Good Luck with Finals: Week of November 30, 2018

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

Greetings from our Nation’s capital where Melissa Vitek, OD, FAAO, interim provost and vice president of Academic Affairs; Brooke Kruemmling, PhD, COMS, associate provost; and I are attending the annual meeting of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s (MSCHE). MSCHE is the overarching accrediting body for Salus. It’s always enlightening to learn about trends in accreditation and to see what other colleges and universities are doing as well as ensuring we remain in compliance within the standards we are accountable for. 

Later today, I head up to New York along with Dennis Washington, vice president for Institutional Advancement and Don Kates, CPA, vice president for Finance, to represent Salus at the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Society. Most of our regional politicians head up to New York City this time of the year to network and learn about constituent needs and wants. This presents a great opportunity for us to market the University and lobby for state funding for some of our most important projects. By keeping our local legislators informed about all the great things we’re doing for our students and the local communities we serve, we’ve been successful in the past in obtaining significant state grant funding for things such as the renovation of The Eye Institute, to include the lower level and our newest primary care clinic.  This time we’re hoping to lobby for funds towards making improvements at the Elkins Park campus.

Around campus, lots of great things are happening as well. 

Rachel Ditoro, MSPAS, PA-C, associate professor in the Physician Assistant Program, was interviewed by the Physician Assistant Education Association about the work our PA program is doing in Competency Based Education (CBME). 

We’re always trying to enhance our current academic partnerships and develop new ones. We're happy to announce that we have signed two new articulation agreements with the University of the Sciences:  a 3 + 4 Doctor of Audiology Degree Program and a 4 + 4 Doctor of Audiology Program. These help to develop pipelines of qualified students for all of our programs. 

I’m very proud to inform everyone that the University's Veteran’s Readiness Initiative (VRI) was recently awarded the Union League Veteran’s Club Table 2018

Philanthropy Award. The award was accompanied with a nice monetary donation to the program. Karen Hanson, PhD, program development ; Linda Casser, OD, FAAO, coordinator of Interprofessional Education, and I were all on hand to accept the award during a special ceremony at the Union League of Philadelphia just prior to Thanksgiving. 

As we prepare to enter finals week at the University, I want to wish everyone lots of luck (although I know you won’t need it because you all have been studying so hard) and thank the faculty for the great job they’ve done in preparing everyone so well! Have a great weekend. Be safe and look out for one another. 

Mike

Happy Thanksgiving: Week of November 20, 2018

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

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this week with friends and family, I want to take a moment to offer my gratitude to our extended Salus family – students, faculty, residents, staff, alumni and board members – for the energy, compassion, enthusiasm and cooperation that has made this past year so very successful for our University. What an honor and pleasure it is to work with such a committed group of professionals as we envision new ways to keep Salus moving forward. The spirit of improvement and dedication to excellence is truly inspiring.

It can sometimes be too easy for us to take for granted the freedoms afforded by this great country in which we live, which provides us the very opportunity we have during this holiday to gather peacefully with our friends and loved ones;  a situation brought into sharp focus over the past few months with the extraordinary challenges facing others in so many regions of our country and the rest of the world.

As we prepare for this week’s holiday, I want to thank you for what you do every day to make us a very special place to learn, work and support our community.  I also want to thank you for what you do to keep Salus University on its continued path of progress and innovation.

Tanis and I wish you all a very safe and restful Thanksgiving. 

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

Greetings from San Antonio: Week of November 9, 2018

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

Greetings from San Antonio where I’m attending the annual meeting of the American Academy of Optometry, along with many of our PCO faculty and students.  It’s been a great meeting with several of our faculty and students attaining professional recognition in the form of academy diplomate status and practice excellence recognition.  Congratulations to Dr. Bisant Labib, Co-Chief of Suite 3, who earned her Diplomate in Comprehensive Eye Care and to Susan Barnes and Kathrine Boas, both from the PCO class of 2019, for receiving a VSP Practice Excellence Award.  We’re extremely proud of all of you!  Also, several of our faculty and students are presenting lectures and posters throughout the meeting. PCO is making a huge splash in San Antonio!!!

Just a reminder that Dr. Trego and PCO will be hosting an Alumni and Friends reception in the Grand Hyatt, Texas Ballroom F, 4th Floor later today at 6:30 p.m.  We hope everyone who’s in San Antonio for the Academy meeting can join us!

Congratulations to Radhika Aravamudhan who has just been named the Dean of the Osborne College of Audiology!

Rachel Ditoro, MSPAS, PA-C, associate professor, College of Health Sciences, presented three talks to Physician Assistant Program educators at the annual Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) Forum in Anaheim, CA: “Competency-based Medical Education (CBME): Beginning with the End in Mind” parts one and two, which provided an overview of CBME, its core components, and its utilization in PA education.  Ditoro also co-presented a third talk, “Early Remediation Using a Competency-based Education Model” with Donna Agnew, MSPAS,PA-C,DFAAPA, interim dean, College of Health Sciences, addressing targeted remediation for identified deficits.  It’s great to see our folks lecturing on the national stage.

