (OLPR). With the help of The Eye Institute (TEI) of Salus University’s School Vision Program their school year was made a little easier. Read more about their experience at salus.edu/SchoolVision. And don’t forget to get your tickets to the University’s 14th annual “Looking Out for Kids” fundraiser, held virtually at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 1. To purchase virtual tickets or VIP reception boxes online, visit here. 

PROCESSING, HEALING, PROGRESSING: I hope you got a chance to tune into the DEI forum “Processing, Healing and Progressing After the Verdict” last evening via WebEx. It featured Lisa Croft, DO, who shared personal perspectives and how traumatic events impact our work in health care. A second speaker, Jaison Freeman, PhD, Chestnut Hill College assistant professor of psychology, also shared personal perspectives and how faculty can assist in facilitating difficult dialogue around these events in the classroom/clinical setting. We recognize these forums will not solve our societal ills, but they do provide an opportunity for members of our community to be together to dialogue, listen and support.

MATCH DAY 2021: Resident Match Day is when all residency programs and candidates who applied receive their results on where they ultimately are matched after a season of residency interviews that begins in October and closes the end of February every year. Read more about the excitement and anxiety surrounding this year’s Match Day at salus.edu/MatchDay2021.

PA OLYMPICS 2021: Salus students joined other PA students from Arcadia University, DeSales University, Drexel University, Jefferson University, the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) and Temple University to participate in “The Amazing Race,” April 10, 2021, in Philadelphia. Read more about how our PA students had some fun and raised money for a good cause by going to salus.edu/PAOlympics.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: This week’s Where Are They Now features Devin Williams, OD ‘17, who was attracted to PCO/Salus because we emphasized early clinical exposure and placed students in our clinical facility, The Eye Institute (TEI), earlier than most optometry schools. Find out how Dr. Williams’ career has progressed at salus.edu/DevinWilliams. 

ONGOING PODCAST SERIES: Join Robert Serianni, MS, CCC-SLP, FNAP, the chair and program director of the department of Speech-Language Pathology at Salus University as he speaks with a clinical educator and three current students about their collaboration with the members of the Breastfeeding Resource Center and their work in the population of infants, toddlers and families. Click here to listen. 

LUNCH AND LEARN: I hope you had a chance to attend, via Zoom, our latest Lunch and Learn event yesterday on “Environmental and Behavioral Factors Associated with Refractive Errors in Israeli Boys” presented by Ariela Gordon-Shaag, PhD, FAAO, chair of the Department of Optometry and Vision Science at Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem, Israel. If you missed it, contact Dr. Melissa Vitek at mvitek@salus.edu for more information.

FINAL THOUGHTS: This past week many of us recorded our parts for the upcoming virtual commencement exercise. We’re extremely excited that Congresswoman Madeleine Dean is our Keynote speaker and former Dean of Students, Robert Horne will be receiving an Honorary Degree, the Doctor of Humane Letters Degree, for the work he did in establishing and growing the Summer Enrichment Program during his tenure at Salus. While all of us would have preferred to do this in person, the pandemic is continuing to throw us curves. I am happy that we’re able to do the in-person drive by ceremony next month but also realize it’s not what many of you (and me) would have preferred, but given the current situation, it is the responsible course of action to take at this time. As more people get vaccinated, hopefully, this will be the last time we’ll have to go down this road. In the meantime, I’m hoping all of you are either vaccinated or have appointments to get vaccinated as that is the only way we will contain this virus. We are working on having a vaccination event here on campus sometime next week for those who still need it – more details to follow on that. 

In the meantime, please continue to wear your face masks, socially distance and wash your hands frequently. Please be safe, look out for one another and remain SALUS STRONG as you prepare for the weekend!

Mike

Dealing with the Stress and Preventing the Spread of COVID: Week of December 3rd, 2020

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

I wish everyone a good morning from a cold, almost deserted Elkins Park campus. In light of the projected increase in COVID-19 cases secondary to the Thanksgiving holiday, all of our programs made adjustments to minimize their presence on campus and in our clinics to ensure student, faculty and staff safety. That said, our clinics have remained open thanks to our clinical faculty at TEI and those students who are currently assigned to clinical rotations in PEI and SLI. Even with the apparent lack of visible activity on campus, things still continue to happen. These include: 

SIMULATION LAB RIBBON-CUTTING: We cut the ribbon this week on our new state-of-the-art Standardized Patient Simulation Lab that was made possible by a $500,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP). Now, all of our students will have the opportunity to work in a genuine clinical setting without having to leave the Elkins Park campus. To read more about the renovation project and what it means to our faculty and students, go here.

