News about Nursing & Health Sciences

Pennsylvania College of Technology recently presented a DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students to Jada M. Buchanan, of Belleville.

Buchanan is pursuing an associate degree in nursing.

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For the second consecutive year, a Pennsylvania College of Technology student has been selected to the American Society of Radiologic Technologists’ Student to Leadership Development Program.

Elisabeth Shaffer, of Trout Run, began her three-year term on Jan. 1. The 2022 Phi Theta Kappa honor society inductee is pursuing an associate degree in radiography. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from the college in legal assistant-paralegal studies.

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The latest session in People & Culture’s Pride Engagement Series – focused on the physical therapist assistant program at Penn College – was hosted last week by Victoria Hurwitz, director; Sheryl E. Snyder-Everitt and Mary T. Stout, faculty members; and Christine A. Tilburg, clinical director.

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Making another impressive appearance at a time-honored winter venue, Pennsylvania College of Technology delivered a Wildcat’s share of crowd-pleasing activities at the 2023 Pennsylvania Farm Show (Jan. 7-14) in Harrisburg. Visitors could pick the fact-filled brains of faculty, staff and students throughout the week at the Penn College booth in the expansive Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, and were invited to interactively explore academic offerings – only a small sampling of which are shown here – on a rotating daily schedule.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology has appointed Amber L. Morgan to director of nursing, associate degrees.

Morgan, a native of Montoursville, holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice and a Master of Science in Nursing, with an emphasis in informatics, both from Grand Canyon University. She earned two nursing degrees from Penn College: a bachelor’s in 2017 and an associate degree in 2006.

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Bryan M. Bilbao, who earned a combined bachelor’s/master’s degree in physician assistant studies from Pennsylvania College of Technology in August, recently received a Thomas J. Lemley Award for Health Disparities from the Pennsylvania Society of Physician Assistants.

Award winners were announced Nov. 4 at the society’s annual conference in Pittsburgh.

Competitors were asked to address the topic “Trauma-informed care in health care.” In 2020, the Office of the Governor created an initiative to make Pennsylvania a “trauma-informed, healing-centered state.” According to the Center for Health Care Strategies, the goal of trauma-informed care is to help patients overcome the effects of trauma by considering not only “What’s wrong with you?” but “What happened to you?”

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Caroline N. Green, who since graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s in nursing, was recently profiled in Geisinger Medical Center’s internal newsletter for her life-saving reaction to a child in distress. Green summoned medical attention after noticing the youngster’s near-unresponsive state during her clinical assignment at Muncy a year ago, prompting his transport to emergency surgery.

The article is reprinted here with permission.

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Five Pennsylvania College of Technology nursing students and their instructor recently stepped away from the familiar environs of the college’s laboratories and clinical rotations in local health care facilities to help provide care to a medically underserved community in Central America.

The group, in the Global Healthcare Explorations course, traveled to Nueva Santa Rosa, Guatemala, in late October. There, they joined volunteers from Glens Falls (New York) Medical Mission, which operates a one-week medical clinic in the community every six months. Because of COVID-19, the October trip marked the first time the clinic had operated since Fall 2019.

Students explained that, for many in the rural area, health care is difficult to access, so the clinics present a valuable opportunity. They met several patients who had walked miles from the surrounding countryside for their appointments.

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Beginning in December, Pennsylvania College of Technology will no longer require the Test of Essential Academic Skills as a criterion for admission into its pre-licensure nursing education majors.

Those majors are the LPN-to-RN associate degree, nursing associate degree and nursing bachelor’s degree.

Beginning with the college’s December selection period, current pre-nursing students and transfer students will be selected based on two criteria: their math/science grade calculation and cumulative graduation GPA. (Previously, current and transfer students who did not take the TEAS exam were not eligible for selective admission.)

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A leadership contingent from Penn State DuBois sweepingly explored Penn College’s main campus on Tuesday, stopping by … walking by … and being greatly impressed by the variety of academic areas and services that give students a full collegiate experience and develop their workforce readiness. Making the visit from the commonwealth campus, about 110 miles west of Williamsport, were: Jungwoo Ryoo, chancellor and chief academic officer; Alex Gasbarre, chief executive officer of Gasbarre Products Inc., a DuBois-based supplier to the powder metallurgy, particulate materials and thermal processing industries; John P. Brennan, director of continuing and community education; and Bradley W. Lashinsky, program director, North Central PA LaunchBox at the DuBois campus.

“Anytime we can learn from one another, and find mutually beneficial opportunities for our students and industry, is a good day,” said President Michael J. Reed, who met Ryoo several weeks ago and bolstered that connection during Tuesday’s visit. “There is much to discuss about our common goals – and ways in which to achieve them – and we welcome the ongoing collaboration.”

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As part of Penn College’s “Give Thanks, Paw It Forward” campaign, an annual expression of deep and widespread appreciation, College Relations is sharing a week’s worth of “Meet the Makers” profiles that showcase students’ gratitude for their life-changing campus experiences. The pre-Thanksgiving series begins with Bryan M. Bilbao, among the first to graduate from the School of Nursing & Health Sciences with a Combined Bachelor/Master of Science degree in physician assistant studies. “Penn College reinvigorated in me that all good things come with hard work and dedication,” says Bilbao, the student speaker at August commencement, whose popular YouTube video advises caregivers on how to treat patients better. He is an emergency medicine physician assistant with ApolloMD, working in the emergency rooms of Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, Regional Hospital of Scranton and Moses Taylor Hospital.

The Penn College student chapter of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association (SADHA) sponsored a “Pink Out” on Wednesday in the college’s Dental Hygiene Clinic, in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

All of the dental hygiene program’s students and faculty were encouraged to wear pink gowns and masks in the clinic.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, other than skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women. Men also get breast cancer, but it is not very common (about 1% of cases diagnosed in the U.S.), according to the CDC.

Photos by Shawn A. Kiser, director of dental hygiene

Free dental care – including oral screenings, sealants and education – is available to children ages 7 to 15 on Saturday, Nov. 5, in the Pennsylvania College of Technology Dental Hygiene Clinic.

The event will take place from 9 a.m. to noon. The college’s Dental Hygiene Clinic is on the second floor in the west wing of the Advanced Technology & Health Sciences Center.

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Students pursuing associate degrees in health care majors have the opportunity to concurrently enroll in bachelor’s degree coursework in one of three degree-completion majors at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Penn College’s new concurrent enrollment program allows students in health care-related majors at Penn College or other accredited institutions to gain a head start toward a bachelor’s completion degree by taking up to two online courses (six credits) per semester during their last year of study toward an associate degree.

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October is National Physical Therapy Month, and Pennsylvania College of Technology’s physical therapist assistant program has been celebrating through service.

As part of UPMC’s first Community Block Party, the students were invited to provide family-friendly activities to promote health and wellness.

“Our students were excited to say ‘Yes’ to this event,” said Christine A. Tilburg, clinical director of the college’s physical therapist assistant program. “They created two obstacle courses incorporating concepts they learned thus far in the PTA curriculum. One course was geared toward children, the other toward adults and children.”

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