Back on Campus: Week of January 11th

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

Greetings from a very chilly Elkins Park! It’s been a busy week since all of our classes, labs and clinics are back up to full speed after the holiday break. Frankly, it’s really nice to have everyone back on campus – you can feel the energy wherever you go!

Congratulations to our Student Optometric Service to Humanity (SOSH) group, who after a couple of false starts, were able to provide much needed and appreciated optometric services to the residents of Compton, California. This trip was in lieu of the one the group had originally planned for Haiti but had to cancel due to security concerns.  Sixteen students and two faculty from PCO participated in this humanitarian mission.

On Friday, January 18^th, from 1:00 – 3:00 PM, we will be welcoming a distinguished speaker to campus. Melissa Weiler Gerber, president and CEO of AccessMatters will present, "Sexual and Reproductive Health in 2019: It Was the Best of Times; It Was the Worst of Times." Her talk will highlight some of the most promising advancements in sexual and reproductive health, and focus on the political challenges to their realization. This presentation is also open to the community, so please spread the word. Read more about her and the presentation. 

On Thursday, January 24th from 8:30 – 11:00 AM, I’ll be participating in Invest Philadelphia’s 2019 launch event at the Lowes Philadelphia Hotel on Market Street. I will be part of a panel that’s entitled, “World-Class Minds: Education in Philadelphia”.  I’ll be joined on the panel with Dr. Guy Generals from the Community College of Philadelphia and Craig Carnaroli from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to our panel, Dr. Larry Kaiser, Dr. Jay Feldstein, Jack Lynch, Raymond Williams and Susanne Svizeny will be discussing, “Healing the Community: Healthcare in Philadelphia”. It should be an interesting morning – and a great opportunity to get the Salus name out there!

Yesterday the Real World Diabetes course commenced at The Eye Institute in collaboration with Temple Health. These classes will be focused on diabetes education, and held every Thursday until February 28th. Over the course of five weeks, participants will learn healthy meal planning, ways to stay physically active, and the importance of regular doctor visits and vital numbers to know about their diabetes. 

The Student Occupational Therapy Association is collecting toiletry items as well as cold weather gear for the resident workers at the Race Track at Parx Casino. There is a box for the collections in the lobby and will remain there until January 31st.

Thanks to Drs. Kylie Auman and Hang Nguyen, two of our residents at The Eye Institute, for their presentations at this morning’s Grand Rounds. Dr. Auman’s presentation of "Oculocutaneous Albinism: Genetics, Clinical Features and Management" and Dr. Nguyen’s on "Syphilitic Uveitis" were both extremely interesting and informative. 

The renovation of S300 is coming along nicely with the installation of new carpeting, furniture and technology just about completed. Bringing our learning environment up to a designated high standard has been a strategic priority for the University. I’m happy to report that we’re just about done. We plan on tackling the next group of classrooms this fiscal year. Up next, is the renovation of our lower level which will provide up-to-date student locker space, offices and a more secure data center for the University. This work should commence within the next month.

As the temperature outside confirms, it’s definitely winter! To help celebrate the season, our Salus Student Ambassadors have organized the Dean’s Winterfest that will be held in the Hafter Center from 12:30 – 2:30 PM today.  So, if you want to check your knowledge of holiday trivia, participate in an ugly sweater contest, decorate cookies or just have some hot chocolate and snacks, head over to the Hafter Center for some fun, a chance to win some prizes and relaxation!

Finally, the weather folks are predicting some snow this weekend so if you’re going out and about to watch the Eagles beat New Orleans or just hanging out, please be mindful of the weather. If you plan on enjoying the game on Sunday with family or friends, please moderate your alcohol intake and certainly don’t drink and drive. Be safe, look out for one another and have fun!

