NEPA Vital Signs - Winter Spring 2019 - 5

WINTER/SPRING 2019

Letter from the Editor

A

s students at the University of
Scranton, my great friend Dr. Lori
Williams and I embarked on the
first of many great adventures: Tropical
Biology 101, a class held on the campus of
the Hofstra University marine biology lab
near Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

DONNA M. EGET, D.O.

give use so much more to do also expose
us to greater risk of injury. And of course
the evil in mankind is always watching for
opportunity to take advantage of an unsuspecting stranger in a foreign land.

The risks haven't stopped me, but I'm
more cautious now. I read the travel
The class was held during The U's inter- advisories from the State Department and
session, and we spent two glorious weeks the CDC, and I don't take some of the risks I
one January snorkeling and
learning about the indigenous fish of the Caribbean,
which we captured in nets
and studied in the lab before
releasing back into the sea.
and
We ate native food and
caution when in unfamiliar
learned about the proud culture of the Jamaican people,
lands, we can increase our odds of
who'd just gained freedom
returning home with all our parts
twenty years earlier. We
hiked, and explored and
functioning, and with smiles on
swam in the teal blue waters,
our faces.
and formed the greatest
friendships of our lives.

AS LONG A S W E ALL EX ERCI SE
SOME COMMON SENSE

Out of that trip was born a wanderlust
that still takes me on exciting international
and domestic vacations thirty years later.
My sons boarded their first flight when they
were just six months old. They, too, love
Jamaica, but also Europe, the continental
US, and Alaska. I've taken them snorkeling,
and to my amazement I can identify many
of the descendants of the fish I first saw all
those years ago.

DONNA EGET, D.O., IS A BOARD
CERTIFIED EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN.
SHE IS THE OWNER AND MEDICAL
DIRECTOR OF MEDICUS URGENT
CARE IN DUNMORE.

did years ago. I don't drink too much alcohol,
and I don't go on unauthorized excursions
that take me away from the safety of my
resort or the tourist areas of large cities.
We're all vaccinated, and our prescriptions
are filled before we board a plane. As long
as we all exercise some common sense and
caution when in unfamiliar lands, we can
increase our odds of returning home with
all our parts functioning, and with smiles
on our faces.

I can see changes in the reefs of Jamaica,
though. Tourism and pollution have taken
their toll. Those aren't the only issues the
travelers face. Diseases that weren't of Donna M. Eget, D.O.
concern back then kill visitors and maim Editor
their offspring. The societal advances that NEPA Vital Signs

Be well!

CORRECTION: In the article "The Ins &
Outs of Scoliosis" that appeared in the
Summer/Fall 2018 issue of Vital Signs, we
failed to identify author Dr. Christopher
Henderson, M.D.

N E PA

5

VITAL SIGNS

CHRISTOPHER HENDERSON,
M.D., is an orthopedic spine surgeon
with Coordinated Health Scranton
Orthopedics. He has been in practice at
this location since 2010.
NEPA Vital Signs - Winter Spring 2019

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