April 2015 
In This Issue
Reunion 2015
Student Veteran Screening Pilot
Salus OCA at AudiologyNOW!

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_______________________
 
WE SALUTE
The Salus community extends its sincere
congratulations to the following members:

 

Dr. Victor H. Bray, dean, Osborne College of Audiology, and Dr. Jonette Owen, assistant dean for the Practice and Assessment of Audiologic Medicine, who presented "How many AuDs Does It Take To Graduate an AuD?" at the American Academy of Audiology's annual AudiologyNOW! conference in San Antonio, TX.

 

Robert DiSogra, AuD '03,  adjunct, who

presented Over-the-counter tinnitus relief products and Ear Canal Anatomy and Pathology at the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) in San Antonio, TX.

 

Sallyann Geiss, PhD, CCC-SLP, assistant professor, and Bob Serianni, MS, CCC-SLP, clinical director, Speech-Language Pathology program, who presented "Interprofessional Education: It's Not About You" at the Pennsylvania Speech-Language Hearing Association (PSHA) conference last month.

 

  

The University community extends its sincere condolences to the following members:

 

Dr. John Fitzgerald, medical director and associate director, Physician Assistant program, on the passing of his father, Mr. John J. Fitzgerald, Jr.

 

The family of retired PCO employee, Joan Flanigan, who passed away on April 11.

________________

COMMENCEMENT SPRING 2015

The University's Spring 2015 commencement will be held at 2:00 p.m.
on Friday, May 22 
at the 
Kimmel Center for 
the Performing Arts 
in Philadelphia.

_______________
  
REMINDER!

At press time, there were still 20
"I Care" Raffle tickets available! 
Buy a ticket (one of only 450 = great odds)
for a chance to support Salus scholarship programs and win $10,000!

For more information call 215.780.1393.

 

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

TO OUR

SINGAPORE

 GRADUATES!

 

On April 29, fifteen Salus University international students will receive their Master of Science in Clinical Optometry (MSCO) degrees in Singapore, Malaysia.

Welcome to our newest Salus alumni!
                            

Alumni Weekend Festivities

by Kenneth Savitski, OD '87

 

Dear Fellow Alumni,

All alumni and their family and friends are invited to our 2015 annual alumni weekend.  The alumni weekend is a great time to renew past acquaintances and meet old fr iends and fellow alumni from all of the University's degree programs.  This year, by popular demand, we have moved the Saturday evening dinner to center city Philadelphia, where we will enjoy great company and good food at the Chart House restaurant on the Delaware River.

    It's a full weekend of activities that includes continuing  and interprofessional education. Saturday morning and afternoon there will be tours of the Elkins Park campus that include the Pennsylvania Ear Institute and the new Speech-Language Institute, as well as tours of The "new" Eye Institute in Oak Lane, which was completely renovated from 2011-2013.

   Continuing education for all professions will be offered on Saturday in Elkins Park.  Do you need your Act 31 credits? Salus will offer this course on Saturday morning, with an afternoon CE, "Interdisciplinary Care in Today's Healthcare Environment," presented by the University's Interprofessional Education Committee. An optometry-specific program (Joseph Toland Excellence in Education CE) will be offered on Sunday.

    On Saturday evening, the Alumni Association annual awards will be presented to three outstanding alumni during our dinner at the Chart House. Along with my fellow Alumni Association Board members, my wife Pam and I look forward to greeting all attendees.

(Reunion details)

    The featured alumni hotel is the Society Hill Sheraton, located in that historic section of Philadelphia.  This is one - if not my favorite - sections of the city.  There are many tours available for sightseeing and, for you late night folks, there are ghost tours and a nearby casino.  Only a few blocks away, the Penn's Landing vicinity is where the Chart House restaurant is found.  Let's not forget the many outstanding eateries and taverns near the hotel! The Sheraton hotel has valet parking and an indoor pool, along with a restaurant/bar area.

    Please consider attending this year's reunion activities. It would be great to see you and I know that it will be a memorable weekend for all of us.                                 

