Spring 10 MAC Newsletter

T H E

U N I V E R S I T Y

O F

S C R A N T O N

Medical Alumni S P R I N G 2 01 0

N E W S L E T T E R

Connections Between Ignatian Spirituality and Medical Practice By: F. Dennis Dawgert, M.D. ‘68

I

n 1993, I met Rev. George Schemel, S.J. Initially, he helped my practice develop a business model, a mission statement and a series of goals and plans based on his program “Ignatian Spirituality for Corporate and Executive Persons.” With this introduction to some of the ideas of Ignatius, I came to Father Schemel for spiritual direction and an Annotation 19 Retreat, which is the Spiritual Exercises performed in the everyday world.

Father Schemel helped me discover many connections between Ignatian Spirituality and medical practice.

First, God loves me uniquely. God loves all mankind but God has a special relationship with each and every person.

Second, this love is revealed to me in the many gifts God bestows on me. These can be as simple as a cool drink or a hot shower after a hard day, to more sublime gifts of loving families, intelligence, health and the skills to practice medicine.

Third, awareness of how I am “gifted” by God leads to gratitude and thanksgiving for all these gifts. If I look honestly at my “being gifted,” I soon become aware of a growing sense of humility.

I recall running the Steamtown Marathon. At a point on the course, runners come up a big hill and at the crest of that hill is a contingent of patients from St. Joseph’s Center. They are in wheelchairs and most are profoundly developmentally delayed. I was struck that I no more deserved to be running by them than they deserved to be in wheelchairs. The humbling thought that neither they nor I did anything to merit our respective roles was a dramatic reminder not to think that I was better or more deserving than anyone else.

Fourth, Ignatius stresses Discernment of Spirits. In Discernment, the key points are: awareness of what is happening, understanding why, and taking action to avoid what leads us away from God or to pursue what leads us closer to God. How do these help me in medical practice?

My partner, Thomas Zukoski, M.D. ’68, summed up these concepts succinctly when he said that the greatest joy in practice was, “finding the face of God every time I open the door.”

His wisdom addresses God’s unique love for each and every one of His creatures. For their uniqueness and individual gifts, the need to be aware that what we say and do in every patient encounter can enhance or detract from a person’s sense of their own well-being.

It is important to be aware and understand that patients come to us when they are sick. It is at this time that they are frightened, confused, worried and afraid of losing control. They are incredibly vulnerable. Think of the apostles in the calming of the storm parable.

We have the opportunity to be the “face of God” to our patients in their time of need for comfort, consolation and healing.

Spirituality is how we see and find God in our lives. Medicine brings us close to people who need care, healing, comfort. These gifts are what the God of the Hebrew bible and Jesus in the Christian bible bring to us. The relationship and closeness of Spirituality and Medicine is definitely there. As we become more aware of the opportunity for growth in our relationship with God by doing medicine, we can become better medical professionals.

We can more fully live out the call to love, serve and know God.X

Unified Science Center Quick Facts

Also In This Issue MEDICAL ALUMNI IN HAITI

“

While we were a team of only three people-we had the strength of hundreds of hearts and minds.

LEAHY CLINIC Serving the Community and Providing Health Education University of Scranton alumnus Dr. Lewis C. Druffner, M.D. ’55 and University student Julia Haddon ’10 pause for a picture. The Leahy Community Health and Family Center gives students and volunteers the opportunity to serve the community in an environment of interactive learning.

Kenbe Fem, Haiti: Searching for sustainability in a broken world.