Congratulations to our Looking Out For Kids charity fundraiser team for orchestrating what has been our best event to date last Saturday night.  We had over 300 people in attendance including Senator Vincent Hughes and our Lighthouse Award recipient, Donna Frisby-Greenwood.

Special thanks to Kate Braemer and the team in Institutional Advancement and Alumni Relations for putting all this together. Special thanks to Rosemary Connors from NBC10 who served as our co-host and to all of our sponsors, including National Vision, Lindy Property Management Co., Conicelli Toyota, Fox Rothschild, E.B. Reilly, MyEyeDr, Office Depot, T3 Construction, U.S. Vision and many others.  Also, special thanks to our Board of Trustee members for your attendance as well to all those who contributed time, wine, money and artwork to the silent auction.  It looked like everyone had a great time! For more info, check out our website.

The Keneseth Israel Reform Congregation is holding a concert featuring the Main Line Symphony Orchestra with Maestro Don Liuzzi, 68-member musicians, a guest narrator, and soloists on Sunday at 7:15 p.m. Salus students, faculty and staff have been invited to attend this great event.  Admission is $10 and tickets will be available at the door.

It looks like it’s going to be a nice cool weekend in Philadelphia! Get out the hot chocolate and settle in with your books if you’re studying, or try to get outside and enjoy what’s left of the fall leaves.  There will be snow on the ground before we know it!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Mike

Looking Out for Kids Fundraiser: Week of November 2, 2018

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

It’s been another productive week at Salus with preparations for our LookingOut For Kids charity fundraiser being completed for tomorrow night’s event. So far over 300 people have registered to join us at the Hilton Philadelphia City Avenue to help raise money for this very worthy charity. We’ll also be honoring our Lighthouse Award recipient, Donna Frisby-Greenwood, at the event.

On Wednesday, I was interviewed by Rosemary Connors, who will co-host the event, at the brand-new NBC 10 studio in the Comcast Innovation Center in Center City.

Also on Wednesday, the office of Student Affairs held The Ultimate Treat Event in the afternoon outside of the Café with treat bags, baked goods, and raffle prizes – and plenty of students donning Halloween costumes. It was great to see everyone enjoying all those treats. I suspect there are many hours of gym time scheduled to offset the goodies we all enjoyed. 

Dennis Washington, our vice president for Institutional Advancement, and I spent Monday and Tuesday in Florida visiting several of our alumni. We had the opportunity to spend some time with our oldest alumni, Dr. Morey Powell who is 103 years old. It was great to catch up and hear Dr. Powell’s insights on what the country was like almost a century ago as compared to now. Our conversation made the “good ole days” sound pretty good!  We had named one of our new classrooms after Dr. Powell and used this opportunity to present him with a picture of the plaque that is now outside the Powell classroom. He was extremely excited. We also visited Dr. Michael Hecht and Dr. Ronnie Snyder. Dr. Hecht is a classmate of mine and Dr. Snyder is a graduate of the class of 1967.

Last week the StudentOccupational Therapy Association (SOTA) celebrated World OT Day by tabling outside of the café. World OT Day (which was on October 27) aims to spread awareness about what occupational therapy is and the importance of OT worldwide. The SOTA officers provided their peers and faculty members with an interactive “two truths and a lie” game to test knowledge and see what the Salus community already knew about OT. SOTA gave out lollipops with fun facts about OT, baked goods, and OT balloons. Overall, SOTA successfully engaged and educated the Salus community about the scope and importance of occupational therapy.

 

At last week’s Academy of Doctors of Audiology annual conference, the meeting opened with an all-day symposium on comorbidities in the audiology patient. This has been a major project for Dr. Victor Bray as the symposium's organizer. Dr. Bray delivered the opening and closing talk as well as covering one of the content areas in a panel discussion. We believe this was the first time there has been an all-day symposium focused on the topic of comorbidities in an audiology patient. Congratulations Dr. Bray for helping to get the Salus name out there!

Later today, during Salus Time, we’ll roll out our Interprofessional Clinical Care initiative in room S305A. Dr. Karen Hansen has been leading the charge on this initiative for the past few months, working with clinic directors in each college, in an effort to tie together our clinics in a meaningful way that enhances inter-clinic communication as well as patient referrals. The staff will be unveiling our new Salus Interprofessional Questionnaire and explaining its significance to the process. This is open to everyone and I would encourage you to attend if you’re going to be on campus. 

Finally, Daylight Savings Time ends early Sunday morning, so don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour Saturday night. That gives us an extra hour of sleep as well as an extra hour to raise money for Looking Out For Kids Saturday evening. Have a great weekend!

Mike

State Representative Visits Salus: Week of October 26, 2018

Good morning from a cold morning in Elkins Park!

