ALLENTOWN — When Ernie Els was living in London, his son, Ben, was diagnosed with autism at 3½ years old. The former world No. 1 golfer and Hall of Famer realized that many services his son needed were inaccessible to him in London, so he decided to relocate his family to South Florida
His son’s diagnosis sparked the idea for Els for Autism, which was founded in 2009. The foundation works to support the growth and learning of individuals with autism, along with their parents and caregivers, so they can live a fulfilling life.
And EY, one of Els’ sponsors, hopes to make golf more accessible to neurodivergent fans at this weekend’s Jefferson Health Lehigh Valley Classic via the EY Sensory Center by Jefferson Health.
“There was a day when if you were different, you had to learn to accommodate to the world and now what we’re seeing much more is that the world is seeing that they also have a responsibility to the individual,” said Wendy Ross, the director of the center for autism and neurodiversity at Jefferson Health. “That’s an important statement for golf because it looks like it’s an individual sport, but it really is a team effort.
“If you just look at it superficially, you’ve got a lone golfer. But in reality, they have a team around them. They have a caddie, they have a coach, they have a place to play. This is a good metaphor for the work we are trying to do.”
A boy plays at the EY Sensory Center at the Jefferson Lehigh Valley Classic in Allentown.Courtesy of Wendy Ross
The center, designed by Ross, is near the ninth green at Lehigh Country Club, where fans can catch some of the action while taking a break from the crowds.
“Not that the golf course is so loud, but the noises that happen are sudden and unexpected,” Ross said. “Autistic individuals and people with neurodivergence sometimes can get overwhelmed, and so they need a place to kind of cool off and reset. Sometimes they have sensory-seeking desires, and sometimes they are sensory avoidant, so we have a number of items that are both.”
Ross said that it may be challenging for a neurodivergent individual to experience a golf tournament for the first time because of the etiquette of watching the sport in person.
There is a sensory room at Lincoln Financial Field where people with autism, PTSD, Down syndrome, and other sensory processing needs can watch the game on a TV. The vibes at the PGA Tour Champions event aren’t quite the same as the Linc on an Eagles game day, and tournament director Tommy Sullivan said organizers intentionally put their sensory center outside, right near the action.
“You still can watch the golf right there,” Sullivan said. “You’re not taken away from the event. You’re still a part of the event, but it’s a nice, quiet space to decompress, so that was important to us.”
The EY Sensory Center is near the ninth green at the Jefferson Lehigh Valley Classic.Courtesy of Wendy Ross
Proceeds from the tournament will go to three charities, one of which is the Eagles Autism Foundation.
The center is the first on-course sensory zone at a PGA Tour-sanctioned event. It also is providing sensory bags to its visitors that include noise-reducing headphones, a fidget toy, and sunglasses.
As Els made his birdie putt on the ninth green on Friday during his first-round 1-over 71, he walked past the EY Sensory Center and smiled. Els currently is tied for 49th, while co-leaders Y.E. Yang, Richard Green, and Robert Karlsson are 6-under after each shooting a 64.
“We’re trying to make this tournament something that the whole community wants to be a part of, not just for the people that take golf seriously,” Sullivan said.
St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children named Claire Alminde permanent president on Thursday, following a period of leadership turmoil at the North Philadelphia safety-net institution.
Alminde, who will continue to serve as chief nursing officer, had taken over in January from another acting president.
“Claire brings a unique combination of frontline clinical experience and hospital leadership, along with firsthand knowledge of what it takes to operate a hospital like St. Chris that plays such a vital role in Philadelphia and beyond,” St. Chris said in an email.
One of Alminde’s tasks will be to work with leaders at Nemours Children’s Health, Jefferson Health, and Temple Health to build an alliance announced in July to secure the future of St. Chris, which struggles financially because most of its patients have low-paying Medicaid insurance.
St. Chris’ chief nursing officer, Claire Alminde, has been named president of the North Philadelphia safety-net provider.St. Christopher's Hospital for Children
Alminde was the third interim or acting executive appointed to the top management position at the nonprofit hospital since February 2024 and its fourth leader since 2020.
Drexel University and Tower Health have owned St. Chris in a 50-50 joint venture since 2019. Tower oversees day-to-day operations.