Pamela Q. Taffera, D.O., M.B.A. ‘02

Dr. Jones sorts

W

e were a team of only three physicians in our recent travels to Haiti, but we were bolstered by the amazing strength and passion of The University of Scranton. When the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit January 12th, 2010, I sat on my living room floor sorting through supplies for the Medical Alumni Council’s annual medical mission trip to Haiti. As CNN offered overwhelming and devastating inspiration, I silently unpacked the children’s toys and toothbrushes I had intended to bring on the annual MAC medical mission, and replaced them with stock bottles of antibiotics and wound care equipment. At that moment, every member of our team was more determined than ever to become part of the rescue and recovery efforts. While the urgent mobilization of our team took over a week, we caught glimpses of familiar faces on television and received snippets of information in e-mails from Fr. Rick Frechette H’07, St. Damian’s Hospital Director, doctor and priest. Each headline frustrated us more; Port au Prince was in desperate need of medical personnel and Dr. Pam Taffera and Dr. Richard Bevilacqua provide emergency medical care to an earthquake victim. supplies, yet our team simply could not find a way into the country. The instability in Haiti meant that it was no longer a safe environment to bring our Scranton students, so the students channeled their disappointment into supportive energy, ensuring to triage and transport critically ill and injured patients to the we were prepared and well supplied for our task at hand. Alumni hospital, deliver supplies, and care for others as best we could and community physicians generously donated mountains of with limited resources. Dr. Richard Bevilacqua, ’83 maxillofacial supplies. The students coordinated and organized supplies in surgeon from Hartford Connecticut, played a critical role in the military-style duffle bags donated by the R.O.T.C. Scranton operating suites for trauma surgery. Four Fulbright Scholar Chris Molitoris operating rooms were functioning for ’08 connected with a fellow approximately 20 hours a day, providing Fulbright Scholar whose family 20-25 surgeries daily (mostly amputations). business, The Colorado Yurt Our hearts ached as we cared for septic Company, specializes in tents. and amputated patients, some of whom Five specially constructed Yurt were the only surviving members of their tents were flown across the families. Multiple times daily throughout country to us for shelter, the corridors of the hospital you could hear allowing us to leave them Haitian chants and wails as families keened behind as Haitian homes. and mourned the death of a loved one.

Lynn Andres ’89 of the Alumni Contrastingly, the Haitian spirit of prayer Relations Office and Dr. Mary Students and medical alumni pack donated supplies for the trip. and song filled the air everyday.

Engel, University Director In a report from Father Rick, “Thirty Days of Fellowship Programs and Later,” on February 12, he reported that life Medical School Placement, in Haiti is returning to a state of equilibrium. One month after the orchestrated details and support from every angle. While we earthquake passed, a traditional Catholic Mass of Remembrance were a team of only 3, we had the strength of hundreds of of the 200,000 dead was celebrated in parishes throughout the hearts and minds. devastated country. President Preval declared February 12th a day In our short time in Haiti we fulfilled many roles. Dr. Chris of national fast and began three days of national mourning. Father Jones ’02, geriatrics fellow at Duke University, and I served as Rick further reports there are an estimated 20,000 Haitians, adults physicians for makeshift spinal cord injury and paralysis units, and children alike, who have suffered amputations or have needed as well as adult and pediatric intensive care units. We went out orthopedic hardware. The teams in Haiti are creating a center for to the tent cities and made shift clinics in the community daily

Mark your calendar Fr. Rick Frechette, C.P. celebrates daily Mass in the damaged chapel.

s through medical supplies.

The Executive Committee of the Medical Alumni Council will host a reception for our alumni in medical school and alumni medical professionals in the Philadelphia area.

Join us Saturday, April 24th from 3:30 to 5:30 pm in the Annenburg Conference Center at Lankenau Hospital.

TH E U N IV SI TY O F SC

Please send your submissions to: Lynn King Andres ’89, Assistant Director of Alumni Relations at Lynn.Andres@scranton.edu

N

Submission requirements: Articles with photo – Up to 500 words.

Articles without photo – Up to 550 words.

Professional announcements – Up to 50 words.

TO

Members of the Medical Alumni Council are invited to submit articles and professional announcements for consideration.

N

Request for Submissions

RA

mass production of prostheses. At St. Damien’s hospital, they have begun to rebuild the chapel, perimeter wall and tower. The teams continue to distribute food and medical supplies, as well as educational materials in the interest of resuming schooling in tents as soon as possible.

Everyday in Haiti, and around the world, prayers are heard as the names of the dead and missing are gathered in the rubble. And every day, the Haitians stand up and rebuild. As the rainy season ensues and the next stages of the disaster are realized (i.e. diarrheal diseases and mosquito borne infections) Haiti desperately needs sustainability in volunteers and supplies in order to address the needs of this broken country. To read Father Rick’s full report, go to www.nph.org and click on “Thirty Days Later.”