A BRIGHTER THANKSGIVING: Thanks to Dean of Student Affairs Dr. James Caldwell; Center for Personal & Professional Development (CPPD) counselor Tami April-Davis; vice president of Finance Don Kates; chief of staff Brian Zuckerman; and Matt Morett, chief manager of the University’s Cafe for Metz Culinary, for putting their heads together to make Thanksgiving a little brighter for our students who chose not to go home for the holiday. They created a “Turkey Gobbler” event that allowed 72 students to get a Thanksgiving dinner while remaining close to campus as opposed to traveling home during the holiday. To read more, check out salus.edu/TurkeyGobbler. 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: This week’s “Where Are They Now” feature is on Jenna Fenton, AuD ‘20. While at Salus, Dr. Fenton conducted research on cochlear synaptopathy, also known as hidden hearing loss, with her mentor, Dr. Martin Pienkowski, PhD, associate professor at the University’s Osborne College of Audiology (OCA). Read more about how Dr. Fenton has been able to continue working with hidden hearing loss patients in her professional career at salus.edu/JennaFenton.

LUNCH & LEARN EVENT: The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee’s most recent Lunch & Learn event featured Jeffrey Carroll, PhD, assistant professor of Political Science and the chair of the Center for Data & Society at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. Dr. Carroll offered his perspective on the topic, “2020 Election Results, National Impact and Marginalized Populations.” To read more about that discussion, go to salus.edu/ElectionEffect.

GRAND ROUNDS: The next Grand Rounds at The Eye Institute (TEI) will be at 7:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 11. The virtual event will feature Dr. Dominic Brown on “Triple Threat: Low Vision Rehabilitation Strategies for Central, Peripheral and Hemianopic Vision Loss” and Dr. Preet Dhami on “Ocular Complications of Uncontrolled Diabetes … Starring the Type 1 Diabetic: A Look into Diabetic Retinopathy after Cataract Surgery.” For more information click here.

FACULTY FOCUS: Featured in our Faculty Focus this week is Patricia Martin Mayro, who was one of our first faculty members when the Speech-Language Institute (SLI) opened its doors in 2015. Read more about how the Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) department has evolved and Trish’s role in the department here.

PEER MENTORING PROGRAM: Our Peer Mentoring program continues to be strong. The purpose of the program is for second-year students to help first-year students become acclimated to the Optometry, Audiology and Occupational Therapy programs (the Physician Assistant Studies and Speech-Language Pathology programs have their own, separate peer programs). To read more about the program, go to this link.

DEALING WITH STRESS: I know that many of you, in addition to dealing with the stress caused by the pandemic, are also in the midst of preparing for final exams, leaving for externships or other clinical rotations or planning for a trip home for the holidays. I encourage each of you to be looking out for each other. Consider some virtual get togethers or even a small group, socially distanced activity outside to help alleviate some of the stress. You can also make an appointment to speak with any of our counselors in CPPD here.

FINAL THOUGHTS: To those of you who opted not to travel during the Thanksgiving holiday, you have my sincere thanks. There have been a record number of COVID-19 cases both nationally and locally over the last couple of weeks and secondary to holiday travel, most experts expect those numbers to increase even more by early next week.

While the FDA is preparing to issue an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer vaccine sometime within the next week or so, which will likely be followed by an EUA for the Moderna vaccine shortly afterwards, we are not out of the woods. While the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter, I don’t anticipate we will be back to what anyone might consider normal until early or mid-summer of 2021. It’s easy to get complacent knowing there is a vaccine that’s ready to be distributed, especially after all the sacrifices we’ve had to make since March. The truth is, we need to remain focused on staying healthy and safe until a large majority of the population receives the vaccine, which won’t be for a while. That means remaining conscientious about following all the guidelines outlined in our Salus Safety Strategy that we’ve been successfully following all these months:

• Continue to socially distance
• Wear a face mask when not around others in your immediate household indoors and outside and on campus at all times
• Wash your hands frequently
• Don’t leave your home if you’re not feeling well
• For faculty and staff, if you don’t need to be on campus, please work from home

You have been doing an exceptional job in helping us get to the end of this semester. Because of your efforts, as a Salus Community, we have remained healthy and safe. We have been able to conduct our classes both in-person and virtually and provide required laboratory and clinical instruction in our own clinics and through external clinical rotations. That is no small feat in the midst of a global pandemic. You should feel extremely proud of this accomplishment. I certainly feel very proud to be associated with you as you’ve navigated through these rough waters. We still have some treacherous waters in front of us, but I have no doubt that we’ll get through those relatively unscathed as well. A quick reminder - if you already haven’t, please ensure you download the COVID Alert PA app here. This will allow you to opt-in to receive alerts if you have had a potential exposure to someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

As you prepare for the weekend, even with the rain predicted on Saturday, try to find some places outside that aren’t crowded and enjoy the fresh air. Winter break will be here before we know it and looking ahead, some much needed rest and relaxation.

Be safe, continue to act responsibly and remain SALUS STRONG!

Mike