Mike

Blogging in the Clouds: Week of November 16, 2018

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

Greetings from the air as I head up to Boston to join our speech-language pathology and audiology colleagues at their annual American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) conference. Isn’t technology great?! I’m excited to see their posters and interact with many of our students, faculty and alumni! Dr. Aravamudhan represented OCA at the convention attending her CAA board meeting and making a presentation on her research project with mild Traumatic Brain Injury patients.

I hope everyone survived our first taste of winter weather yesterday. It was quite a surprise! Even with our pre-winter surprise, things remained busy at Salus.

On Tuesday evening our staff from The Eye Institute was honored with the Montgomery County School Nurse Association’s (MCSNA) School Health Partnership Award in recognition for the School Vision Programs. Tanis and I had the honor of attending, along with Dr. Brandy Scombordi, Dr. Luis Trujillo and Cathie Muhr.

Last week I mentioned that Dr. Bisant Labib became the 15th diplomate in the Comprehensive Eye Care section of the AAO. What I didn’t’ know at the time was that Dr. Labib made history by being the youngest female to ever attain this historical achievement - many congratulations to her!

Given the almost total devastation of the town of Paradise, California from the terrible fires out there, I felt compelled to mention that in this week’s update. Here are some staggering stats as of yesterday:

California officials said they've identified most of the 59 people known to have died in wildfires that started a week ago. Searchers recovered eight more victims of the "Camp Fire" north of Sacramento on Wednesday along with a third victim of the "Woolsey Fire" near Los Angeles. In the "Camp Fire," 130 other people are still unaccounted for. The blaze has destroyed nearly 9,000 homes and forced at least 52,000 people to evacuate.

If you are interested in assisting those affected by devastating California fires, the Red Cross has a separate pull down item "California Wildfires" for this purpose on their "Donate Now" page.

As we approach this weekend, please keep the folks in California in your thoughts and prayers. Have a safe and restful weekend!

Mike

Soggy Elkins Park: Week of July 6th

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

Good morning from a soggy Elkins Park! I hope everyone had an enjoyable 4th of July holiday. I don’t know about you, but Wednesday felt like Sunday and yesterday felt like Monday, so today feels really good, even with the rain.

This week we welcomed our newest PCO Scholars students to campus. They spent the week getting oriented to their new program, jumping into their accelerated program with lots of smiles and energy. It was great to meet everyone from the class and learn about the very diverse backgrounds.  

On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Ear Institute (PEI) sponsored the Ladama, Latin America concert in Abington Art Center's World Music Concert Series. The University will also sponsor the last concert in the series on July 26, Sidi Toure, Mali. If you are looking for something interesting, fun and free to do, check it out.

Our Speech - Language Institute (SLI) will hold its Speakeasy Support Group from 12 to 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 7, in the clinic. And finally, Blindness and Low Vision Studies (BLVS) will honor their Alumna of the Year, Sister Lisa Ann Lettiere, IHM, MEd '00, TVI, COMS at a reception that will be held on Thursday, July 12 at 5:30 p.m. at the Hafter Center. 

Yesterday, I held my first of two quarterly University-wide meetings at The Eye Institute (TEI). Today I’ll be meeting with staff at the Elkins Park campus at 2:00 PM.  Yesterday we had a great discussion about the actions the American Optometric Association (AOA) says it’s taking concerning the optometric applicant pool. It appears they’re investing almost $1M into marketing the profession, which is great news. Apparently, we might have played a very key role in moving the needle on this. I can discuss this further at today’s meeting, if anyone is interested.

I’m off to Budapest, Hungary tomorrow as part of a Global Business Strategy course I’m taking in my MBA program. During the trip I’ll be visiting a medical services delivery business, the U.S. Embassy, an IT firm, an international law practice and a vineyard. These are all businesses that want to share lessons they’ve learned while working from Hungary in a global business environment. I’m really looking forward to the entire program. When I served as the Medical Advisor to NATO in my “former life” I had the opportunity to set up a NATO medical research command in Budapest, so it will be fun to go back.

I hope everyone has a great week. I’ll try to get an abridged “Weekly Update out next week.

Mike