Sgt. Bryan Anderson, who visited Johnson College this past fall, is featured as part of a series of stories from ABC News about Actor Gary Sinise and his Foundation for veterans leading up to the Oscars Sunday. Watch the story below from Good Morning America.

Sgt. Anderson delivered his inspiring keynote to our campus on October 16th, 2013. He also signed copies of his book “No Turning Back” which helped to raise money for an area fallen veteran’s charity.

You can read more about Bryan’s visit to campus in our next Johnsonian Magazine out next week!

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We interviewed Bryan ahead of his visit in our last Johnsonian. You can read his story in the last issue here.

Sgt. Anderson won’t be at Sunday’s Oscars. He’s currently in Hawaii shooting an appearance in episode of Hawaii-Five-0!

Johnson College’s Biomedical Equipment Technology now has a new $25,000 ultrasound machine thanks to the help from an alumnus.

Stuart Latimer is the President of Trisonics near Harrisburg, that sells and services ultrasound medical devices. Latimer graduated from Johnson College in 1986 with a degree in Biomedical Engineering. Now Latimer is back on campus on behalf of his company to give back to his alma mater and the Biomedical Equipment Technology Program. Trisonics donated a Sequoia 512 ultrasound machine valued at $25,000 to Johnson College. Latimer explains, “This machine is used by hospitals today for a wide variety of studies including the abdomen, the vascular system, cardiac patients, and OB/GYN offices. Now that Johnson College has their own machine, students can explore Ultrasound Technology from a clinical perspective.”

This is not the only ultrasound machine Johnson College has in its Biomedical Program, and as Doug Hampton the College’s Biomedical Equipment Instructor explains, it enhances the program. “We teach the maintenance and repair on a variety of machines differing in ages. You never know what machine a student may find in many rural medical clinics. However, this ultrasound machine is the latest and greatest.”

Latimer gave a presentation to the current students about ultrasound diagnostics and loved seeing how things have changed in the past two decades since his graduation. “It was certainly a pleasure to be back on campus, and I was impressed with the growth.”

Johnson College students donated 154 gifts for children in Scranton’s Headstart programs.

The Radiologic Technology Department held their Fall Clinical Instructor meeting. The members all work for area hospitals. The group meets twice a year to help learn from each other and share the latest news in the field of Radiologic Technology.

PENNDOT RELEASE  – Dec. 4, 2013 (UPDATED 12/5/13 at 1:35PM)

Main Avenue on-ramp to I-81 North IS NOW CLOSED until spring of 2014.  

Normally, PennDOT would avoid closing this area during the Christmas shopping season; however, this traffic switch is weather dependent, due to the painting of the lines and repaving of the ramp.  If the work is not done prior to the freezing temperatures of the winter season, the entire project will be placed on hold until spring.  Essentially, a three week delay on this end, causes a three month delay on the completion date.

This work is part of a two-year, $30 million project that will take place between Exit 188 (Dunmore/Throop) and Exit 194 (Clarks Summit) and will consist of the following:

Rehabilitation of a five-span steel bridge over the Lackawanna River;

• Rehabilitation of a single-span steel bridge over Main Avenue;
• Paving, drainage, guiderail and other safety improvements from Dunmore to Clarks Summit; and
• Removing a portion of the rock slope to increase its distance from the highway just north of Exit 191B (Scranton Expressway).

The work is slated to finish in the fall of 2014.

Johnson College Architectural Drafting and Design Technology students from the class of 2013 came together to design the new facade of a building on Scranton’s Courthouse Square. The Lackawanna Blind Association’s headquarters needed a facelift and asked for designs to be submitted.  “The Board was delighted with the designs the Johnson College students submitted,” said Karl F. Pfeiffenberger, Board Chairman of the Lackawanna Blind Association. Mr. Pfeiffenberger is also a 1987 Johnson College Alumnus and helped create the partnership. He adds, “The project gives the Lackawanna Blind Association building prominence among the improved structures on the court house square.”

