Speaking your mind – Elizabeth Salanik
Elizabeth Salanik graduated with her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Murray State University in 2017, and plans on starting a master’s program in January. She currently works at Barnes Jewish Hospital on their stem cell transplant and cellular therapy floor. Her floor specializes in clinical trials, CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor) therapies, chemotherapy and allogeneic transplants.
While some of the cancer treatments offered cause side effects, those treatments also have the option to put patients into remission when other options have failed. Marcus Hall and his wife Rosie came to Barnes Jewish Hospital for just that reason. During his stay, however, Hall became very sick.
“While performing my morning assessment I noticed Marcus was disoriented, anxious, and in pain. He was tachycardic, had labored breathing, his abdomen was distended, he made little to no urine overnight, his fluid was overloaded and he had jaundice,” said Salanik. “I reviewed his labs and obtained an ABG which showed more abnormalities. His creatinine and liver enzymes were elevated. His lactate was elevated. Sodium was low, pH was low. Basically nothing was normal.”
Salanik called her charge nurse and resident physician into the room and asked them to send Hall to intensive care. The physician wanted to wait until rounds to ask the advice of the other physicians on the floor, but that was hours away.
“I politely, that’s the key word, said, ‘No, he needs to go now, we can’t solve these problems here,’” said Salanik. “I advocated for Marcus because he needed intensive care and could not speak up for himself. The physician agreed and Marcus was transferred.”
Hall stayed in intensive care for about a week and in the hospital for over 75 days. His last bone marrow biopsy showed remission and Hall is now MRD (minimal residual disease) negative and was able to walk out of the hospital alongside his wife, Rosie.
“I believe Elizabeth’s tenacity put me in the right hands faster and kept my dialysis treatments to just a few days. Who knows where I would have been if they waited another three or four hours,” said Hall. “Here’s to Elizabeth…my conscientious objector. I’ll never forget her story.”
Salanik knew she wanted to work in a bone marrow transplant unit after she was assigned to one at St. Jude during her pediatric clinical. She was recently accepted into the Research Fellowship at Barnes Jewish Hospital and plans to continue her research in palliative care.
When asked what advice she had for students Salanik said, “Never be afraid to speak up for what is right. Especially if it can effect someone else’s life. Also, be proud of yourself! Not everyone can do what we do.”
If you would like to help patients like Marcus Hall please consider donating blood, platelets, or plasma. You can learn more about the stem cell transplant and cellular therapy processes through the American Cancer Society, cancer.org/, or Be the Match, bethematch.org/.
Pictured are Elizabeth Salanik and Marcus Hall.
Professional kitchen inspection – Josie Bryant
Join us as we congratulate Josie Bryant on the results of the recent Oakley Dining Room inspection. The September 19 Food Establishment Inspection was passed with flying colors – 100 percent.
Bryant will continue to plan and work towards having a great lineup of meals in the Oakley Dining Room next spring, starting March 25. Keep an eye out for available reservations for spring 2020.
Information on the lunches offered at the Oakley Dining Room can be found at murraystate.edu/OakleyDiningRoom.
Images below are of different courses offered at Oakley lunches.
Dr. Jessica Naber and Dr. Amy Hale
Join us as we congratulate Dr. Jessica Naber, associate professor, and Dr. Amy Hale, spring 2019 Murray State University DNP family nurse practitioner graduate, on the acceptance of their manuscript, “A nursing study abroad experience in the Blue Zone of Sardinia, Italy: A case study of the program and development” into the Journal of Comprehensive Nursing Research and Care 4(146).
Pictured are Dr. Naber (left) and Dr. Hale (right).
Dr. Candace Alvey
Help us welcome Dr. Candace Alvey as she joins the faculty at Murray State University. Dr. Alvey teaches in the occupational therapy program at Murray State on the Paducah campus. She has taught courses in neuroscience, neurological evaluation and intervention, media and modalities I, foundations I & II, occupational development, and psychosocial evaluation and intervention.
“Within the classroom I try to incorporate a hands on style using non-traditional methods to convey information to my students,” said Dr. Alvey. “An example is the celebration of ‘International Talk like a Pirate Day,’ where students were required to wear an eye patch and a hook throughout classroom activities in order to better understand and appreciate disabilities their future patients may have. This gives them an idea of how the different areas of the brain work. Students were required to participate in various pirate jobs, such as navigation, and had to determine which part of the brain was being utilized for those tasks.”
