Salus College in Elkins Park announced today that Rita Chaiken, AuD 2003, has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor by the college.
Dr. Chaiken and the other four medal recipients will be recognized at the annual recognition reception to be held at Pinecrest Country Club in Lansdale on Sunday, June 2nd at 12:30 p.m.
She has been involved with the university's Osborne College of Audiology (OCA) since its inception in 2000, and was approached in 2001 by the college's founder, George S. Osborn, to supervise the program's second class of students. Requested.
“George saw me lecturing at an Audiology Association (ADA) conference in California and called me a few days later and asked me to teach in the program. I teach in that program,” Dr. Chaiken said.
She eventually became a student in the program and graduated from the bridge program in 2003. I have remained involved with the program ever since, first teaching in the distance learning program and then in the boarding program. He also serves on the OCA Advisory Board and the University's Alumni Association Committee. For her dedication and support, she was named the Alumni Association's Audiology Alumni of the Year in 2016.
A native of Miami, Dr. Chaiken earned his Bachelor of Science degree in speech-language pathology and audiology from Syracuse University in 1973. He completed his two years at Emory University where he earned a Master of Medicine degree in both Clinical Audiology and Deaf Education. later. She then completed a clinical fellowship with Fulton County Schools in Atlanta, where she became the district's first audiologist.
As the first audiologist in the Fulton County, Georgia public school system, Dr. Chaiken established two audiology clinics and educated administrators, teachers, and parents about the importance of pediatric hearing testing.
After six years in educational audiology, she accepted a position as a regional manager for a major hearing aid manufacturer where she learned about and taught others about hearing, hearing aid supply, and the audiology business. Constant travel led her to eventually open her own private practice. During this time, she attended an interactive earwax management workshop at the Audiology Supply Academy (now the Academy of Audiology Physicians – ADA) annual meeting, which led her down another path in the audiology profession: education.
Dr. Chaiken was drawn to earwax management, the cleaning of patients' ears, and became a member of the ADA's earwax management team in 1994, becoming program coordinator four years later.
“Everyone has to have a passion, and mine is earwax,” said Dr. Chaiken. “My years of experience with the Salus program have allowed me to fine-tune the training and make it a very popular program among audiologists across the country. I hope I can represent Salus well when I teach.”
Currently, Dr. Chaiken travels throughout North America providing interactive earwax management workshops to VA facilities, universities, national/state organizations, audiologists in private practice, and university doctoral candidate programs, for which she has been recognized by the American Hearing Foundation (AFA).
Over the years, the Salus Audiology program has continued to mean a lot to Dr. Chaiken.
“It had a huge impact on my career,” she said. “What’s special about OCA and Salus is that the audiology program is so unique, which is why I want to support it in so many ways.”
Dr. Chaiken, who still lives in Atlanta, describes himself as “fairly retired.” Although she no longer sees patients, she continues to teach in the university's audiology program and other university programs, conduct workshops, and advocate on behalf of the audiology profession. Her husband is “not fully retired yet, but he will be soon,” and she enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren, who also live in the area.
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Photo: Salus University
