Yvonne Troiani Sweeney\u201978 always had passion for the well-being of her patients. She dedicated her life to her nursing career that spanned 30 years after earning her bachelor\u2019s degree in nursing from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (ESU) and a graduate degree in nursing from Villanova.\u00a0Her colleagues and patients became her second family. Nursing led her to leadership roles at what is now the Lehigh Valley Health Network, Franklin Square Hospital in Maryland, Albert Einstein Medical Center, and the Geisinger Health System. Wherever her occupation led her, she became an inspiration to others for the incredible level of care she delivered every day.<\/p>\n
All of that changed seven years ago for Sweeney and her family who live in Mountaintop, Pa.\u00a0Diagnosed with a form of early onset dementia called posterior cortical atrophy, she set aside her career and focused her energy on the daily challenges she faced, alongside her loving husband, Chris, and her two sons, Christopher III and Michael.<\/p>\n
Support came in many ways from Sweeney\u2019s family. Her sister, Linda Niedbala \u201983, with the help of her husband, Sam Niedbala \u201982, started the Troiani-Sweeney Endowed Fund Lecture Series at ESU, which kicked off in March 2014. The Niedbalas wanted this initiative to be a lasting tribute to Sweeney\u2019s devotion to others while making a significant contribution to the education of healthcare professionals and the community-at-large about the cognitive impairment associated with dementia and other diseases of a similar nature.<\/p>\n
This year, the lecture series will continue, for the fifth year, on Thursday, March 22 with a keynote address by Jane McDevitt \u201801, Ph.D., titled \u201cThe Evidence Based Approach to Concussion Care.\u201d\u00a0Dr. McDevitt is an assistant professor in the department of kinesiology at Temple University.<\/p>\n
McDevitt received a Bachelor of Science in athletic training from East Stroudsburg University, a Master of Education in kinesiology with an emphasis in athletic training from Temple University, and her Doctor of Philosophy in kinesiology from Temple University. McDevitt has taught anatomy and physiology courses at ESU and has taught in the department of occupational therapy at Alvernia University. She continues to pursue her research investigating genetic association to concussions. Additionally, in her new line of research she will be designing a concussion-specific outcome measure to identify the patient\u2019s perspective as they recover from his\/her concussion.<\/p>\n
The lecture will also include a demonstration by Dr. Colleen Shotwell, ESU coordinator of athletic training services, of the new Riddell InSite football helmets worn by the ESU Warriors. During the 2017 football season all 87 players on ESU\u2019s team wore Riddell\u2019s InSite Impact Response System helmets. Riddell InSite is a football helmet-based sensor technology that alerts sideline staff when a player experiences a significant single impact or multiple impacts during a game or practice. The latest software \u2013 ISPM 3.0 \u2013 delivers more robust information about player head impacts including the location of the impact. It also offers new training opportunities based on data trends by player, and highlights East Stroudsburg’s commitment to protecting its players not only through technique, but through technology. More information about ESU\u2019s football helmets can be found on the Warriors Athletic website.<\/a><\/p>\n Troiani-Sweeney Endowed Fund Lecture Series will take place in the Niedbala Auditorium located inside Warren E. & Sandra Hoeffner Science and Technology Center at 6 p.m. A reception will follow the presentations. The event is open to the general public at no cost.<\/p>\n \u201cThis endowed lecture series is a tremendous gift to the university and to our medical community,\u201d said\u00a0ESU President Marcia G. Welsh, Ph.D.<\/p>\n For more information about the lecture series, please contact Emily Brennan, special events coordinator at 570-422-3156 or email ebrennan8@esu.edu. Those interested in making a gift to the Troiani-Sweeney Endowed Fund Lecture Series may call ESU\u2019s Office of University Advancement at (570) 422-7000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Troiani-Sweeney Endowed Fund Lecture Series will take place in the Niedbala Auditorium located inside Warren E. & Sandra Hoeffner Science and Technology Center at 6 p.m. A reception will follow the presentations. The event is open to the general public at no cost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":17004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16996"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17029,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16996\/revisions\/17029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}