News about Nursing & Health Sciences

Penn College’s physician assistant program concluded its celebration of PA Week on Tuesday. PA Week is a nationwide celebration, promoted by the American Academy of PAs (the national professional society for PAs) and the Physician Assistant Education Association.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology’s decision to be one of the few benefited many at its recent in-person Fall Career Fair.

Students and employers alike expressed gratitude for the opportunity to meet en masse for the first time since October 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 230 employers and 1,450 students participated in the daylong event, split between the college’s Field House and Bardo Gymnasium.

“It’s phenomenal,” said Patrick Hutt, service supervisor for Siemens, a global technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, transport and health care. “When you meet someone face to face, you pick up on how they portray themselves, how they react to questions. When doing it virtually, you don’t pick up on that stuff at all, so this is a pleasant experience.”

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Pennsylvania College of Technology’s surgical technology program was granted continuing accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs.

Upon recommendation of the Accreditation Review Council on Education in Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting, the commission found the college’s surgical technology program to be in compliance with all of its accreditation standards and guidelines, with the next comprehensive evaluation to occur in 2031. The approval was granted during the commission’s Sept. 17 meeting.

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Aspen Dental Management Inc. is partnering with Pennsylvania College of Technology to establish a new scholarship that provides two $1,000 awards annually to students in the dental hygiene associate degree major.

The Aspen Dental Scholarship will provide one award each to a student in the first and second years of the program.

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PPL Electric Utilities recently offered a Live Line Electrical Safety Exhibit and demonstration for students and first responders at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

PPL, a Corporate Tomorrow Maker partner of the college, takes its mobile electrical safety exhibit across its service territory to teach first responders, contractors, businesses, school students and the public about the dangers of live wires and how to stay safe around them.

The exhibit is a scaled-down 7,200-volt electrical distribution system that features live electrical wires, utility poles and transformers. It was designed in 2016 by representatives from across PPL Electric Utilities’ operations who met in PPL’s Innovation Lab to brainstorm ways to present the information. PPL provides 100 such demonstrations to more than 10,000 people annually.

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“If a career in a health care setting is your calling, your path to a thriving career starts right here at Penn College,” says dental hygiene student Dacia James, who leads a virtual tour of the School of Nursing & Health Sciences. The Williamsport resident (aided by Ally K. Swartz, a paramedic technician major from Bellefonte, and Alexia O. Zelenevskaya, a dental hygiene student from Ephrata) guides viewers through an 11-minute exploration of paramedic, physician assistant, dental hygiene, nursing, physical therapist assistant, surgical technology, radiography and applied health studies, as well as the school’s newest majors: health science and allied health.

Pennsylvania College of Technology has named Wendie L. Snyder, an alumna with 25 years’ experience in a variety of roles in the health care profession, director of College Health Services.

Snyder, who began her duties Aug. 11, comes to Penn College from Geisinger Health System, where she had been an operations manager for outpatient surgery clinics including dental medicine; oral maxillofacial surgery; vascular surgery; and plastic, reconstructive and cosmetic surgery. She also has served as clinic nurse supervisor for the plastic surgery outpatient clinic at Geisinger and registered nurse manager for the general surgery outpatient clinic at Evangelical Community Hospital, Lewisburg.

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Presidential Student Ambassador Lauryn A. Stauffer is your effusive and illuminating guide to Pennsylvania College of Technology in a newly launched video produced by Public Relations & Marketing. Loaded with fresh footage of renovated labs and popular campus hang spots, the comprehensive tour takes you through main campus, down the road to the Lumley Aviation Center and over the mountain to the Schneebeli Earth Science Center.

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Students in Pennsylvania College of Technology’s physical therapist assistant major put their skills to use by providing video activities for Camp Victory, known as “a special camp for special kids.”

The camp, in Millville, was built for children with diverse needs – those living with chronic health problems, physical or mental disabilities or the aftermath of catastrophic illness.

In a typical summer, the facility is busy hosting camps for a variety of partner groups. This year, those camps are being held virtually.

“Our goal is to bring a little bit of camp fun to the campers at home,” explained Camp Victory Director Kate Stepnick, a 2007 graduate of the college’s bachelor’s degree in human services and restorative justice, then known as applied human services. “We know they are missing camp, and this gives them a way to participate in camp activities even from far away.”

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“Because tomorrow begins today,” Penn College campuses welcomed scores of high school students for six more Pre-College Programs in recent days. (A variety of programs focused on more of the college’s academic majors were held in June.) The past week’s schedule included three new summer offerings – Diesel Truck & Heavy Equipment, Fundamentals of Emergency Response, and Thingamajig Fabricators – joining returning favorites Automotive Restoration; Design, Build & Grow Landscape & Horticulture; and Graphic Design Summer Studio. All told, the college hosted 211 high schoolers for two sessions of overnight camps this season and 40 middle schoolers during two weeks of My Tomorrow day camps.

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Expanding a 50-plus year tradition in providing hands-on education that prepares students for a variety of careers in direct patient care, Pennsylvania College of Technology has added several options for those who wish to work in other high-demand health care-related roles.

A bachelor’s degree in health science (introduced in Fall 2020) and an associate degree in allied health (launching in Fall 2021) deliver a science-rich education, while a new business administration: health care management specialization is available beginning Fall 2021 and provides a strong business core. All prepare students for essential careers in nondirect patient care.

Such roles are vital to the health care industry. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projections for 2019-29 indicate that health care support occupations are among those expected to grow markedly faster than average.

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Retired faculty member Darla B. Logue has established a scholarship for first-generation college students at Pennsylvania College of Technology in honor of retiring President Davie Jane Gilmour.

The James E. and Darla B. Logue Scholarship also honors Darla Logue’s late husband, who taught for 49 years – 39 of them at Penn College – and was the recipient of the institution’s highest teaching honor: the Veronica M. Muzic Master Teacher Award.

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A new video on Penn College’s YouTube channel acquaints viewers with Pamela W. Baker, who balances an ongoing nursing career with educating the next generation of health care heroes. “It’s important to have teachers like Mrs. Baker,” said Kathryn M. “Katie” Faust, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in nursing. “Because when I actually do go out into the clinical field and I’m practicing as a nurse, I feel like she really prepares you for real life.” Baker works as a R.N. in the cardiac recovery wing at Geisinger Medical Center over semester breaks, and being an educator offers a whole new level of flexibility – one that gives her more time with family and her border collie. “I went to school to be a nurse and I can still be a nurse,” said Baker, who will begin the Fall 2021 semester as an associate professor of nursing programs. “And although I was making a career change when I switched to a faculty role, I didn’t have to give up either of my careers.”

A sunset gathering in West Virginia will be scheduled in memory of Pamela L. Starcher, Penn College’s former director of nursing, who died Saturday, June 26. Hired as a full-time faculty member in August 1998, she assumed the director’s position in June 1999 and retired 10 years later.

An obituary in the Parkersburg (W.Va.) News and Sentinel directs that, “In lieu of flowers, Pam would enjoy knowing that one animal was saved at your local shelter, a student nurse can afford to complete a program of study, a dying patient has something soft and pretty to keep them warm, or your most precious gift is shared now and not later – time.”

Arrangements are being handled by Anders-Rice Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Asheville, North Carolina.

Penn College’s “My Tomorrow” program (June 21-24 and June 28-July 1) opened middle-schoolers’ minds to a variety of vocational possibilities through hands-on activities and faculty-led sessions. The initiative, sponsored by the Soars Family, exposed students to a number of prospective careers – such as engineering, business and hospitality, the arts, and health sciences – as well as giving them a jump on charting their paths to success and satisfaction.

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