LOFK Donor Reception

The University hosted a Looking Out for Kids donor recognition reception at the Elmwood Park Zoo last week. Among the honored guests were Councilwoman Mimi De Souza, corporate donors, the school nurses of the Norristown Area School District and two elementary students who had benefitted from the program.

      O
riginally begun in Philadelphia, LOFK was founded seven years ago by University chief of staff, Dr. Susan Oleszewski, former executive director and vice president for patient care at The Eye Institute. The program's intent is to raise money to provide underinsured and uninsured students with vision exams and eyeglasses. The program expanded to the Norristown Area School District in 2013 and among the original area supporters were TD Bank, Conicelli Toyota and Tornetta Properties Inc. 

      Pictured above, from left to right, are:  Laurie Conicelli Hammond; Donna Conicelli; Salus president, Dr. Michael H. Mittelman; Dr. Susan Oleszewski; Beth McGuffin of Tornetta Properties, Inc.; Geoffrey Brandon, TD Bank; Karen Conicelli; Dominic Conicelli and Norristown Councilwoman  Mary "Mimi" De Souza.  

Student Veterans Screening Pilot

Pictured above are Class of 2017 audiology students ready for the veterans at Community College of Philadelphia (left to right): Brett Radosti, Jamie Yusupov, Alexis Conte, Amy McGrath.

 

Salus University  recently collaborated on a pilot program that was designed to identify and remove potential barriers to educational success due to undetected problems of vision, hearing and balance.  

    Led by Dr. Karen Hanson, special consultant for program development at Salus, the pilot involved close collaboration of the University with the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) - both rehabilitation and eye care, Montgomery County Community College (MCCC), Community College of Philadelphia (CCP), the VA Vision Center of Excellence and the VA Hearing Center of Excellence.

     The purpose of the project was to make vision, hearing and balance screenings convenient for student veterans in order to eliminate any potential barriers to learning.The community colleges solicited their student veterans while teams of Salus University students and faculty from the optometry and audiology programs performed vision, hearing and balance screenings. These were followed by a consultation with Salus optometry and audiology faculty members, who then directed the veteran to a team of Veterans Administration (VA) staff who were ready to make the appropriate appointments to ensure that the veteran received the care he/she required.

       For the more than forty veterans who participated, this was an opportunity for them to connect with the VA at a time and place that met their needs and schedules, and they expressed their appreciation of that fact to the students, doctors, VA and community college staff who participated.

       Salus president, Dr. Michael H. Mittelman, visited the CCP screenings and had an opportunity to speak with CCP organizers and veterans, as well as Salus faculty and students. Provost Janice Scharre and Dr.Victor H. Bray, dean of the University's Osborne College of Audiology, visited the MCCC project site.

       Present at both campus screenings and an integral part of the pilot team, Dr. Felix Barker, associate director for research at the Vision Center for Excellence and Salus professor emeritus, said, "I think this pilot was a huge success because it identified veterans needing service for neurosensory problems that can impede reintegration and it did so in a uniquely multidisciplinary proactive way." He applauded the collaboration with the "educational arena afforded by the community college campus' environments" as "an ideal opportunity to 'connect' with veterans who may benefit from key services and support."

       Keiran Quinn, a former US Navy petty officer, offered the following opinion, "This is a great program because you really feel like you're being taken care of.  It was sometimes difficult to be cared for on the ship because the time frames the medical center was open rarely synced up with my schedule," he said. "Sometimes we, as veterans, feel like healthcare is too complicated to get. The fact that you're bringing care directly to us streamlines the process and is very convenient."

        Dr. Hanson has been invited to a debriefing with the Department of Defense and the VA Vision Center of Excellence at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, DC. It is hoped that this pilot can evolve into a national program. 

Salus OCA at AudiologyNOW!

Faculty and students from the University's Osborne College of Audiology attended the American Academy of Audiology's annual AudiologyNOW! conference in San Antonio last month. AudiologyNOW! is the world's largest gathering of audiologists and this annual meeting provides participants with the opportunity to attend educational sessions, explore the latest in hearing technology, and network with colleagues from around the world. The  alumni reception for Salus OCA graduates was attended by President and Mrs. Mittelman.