“After several years of leadership changes, this appointment gives St. Christopher’s strong, permanent leadership from someone who knows our hospital, our people and the community we serve incredibly well,” Tower CEO Michael Stern said in a message to employees. “Claire understands what makes St. Chris such a special place and what it will take to move us forward.”
The safety-net provider received a $76 million revenue boost from its inclusion for the first time in a program that taxes Philadelphia hospitals and uses the money to increase the government’s Medicaid funding for facilities that disproportionately care for low-income patients.
The CEO of Jefferson Health and Thomas Jefferson University will be the local chamber of commerce’s next chair, and he’s focused on a feeling of safety in the city.
Joseph G. Cacchione, Jefferson’s CEO since 2022, will chair the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia’s board of directors beginning Oct. 15, the chamber announced Tuesday.
The new role comes just a year after Cacchione said Jefferson could move its headquarters out of the city. But now he says that’s no longer on the table, crediting Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and the city’s police chief for making “great strides in improving safety.”
“We’re here. We’re Jefferson. We’ve been in Center City for 200 years. We’re not moving,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
Joseph G. Cacchione will begin his role as board chair at the chamber on Oct. 15.Thomas Jefferson University
Cacchione says some of the region’s remaining challenges can be tackled through partnerships between business and government.
“For me it’s about never standing back and watching but to actually roll your sleeves up and get in there and mix it up,” he said.
Jefferson teamed up with the city police department and SEPTA transit police in one such partnership in June, launching a public safety hub in partnership in Market East.
“East Market Street particularly has had challenges over the years,” he said Tuesday. “We saw an opportunity to have more visible police presence.”
But recently, he said, the area has felt safer and more vibrant. He pointed to the pop-up businesses that opened along that corridor this year, as well as the pop-up plaza outside Reading Terminal Market.
“We continue to need to work on that quality of life,” he said. “It’s not just East Market Street. It’s the entire city that we want to be safer.”
More good jobs for the region
Cacchione’s priorities also include supporting small and medium-sized businesses, continuing regional job growth, and improving access to healthcare.
The chamber’s board of directors includes CEOs, presidents, and other leaders of area institutions such as CHOP, Aramark, Temple University, Comcast, Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia Eagles.
Its recent efforts include a new regional partnership to create good jobs in business software, biomedical engineering, and production, and specialized manufacturing, where business leaders see potential to grow. Jefferson Health and Thomas Jefferson University are early partners in the group.
“We are at an inflection point for our region, and we have to make decisions to lean in so that we can continue to grow,” Chamber CEO Chellie Cameron said Tuesday. “I’m talking about attracting new businesses and growing existing businesses, creating jobs — not just any job, but opportunity jobs and pathways to those jobs.”
Cacchione, as the leader of a very large employer in Center City, “gets it,” Cameron said, adding that he’s not just invested in the city, but the region as a whole.
Chellie Cameron, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, at a chamber event in 2025.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Cacchione added that AI will “change how we do business,” calling it an “enabler of business.” The chamber could help train workforces that don’t have experience with AI, he said.
Jefferson employees have been adopting AI tools to improve efficiency. Nurses use it for note-taking, he said. By 2028, Jefferson aims to save over 10 million hours of clinician’s time by using AI — creating more time for “face-to-face” interaction with patients, Cacchione said.
The hoped-for result, he said: “Our doctors are spending more time with patients and less time in front of a computer.”
Pay and benefits typically account for more than half the total costs in hospital systems at a time when healthcare costs are rising sharply in the Philadelphia region and nationally.
Local nonprofit health systems reported compensation ranging from $1.2 million to $3.7 million in 2024 for the 100 highest-paid employees listed in their most recent federal nonprofit tax returns. The ranking excludes system CEOs.
Meanwhile, employers are expecting insurance increases approaching 10% for the coming year, according to several national surveys by benefits consultants. Experts cite increased use of healthcare services, widespread use of expensive specialty drugs, and rising hospital prices as key factors leading to overall rising benefit costs.
Clinicians accounted for 60 spots in The Inquirer’s top 100 ranking, which is based on compensation reported in dozens of 990 tax forms from Philadelphia-area hospitals, affiliated physician groups, and other related entities.
Highly specialized neurosurgeons accounted for the highest number of top-paid clinicians, followed by cardiac and cardiothoracic surgeons and orthopedic surgeons.
