News about Applied Health

Twenty-two Penn College students who enjoy volunteering their time – including members of student organizations and the Wildcat women’s basketball team – gathered with Shannon L. Skaluba, student organization specialist, in CC Commons on Saturday to write heartfelt messages of gratitude in nearly 450 holiday cards for military personnel. The cards were donated by Sarah R. Yoder, coordinator of admissions operations, and her husband, Adam J., an industrial technology specialist with Workforce Development; as well as Chet Beaver, coordinator of veteran and military services; and Skaluba.

The cards will be distributed with the help of Sarah, who has worked with the United Soldiers and Sailors of America program for the last several years. Her brother, Michael Shott, is a first lieutenant in the Army on active duty, currently serving stateside following a recent deployment.

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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.

A Pennsylvania College of Technology alumnus, now senior clinical engineering director for UPMC in the Susquehanna region, collaborated with a DuBois-based provider of pre-owned medical equipment to place highly valued technology into the hands of health science students.

James R. Fedele facilitated the donation of a GE Medical Systems C-Arm and workstation through a partnership with KMA Remarketing Corp. The technology will afford students the opportunity to learn through hands-on, simulated experiences in the instructional setting, which will increase their efficiency in clinical operating rooms.

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From the Spring 2019 Penn College Magazine: Personal health, passion and empathy are key for employees in health and human services professions to effectively care for others. Read Helping and Healing.

The School of Nursing & Health Sciences at Pennsylvania College of Technology held a multifaceted celebration on Oct. 4 by hosting an open house of its facilities and welcoming accomplished alumni, who reflected on how their education has shaped their careers.

“We come together … to celebrate the positive impact all 10 of our nursing and health sciences programs have on our students’ lives, the professions in which they work, and the communities they serve,” said Sandra L. Richmond, dean of nursing and health sciences.

Of particular significance during the celebration was a change to the school’s name: from the School of Health Sciences to the School of Nursing & Health Sciences, and the anniversaries of the occupational therapy assistant program, whose first students graduated 30 years ago, and the physician assistant program, which graduated its first students 20 years ago.

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Around 250 students in the School of Health Sciences – an academic division that spans 11 distinct health care and allied health fields – are participating this week in a series of hands-on emergency health simulations. The school’s fourth annual Interdisciplinary Professional Event involves 24 student teams, each made up of a cross section of health disciplines, discussing and observing one another’s role in their assigned case. Students in the physician assistant major played roles of patients, whose health problems ranged from an allergic reaction to Novocain in the Dental Hygiene Clinic to a loss of consciousness in the Keystone Dining Room, and surgeries to replace hips and remove gallbladders. As “patients” moved through the health care system, they moved, with their observers, from lab to lab in the Breuder Advanced Technology & Health Sciences Center. The purpose of the experience is to prepare the students to deliberatively work together as patients interact with each of them during their health care experience, with an ultimate goal to improve patient care. Also involved were 23 staff and faculty from the school, who planned and managed the event and led groups through their simulations on Tuesday and Thursday.

Pennsylvania College of Technology is renowned for its “degrees that work,” and for those needing additional flexibility to attain a degree from the college, online options abound.

Online learning at Penn College offers more choices to students who are balancing work and family responsibilities. The offerings feature the same academic rigor and accreditation as on-campus programs, but there is no requirement to ever attend class on the campus in Williamsport. Online students may choose to enroll full time or part time.

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Tina M. Evans, an associate professor of applied health studies, delivered this year’s David London My Last Words lecture Tuesday night, providing her Penn’s Inn audience with a dozen deceptively simple words that are profoundly powerful enough to change lives: “I love you,” “I forgive you,” “Please forgive me,” “Thank you” and “Goodbye.” The series – which asks each nominated speaker to share purportedly parting thoughts – memorializes London, an associate professor of speech communication/composition who died in May 2008.
Photos by Tia G. La, student photographer

Tina M. Evans, an associate professor of applied health studies at Pennsylvania College of Technology, will present this year’s David London My Last Words lecture.

Penn College’s My Last Words Lecture Series challenges each year’s selected faculty member to offer thoughts to the community as if they know it was their last opportunity to share insight and offer inspiration. Speakers are nominated by students and alumni.