The University of Scranton Medical Alumni Council plans to coordinate multiple teams to send to Haiti in the coming months in support of Father Rick Frechette’s many programs. These trips will include primary care physicians, anesthesiologists, and surgeons. We are in special need of anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists. Thank you to those who have already forwarded their information. If you are interested in one of our trips, please forward your name, specialty, and pertinent information to Dr. Rich Bevilacqua at ctmaxillofacial@sbcglobal.net.

With deepest gratitude for supplies already donated, we humbly ask for continued support and donations from our Alumni. If you wish to donate medical supplies please email pamelataffera@hotmail.com.

Kenbe fem, Haiti. X

ER

Register at www.scranton.edu/alumnievents or call 1-800-SCRANTON.

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 520 Scranton, PA

800 Linden Street U Scranton, PA 18510

Address Service Requested

Leahy Community Health and Family Center Serves Community and Provides Health Education

T

he Leahy Community Health and Family Center (LCHFC) at The University of Scranton is grounded in the Jesuit tradition of cura personalis, Latin for “care for the whole person,” seeking to promote personal development and holistic health through education. Named for the late Edward R. Leahy Jr., its mission is to mobilize the expertise and resources of The University of Scranton’s Panuska College of Professional Studies (PCPS) in response to compelling community needs. By interfacing with the Scranton and Lackawanna community, promoting civic engagement and service opportunities for students, faculty and professional staff, the LCHFC acts as a “learning laboratory” where faculty and professional staff can teach students, while providing less fortunate members of our community with health services to which they otherwise would not have access.

The Leahy Community Health and Family Center (LCHFC) is a 4,000 square-foot facility located on the lower level of McGurrin Hall. Its Kressler Court entrance is just steps from Scranton’s Courthouse Square, with private access to the public.

It is equipped with four examination and counseling rooms, an observation/play room/multi-media classroom and a technologically advanced seminar room.

University of Scranton alumni Andrea Mantione, MSN, CRNP ’99 and Maria Lucia Vital ’11 serve as Director and Bilingual Assistant. Debra Pellegrino, Ed.D, Dean of the Panuska College of Professional Studies (PCPS), remarked that Ms. Mantione and Ms. Vital are the critical components that unite our faculty and students with the Lackawanna County community by promoting our Jesuit and Catholic mission while striving for academic excellence in the Center’s multi clinics of medicine, counseling, nutrition and physical therapy.

Under the leadership of Dr. Pellegrino and Ms. Mantione, the LCHFC offers students opportunities found on just a few University campuses. The Center currently administers the PeaceMakers Afterschool program, University of Success, Strong Bones exercise program, and clinics for Counseling, Physical Therapy and Nutrition. A hallmark project is The Edward R. Leahy, Jr. Center Clinic for the Uninsured, a collaborative project between The University of Scranton and the Lackawanna Medical Society.

The Leahy Clinic provides basic diagnostics and treatment in an urgent care setting, conducts physical exams, administers vaccinations, and provides health education to Lackawanna County residents with no medical insurance. Dr. Gregory Borowski, M.D., serves as Medical Director and has been instrumental in the sustainability of the project. This free walk-in clinic is open to the public on Thursday evenings and is staffed by volunteer internal medicine and family practice physicians, nurse practitioners and nurses from the community, along with specialties who offer services in their offices to Leahy Clinic clients as pro-bono referrals. Many supporters are graduates of The University of Scranton. These volunteer providers and PCPS professional staff mentor premed, prehealth profession students and facilitate undergraduate and graduate level nursing students.

In addition, undergraduate students from various majors have an opportunity to work alongside staff performing patient intakes, filing charts, assisting clients with follow up care, and serving as medical translators for Spanish and Portuguese speaking clients.

The Leahy Clinic extends its genuine gratitude to the volunteer and off-site referral physicians who are alumni of the University, as well as those who have contributed in other ways to the success of this clinic. If you are interested in learning about volunteer opportunities, call 570-941-6112.