Chief financial officers and chief operating officers were well represented in the management ranks.
The region’s largest health system also claimed its highest-paid non-CEO, Jefferson Health president and physician Baligh R. Yehia. His $3.7 million in compensation also topped that of all but two CEOs, as disclosed in a previous Inquirer analysis.
Thomas Jefferson University, which is Jefferson Health’s parent entity, had 30 executives and physicians in The Inquirer’s top 100. The Jefferson group includes four executives who left during or before 2024, but not salaries reported through the Lehigh Valley Health Network, which Jefferson acquired in August of that year.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia had the second-largest number of employees in the top 100, with 18, including surgeons and numerous top executives, such as CFO, general counsel, and head of human resources.
Virtua was third, with nine employees, mainly surgeons.
Across the region, 176 nonprofit health system employees received at least $1 million in total compensation in 2024. That amounts to one in five employees in The Inquirer’s database of more than 800 people.
IRS rules require nonprofits to report compensation for officers, highest-paid employees, and employees with a certain level of responsibility.
(function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})();
The two busiest surgery centers in the Philadelphia region last year were operated by Penn Medicine in Radnor and Jefferson Health in Center City.
Such facilities have grown increasingly popular as a cost-saving option for procedures that do not require intensive hospital resources or overnight stays.
While they offer convenience, the facilities operated by Penn and Jefferson both count as hospital departments for billing purposes, which means they cost more than surgery centers operated by independent physicians or other companies.
Penn Medicine Radnor Surgery Center operates within a large outpatient facility near the intersection of I-476 and Route 30. It logged 12,464 surgical visits in 2025, up from 8,961 the year before, according to data published last month by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Penn attributed the growth to the addition of new gastroenterologists in Radnor to perform colonoscopies, upper endoscopies, and other procedures. Colonoscopies, in particular, account for a large portion of the overall volume in surgery centers outside hospitals.
Jefferson Surgery Center was close behind, with 12,261 surgical visits, up from 2,639 in 2024. It sits within the Honickman Center, which opened in 2024 at 1101 Chestnut St. in Philadelphia. Jefferson has gradually expanded the array of surgical services offered there.
“Growth has been driven by both increasing patient demand and the strategic transition of services from other Jefferson locations, allowing us to provide care in a state-of-the-art outpatient environment,” Jefferson said in an email.
Other fast-growing surgery centers include two independently operated facilities focused on orthopedics, Premier at Exton Surgery Center in Exton and Restore Orthopaedic Surgical Institute in Chadds Ford.
(function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})();
Surgery center ownership matters
Even though the Penn and Jefferson outpatient facilities are not in hospitals, their ownership by large hospital systems enables providers to get paid as if they were located inside the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania or Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Hospital outpatient department billing rates are sometimes twice as much as the rates paid to independent surgery centers.
For example, surgery to remove torn cartilage from a knee can cost $7,190 when performed on an outpatient basis in a hospital, nearly three times the $2,477 cost in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), according to Philadelphia-area commercial insurance averages from Turquoise Health.
Health insurers Independence Blue Cross and Highmark have implemented policies this year seeking to save money for employers and patients by moving care out of hospitals and into ambulatory surgery centers or ASCs. Both insurers say they will only pay for certain procedures if they are done in an ASC.
But it’s not enough to move surgeries to a setting outside a hospital, given the hospital-like billing status of certain surgery centers.
“The cost savings from an ASC depend on the facility’s ownership, licensing, and billing model,” Richard Snyder, IBX’s chief operating officer, said in a email to The Inquirer.
IBX would like to see more ASCs in its Southeastern Pennsylvania market and is “prepared to help catalyze growth through continued value-based arrangements, strategic partnerships, and investments,” Snyder said.
Litigation over ASCs and other policies
In a July lawsuit against IBX, Jefferson claimed that the insurer’s ASC policy amounted to a change to the financial terms of their contract that needed to be negotiated.
The lawsuit said that ASC mandate will cost the health system $35.4 million, but doesn’t specify over what time period.
IBX filed a motion last weekto dismiss the lawsuit, which was moved to U.S. District Court in Philadelphia from the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
The insurer says that the lawsuit was premature because Jefferson filed it before completing a contractual process designed to resolve such policy conflicts.