It’s been another great week at Salus. Here are some of our highlights:

On Monday, we hosted State Representative Marcy Toepel at our Elkins Park campus. We had the opportunity to discuss all of our programs, but concentrated on why the legislature needs to update the current optometric scope of practice laws to reflect what’s being taught at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry and other optometry programs around the country. After a great discussion and tour of our facility, where Melissa Trego, OD, PhD, dean, Pennsylvania College of Optometry, had the opportunity to show Representative Toepel our virtual reality training lab first hand. I think Rep. Toepel came away with a renewed appreciation of what optometrists can and should be doing to care for their patients. These visits are important to ensure our legislators understand the high quality and comprehensive education our students receive, not just in optometry but in every profession we train. It’s also a great opportunity for elected officials to learn what services Salus provides to our local communities - often at no cost to the people we serve.

NBC-10 news spotlighted our School Vision Program, our doctors and students while they conducted screenings at McCloskey Elementary School in Philadelphia just the other day. TEI resident Dr. Ryan Kern and a team of third year optometry students did an excellent job showcasing the great work that we do through our school screening program.

Congratulations to Mitchell Scheiman, OD, PhD, director, Graduate Programs, Biomedicine and his team at New Jersey Institute of Technology for winning two of three Auggie Awards – the most recognized industry virtual reality awards in the world.  The awards were given for two projects - Excellence in collaborative projects between industry and academia and the most impactful breakthrough and honoring a Women XR Laureate. Congratulations Mitch!

The American Optometric Student Association (AOSA) will hold its annual Optometry Cares 5K run/walk on Sunday, October 28 from 9 a.m. to noon at Alverthorpe Park in Abington, Pa. All proceeds will benefit the American Optometric Association’s Optometry Cares foundation. Please try to get out there to support this great cause.

Our annual Looking Out For Kids (LOFK) charity fundraiser is only a week away! If you haven’t already purchased your tickets, it’s not too late. This year’s event is being held at the Hilton Philadelphia City Avenue which is a beautiful venue in a great location. If you can’t come, please consider donating on our website.

Finally, there’s been a good bit of distracting and distressing news this week about politics, mail bombs, general discord and the geopolitical fallout from the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. With all this swirling around us, it’s helpful for all of us remain mentally and morally focused on our mission at Salus – advancing integrated health care through innovative education, research and clinical services. Our students have enough to do between studying and going to class and labs and our faculty and staff are constantly working to ensure our students receive the best education possible in addition to ensuring the patient care provided in our clinics is nothing less than excellent. While it’s extremely important to be aware of the current events, it’s imperative for you to focus on our patients, clients and the education that will enable you to help others well into the future. 

The one thing that you all can do is to vote – no matter what your political affiliation is, that’s the one way we have, as Americans, to clearly express our opinion and desires as to how our government works. Tuesday, November 6 is election day. Mark it on your calendars and ensure that you either have an absentee ballet if you’re not going to be around or get to a polling place. Every vote counts, so please ensure you plan your time to exercise your constitutional right to choose who represents us.

On that note, I’ll close wishing everyone a safe and restful weekend. It looks like we’re going to have a nor’easter starting tonight, so please be careful if you’re going out and about. 

Mike

Midterms: Week of October 19, 2018

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

Greetings from Salus where it’s a beautiful fall day!

This has been a week of midterms for many students. You could tell that testing was going on as the hallways were pretty quiet most of the week. I trust all of our students have survived their midterm week in stellar form and now are ready to start the second half of their terms.

I want to take a minute to offer congratulations to Donna Agnew, MSPAS, PA-C, DFAAPA on her recent appointment as the interim dean of the University's College of Health Sciences. 

On Wednesday evening, Salus Institutional Advancement hosted a social event at Yards Brewing Co. in Philadelphia to celebrate Salus University’s 10 year anniversary. Young alumni, students, faculty and staff came out to have a good time. The food and ambiance were great – as was the ping pong! Glad to see many of our students, faculty, alumni and staff attending and we’ll do this again next year.

Speaking of alumni, our Salus Alumni Association Board had their quarterly meeting last Sunday morning on campus. I had the opportunity to bring the board up to speed on many great things that are going on around campus as well as to share some strategic thoughts on the direction we’re moving the University. We spent a good bit of time discussing our upcoming Centennial Celebration for PCO and some of the events surrounding that. It’s great to see alumni involvement in this and many other things we’re doing here at Salus.

This coming Saturday, the Pennsylvania Ear Institute (PEI) will host an Open House from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will be expert talks, tours, and complimentary hearing screenings. If you’re in the neighborhood I encourage you to stop by.

Don’t forget that November 3 is our annual Looking Out forKids Charity Fundraiser at the Hilton Philadelphia City Avenue. Purchase your tickets for the 12^th annual benefit here.

Speaking of Looking Out for Kids, the program has been acknowledged by the Montgomery County School Nurses Association for the important work it has been doing in the Montgomery County schools. Congratulations to the team of Susan Oleszewski, OD ’76, MA who began all of this, as well as to Brandy Scombordi, OD and Cathie Muhr for ensuring the program maintains its momentum.

Finally, it looks like another nice weekend so please take some time to get outside, exercise and enjoy the changing colors and nice crisp temperatures. Be safe and look out for each other.

Mike