Johnson College Architectural Drafting and Design Technology Department Chairperson John DeAngelis explained how the project came together. “The students each created their own design first and submitted them to the association. They came back with what they liked best from each design and we then created one final design using pieces of each one. It was a real team effort.” The Lackawanna Blind Association finished the work over the summer. Alumni from the Class of 2013 came back to see the finished work this past week. “It’s great to see the final project,” says Brittany Hancock ’13.

Johnson College does one drafting project each school year for a community organization. The class of 2014 is currently working on the new redesign for a small public park on Hill Street in Jessup. Mr. DeAngelis adds, “It’s moving to see us improve the look of the neighborhoods that we live in one project at a time.”

Johnson College Carpentry & Cabinetmaking Technology students built tables and chairs for the Children’s Advocacy Center’s new teen center in Scranton. The bright blue adirondack chairs and picnic benches were hand crafted by the students. They hoped the soft color and simple designs would give comfort to visitors. Johnson College students also built and painted the signature pink door that greets visitors at the Children’s Advocacy Center’s main offices on Mulberry Street.

Johnson College students are once again doing what they can to feed those in need this Thanksgiving. Lynn Krushinski of Johnson College says, “Students have been collecting food on campus for United Neighborhood Centers for more than 30 years.”

New for 2013, Johnson College partnered with WNEP-TV’s Feed-a-Friend and kicked off the event with Ryan Leckey live on campus. The response this year was overwhelming because bigger collection boxes were used that accumulated more donations. “Every box on campus was filled to the top,” says Tim Robinson, Marketing Manager, “Not just light boxes of stuffing, but nearly a ton of very heavy canned goods. We had to divide them into smaller boxes so they could be carried.”

A pick-up truck with overflowing boxes was loaded up at the College on Monday and delivered to United Neighborhood Centers in Scranton, a collection point for WNEP-TV’s Feed-a-Friend in Lackawanna County.

The contributed donations come at a time of high unemployment rates and greater demand on area food banks. “People are starving,” says Johnson College student Brian Kavanaugh who is a member of the College’s “Social Force” club that helped organize and manage the event. He adds, “It’s great to know we had such a strong outpouring of generosity from our students who we know are having trouble making ends meet themselves. We know a few fellow classmates that are on the receiving end of these donations. We’re just happy we can help.”

This Thanksgiving more than 800 pounds of medical supplies and equipment are headed to medical relief efforts overseas from Johnson College in Scranton.

The supplies include surgical gowns, shoe covers, latex gloves, mobile blood pressure units and countless bandages and gauze pads. “We put to use all donations we receive, but over the summer we received such an outpouring of generosity from our industry partners that we were overwhelmed,” says Melissa Cencetti, the Department Chair of the Physical Therapist Assistant program at Johnson. The largest part of the donations was valued at nearly $18,000 and came from VaxServe in Scranton, a Sanofi Pasteur company, which is a national healthcare supplier.  The supplies were distributed among Johnson College’s Health Sciences Division including Radiologic Technology, Veterinary Technology, and the Physical Therapist Assistant programs, and are being put to good use. However, there were still hundreds of cases of supplies that the College could not use and decided to donate to another organization that could.

Mr. Tim Robinson, Marketing Manager at the College, made a connection with Samaritan’s Purse in North Carolina, which is an international humanitarian aid organization. Samaritan’s Purse paid to have all the supplies picked up and shipped to their distribution center at their headquarters. There, the supplies will be redistributed to medical clinics and hospitals all around the world wherever there is a need. Their current mission is sending supplies to typhoon victims in the Philippines. Chris Johnston from Samaritan’s Purse says, “Last year more than $10 million of critically needed equipment and supplies were sent to medical facilities in more than 60 nations.”

The surplus supplies filled three pallets, weighed nearly 850 pounds and has a retail value of more than $4,000. “We’re thankful not only for the extreme generosity that we received from our industry partners, but that we could pay it forward,” says Ms. Cencetti, “It’s great to know that every last piece of this generosity will benefit people that truly need it.”

For more information on Samaritan’s Purse visit them at http://www.samaritan.org/