He chose the latter, a decision he initially regretted before leaning on the media savviness he picked up during his16-year career with the Birds.
“I actually wanted to wait, but man, I was so tired of that question being asked all the time, so that just got me,” Graham said. But he landed on the announcement helping him, because it got fans interested to “tune in” and hear him explain why.
So begins Graham’s transition from Eagles legend and two-time Super Bowl champ to a budding media career talking about football.
After being injured during the 2024 season, Graham, 38, still felt like he had a little gas in the tank. So when the Eagles called him up last season, he was ready to unretire and get back on the field to “finish the season clean.”
Graham went into this offseason hopeful he might jump back into football. He stayed in contact with Eagles general manager Howie Roseman and was even prepared to participate in training camp to be properly prepared if the Birds needed him. But the stars didn’t align.
“It didn’t work out like that because [Roseman] got the team he needed,” Graham said. “So in my mind, I was like, ‘Yeah, I think I’m going to be done.’”
In hindsight, it’s been something of a relief. Now Graham can focus his efforts on a budding media career that will start off with the second season of his Unblocked podcast and joining PHLY for postgame coverage of Eagles games.
“Last year, I was one foot in, one foot out, because I thought there was an opportunity for me to go back and play,” Graham said. “This year I didn’t want that feeling so I can work in the media space how I worked in football. Otherwise I’m doing myself a disservice.”
Learning on WIP and late-night 6abc hits
Brandon Graham hosted a weekly show on 94.1 WIP for nine seasons alongside former host Howard Eskin. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Graham’s interest in the media began during his playing days, where he’d listen back and critique interviews he gave with reporters. It didn’t take long for his engaging personality to win over the press, who began offering him more opportunities to jump on the air.
An early break was with 94.1 WIP, a gig that transformed from him calling in on Tuesdays to hosting his own weekly show during the season at Chickie’s & Pete’s alongside former host Howard Eskin.
Learning on the job also meant sometimes wading in controversy. He was forced to walk back comments he made about then-teammates Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown in 2024. Graham was injured at the time and based his remarks on a video of Brown speaking, something he’s since learned to approach with caution.
“It was an emotional time and I should have been patient,” Graham said. “But I felt like it helped us a little bit, too, because we ended up winning the Super Bowl that year.”
Graham also got some early reps on 6abc during the 2015 season. After Sunday Eagles games, Graham would drive to the station’s studios on City Avenue to join the 11 p.m. edition of Action News and talk Birds with Ducis Rodgers.
“Boy, that was a grind,” Graham said.
In 2024, Graham participated in the NFL’s broadcast boot camp, which allows players to experience what it’s like working on a studio show or calling games. Graham said the experience was enlightening, and helped him land appearances on ESPN and the NFL Network.
“At ESPN, I went through what they call the car wash, when you appear on all the different shows,” Graham said. “They ended up liking me, and I got put on Good Morning Football before I went back to play … I expect I’ll do more of that.”
Joining PHLY and learning to criticize his former teammates
Brandon Graham is entering his second season hosting the “Unblocked” podcast for PHLY.PHLY
Graham is entering his second NFL season with PHLY, the digital start up that began in Denver in 2015 and expanded to Philly in 2023 as part of the ALLCITY Network.
The network took notice of Graham’s abilities during a July 2025 interview on the Exciting Mics podcast, hosted by Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean and former Birds safety Reed Blankenship (who signed with the Houston Texans in March). Graham said parent companyALLCITY made him a strong proposal, and within a few weeks he launched his Unblocked podcast, co-hosted by Bo Wulf.
“BG brings an incredible depth of knowledge and an understanding of the game, but what truly sets him apart is his authenticity and infectious energy,” said Todd Berman, PHLY’s general manager.
This year Graham is expanding his duties beyond Unblocked to include co-hosting PHLY’s crowded postgame coverage alongside Wulf, Fran Duffy, Brandon Lee Gowton, and former Inquirer reporter EJ Smith.
Graham won’t appear after every Eagles game — he’ll rotate with former Eagles defender and Super Bowl champ Vinny Curry. But his appearances will place Graham in the potentially awkward position of having to criticize his former teammates.
ButGraham isn’t too concerned. As a player, he understood the media had their own job to do, even during his first few seasons with the Eagles when “Philly people were really bashing me.”