Teaching is actually Dr. Alvey’s third career. Prior to teaching, she worked as an occupational therapist in The Medical Center at Scottsville, Kentucky in their long-term care facility for almost eight years. Before that she was a dance teacher and coached gymnastics for over 30 years.
Dr. Alvey received her associate’s degree from Owensboro Community and Technical College in 2006, her bachelor’s degree in 2009, and her master’s degree in occupational therapy in 2010, both from the University of Southern Indiana, and her doctorate in occupational therapy in 2018 from Eastern Kentucky University.
Her capstone research covered oral care in long-term care and the effects of poor oral hygiene on the health of older adults in this setting. Other areas she has researched include: continued research in oral care for the geriatric population to increase health and wellbeing by way of staff education programs; the interview process in determining acceptance into master level occupational therapy program from the perspective of both the program and the applicant; innovative teaching and learning strategies in the classroom; and gardening for dementia.
Dr. Alvey has two sons, Ross and Josiah. Ross lives in New Jersey and is an audio engineer and a collage artist. Josiah is married with two children, Liam and Scarlett. When not preparing for class or teaching, she coaches gymnastics and is a nationally rated competitive judging official. During the weekends Dr. Alvey travels around the country judging collegiate gymnastics, and even had the honor of judging the Southeastern (SEC) conference meet for the last two years, as well as assisting at the elite U.S. championships this past July. She recently attained her elite compulsory rating.
Caroline Szczepaniak
Join us as we welcome Caroline Szczepaniak to the Murray State University faculty this semester. Szczepaniak graduated from Murray State with her bachelor’s in nursing in 2011, studied abroad in Austria in 2010, and received her master’s in community and public health nursing in 2018 from the University of North Carolina Charlotte.
“I spent most of my time researching LGBTQ+ health while obtaining my master’s degree. Learning how to best take care of my community is very important to me. There are still many deficits in LGBTQ+ health that require research for best practices,” said Szczepaniak. “I continue my research through articles and by engaging with local communities in my free time. I am also interested in researching new methods of teaching and testing to best prepare students for the NCLEX, their future success as nurses, and methods to help avoid burnout.”
Before starting at Murray State Szczepaniak worked in geriatrics, a hospice inpatient unit, hospice home care, a medical surgical hospital, as a staff development coordinator, and interned under a lab simulation coordinator. As a simulation coordinator intern she taught and created course material for a lab simulation focused on cultural competency, reflection and critical thinking. She currently teaches the nursing fundamentals course along with Dr. Nancy Armstrong at Murray State.
Szczepaniak has two little girls, ages six and seven, with a hunger and drive for life; four cats, one of whom she adopted as a Murray State student; and a co-parent she met at Murray State. Their shoes are on the Shoe Tree in the quad. In her free time she enjoys exploring the surrounding areas, especially farmer’s markets and festivals, and learning more about Murray.
More information about the Shoe Tree and other Murray State traditions can be found at murraystate.edu/traditions.
Austin Vitt
Austin Vitt graduated with his bachelor’s degree in exercise science in 2018, and is now pursuing a master’s degree in nutrition at Murray State University. He currently works at the Murray Calloway County Hospital Center for Health and Wellness as their fitness supervisor. Vitt is also a certified exercise physiologist from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and a certified personal trainer from ACE Fitness.
“Exercise and health have been passions of mine for a long time,” said Vitt. “My undergraduate degree in exercise science was crucial for the success I’ve had in my field, but you can only do so much with exercise alone. That’s why I chose to pursue my master’s degree in nutrition. Having a deeper understanding of nutrition will allow me to help my clients reach their goals by accounting for two crucial variables, exercise and diet.”
Vitt expects to complete his master’s degree in fall, 2020. After completing his master’s degree Vitt intends to become a credentialed nutritionist to further help his clients. He is also working on becoming a certificated strength and conditioning specialist.
“I chose to pursue a graduate degree in nutrition because of the important role nutrition plays in our lives. With an understanding of nutrition you can help family, friends, even complete strangers, stay healthy, live longer and reach their goals,” said Vitt. “Dr. Stanczyk was such a phenomenal teacher during my time as an undergrad. I learned a lot in her nutrition classes and enjoyed the material immensely. I knew back then I wanted to pursue a degree in nutrition.”
Vitt has a younger sister who graduates in December. In his free time he enjoys lifting weights, flying drones and woodworking.