Evans’ talk is titled “12 Words That Will Change Your Life.” The lecture is scheduled at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27, in Penn’s Inn, on the second floor of the Bush Campus Center. It is free and open to the community.

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Around 250 students and employees from the School of Health Sciences participated in three days’ worth of emergency simulations on campus this week. In its third year, the exercise is known as the Interdisciplinary Professional Event and provides a unique opportunity for students and faculty from different majors within the School of Health Sciences to collaboratively care for patients.

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As part of an event that spanned northeastern and northcentral Pennsylvania and involved more than 1,000 students at various locations across the region, the sixth annual Collaborative Care Summit convened at Penn College on Wednesday. Nineteen dedicated  faculty/staff facilitators from a variety of health professions, including physicians, led discussions in the Bush Campus Center among students from several colleges and universities who are pursuing studies in a wide range of health disciplines. The Collaborative Care Summit is arranged by the Northeastern/Central Pennsylvania Interprofessional Education Coalition – of which Sharon K. Waters, associate dean of health sciences, is a member. Waters coordinated the Penn College event, and co-presented the opening session with Dr. Keith Shenberger, Susquehanna Health TCMC, which brought together about 100 students from Penn College, Lock Haven University, Wilkes University and The Commonwealth Medical College. The students participated in roundtable discussions of a medical case, learning from one another how each discipline contributes to a patient’s care. “The goal of interprofessional learning is to prepare all health professions students for deliberatively working together, with the goal of building a safer and better patient-centered and community-orientated health care system,” Waters explained. “It was impressive to hear what each student contributed to the interprofessional discussion and rewarding to know our students are being prepared to work  as a collaborative team toward quality patient care.” Student participants represented 10 professions, from paramedic to pharmacy to medicine to nursing. Simultaneous events were held in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre at Marywood University, The Commonwealth Medical College, The University of Scranton, Kings College and Misericordia University.

The creative work of a Pennsylvania College of Technology student captured the People’s Choice award at the close of “100 Works! – The Centennial Exhibit” at The Gallery at Penn College.

Ronni N. Warner, a junior enrolled in pre-applied health studies, won the honor for her work, “Traveling Through Amelia,” a black-and-white print relating to the exhibit’s “Past, Present, Future” theme.

“This photo, which is actually a blend of three digital photos, reminds me of the theme because I can see the past in the sand and the shells, the present by the footprints imprinted on the sand, and the future in the tree reaching toward the light in the sky,” said Warner, a resident of Muncy and native of Bellefonte. “The blend of the photos reminds me of life as a process, and that process includes all of the elements of this theme.”

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Students representing nearly all of the majors in the School of Health Sciences gathered in the Thompson Professional Development Center on Friday to learn from one another as they discussed their differing roles in a medical case. The “tabletop” Interdisciplinary Professional Event is designed to help Penn College students understand the perspectives and duties of others on a medical team in the interest of holistic treatment for their future patients. The school provides its students with a hands-on IPE in the spring, when actors simulate medical emergencies across campus.
Photo by Kim A. Speicher, dental hygiene instructor

An associate professor for applied health studies at Pennsylvania College of Technology co-authored the textbook “Introduction to Health Care Services: Foundations and Challenges,” which was published recently by Jossey-Bass.

Tina M. Evans, department head for applied health studies, collaborated with Bernard J. Healey, a professor at King’s College. The book offers new insights into the most important sectors of the U.S. health care industry and the many challenges the future holds. It aims to help students to appreciate the dilemma confronting policy makers, providers and patients in the struggle to balance cost, quality and access.

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The department head in Pennsylvania College of Technology’s applied health studies major recently returned from England, where she presented new recommendations for palliative care.

Tina M. Evans, associate professor of applied health studies, was lead author for a paper titled “Palliative Care: A global development update, challenges and policy recommendations.” Palliative care serves to treat symptoms, discomfort and stress caused by a serious illness. The paper provided a systematic review of the palliative model of health care and global trends in palliative care, and offered recommendations to improve this specific sector of the medical system.

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