“Everybody’s takes are different. Some people do it for clickbait just to get people to click on your show,” Graham said. “I’m going to be honest and tell viewers the truth … It will be challenging, because sometimes there’s certain stuff you can’t just beat around.”
While he’s entering the season hopeful about a future in the sports media machine, he’s open to different paths, including public speaking. For now, Graham’s happy to have a manageable schedule where he works a few days a week, spends time with his family, and has the freedom to explore different interests.
“Who knows what the media stuff will do,” Graham said, “But I’m trying to get this golf game right, too.”
Nurses at three Jefferson Health facilities want to unionize under the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, saying their effort addresses safety and quality-of-care concerns.
Nurses at Jefferson Bucks Hospital filed paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board for an election to form a new union chapter at the hospital that, if approved, would represent 170 staff members.
In a separate filing, nurses at Jefferson Health — Center One, a primary care and outpatient facility in Northeast Philadelphia, and Willowcrest, a skilled nursing center at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital, are seeking membership in the existing nurses’ union at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia. If approved, the move would add 43 nurses from Center One and Willowcrest to Einstein Nurses United.
The organization efforts would bring more than 200 Jefferson Health nurses into union chapters affiliated with PASNAP.
At a news conference outside Jefferson Bucks Hospital in Langhorne Tuesday, nurses said they wanted to organize because hospital administrators have not heeded their concerns that understaffing, heavy workloads, and insufficient resources could harm patients and lead to staff burnout.
“Jefferson Bucks nurses are being asked every day to do more with less and less, and it’s getting harder and harder to feel like our concerns are actually being heard,” Ashley Bupp, an emergency room nurse at Jefferson Bucks Hospital, said in a statement.
Jefferson Health accused PASNAP, which represents some 11,000 nurses and other healthcare professionals across Pennsylvania, of “promoting a narrative that serves its organizing efforts and ultimately, its own bottom line.”
“PASNAP has once again relied on a predictable campaign of misleading claims and public attacks designed to generate headlines rather than constructive solutions,” the nonprofit health system said in a statement. “Jefferson remains focused on supporting our nurses, caring for our patients, and meeting the healthcare needs of the communities we serve.”
Kiersten McCalmant, a nurse at Jefferson Bucks Hospital, said she and her colleagues were inspired to organize by the nurses at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital.
Einstein Nurses United, which represents nearly 1,200 nurses, signed a new contract earlier this year that gave nurses raises, strengthened staffing, and included protections against forced shift rotations.
“We saw what a great contract they had already, and the fact that they were able to stand together and win improvements, and protect what they already had,” McCalmant said in a statement. “We thought, if nurses at Einstein can bargain with Jefferson and be successful, why can’t we?”
Amanda Parezo, a self-professed “beach bum,” can no longer get onto the sand or lay out a beach blanket on her own.
The loose grains are “just impossible to navigate through” in a wheelchair, she said.
Still, she seizes every opportunity to return to the Shore — an activity that has brought her healing since her childhood in New Jersey.
Parezo loved spending time at the beach while growing up in New Jersey.Courtesy of Amanda Parezo
Five years after a random shooting in Olde Kensington left her paralyzed from the waist down, she participated in “They Will Surf Again,” an adaptive surfing event in August in Wildwood, N.J. Designed for people with physical disabilities, the event was hosted by California-based nonprofit Life Rolls On and sponsored by Jefferson Health.
Volunteers and friends helped her onto an adaptive surfboard that was wider and thicker for greater stability.
The first time she participated in 2022, she was afraid of how her legs might shift while riding. But whenever she fell off the board, volunteers scooped her back up immediately.
Parezo loved the feeling and energy of going fast in the wave. That sensory experience brought her relief as someone living with constant nerve pain.
“You can’t even describe it. It just felt so good,” she said of the summer surf event.
In the years since her life-altering injury, Parezo has had to take similar leaps of faith as she’s worked to rebuild her life.
She now had to worry about how she would shower, use the bathroom, drive, and simply enter public spaces while in a wheelchair. An assistant professor of occupational therapy at Jefferson, Parezo was used to helping patients, not being one herself.
“It was a lot of just mourning who I was before,” she said.
In the process, she has become an accessibility advocate, competed in a pageant for women who use wheelchairs, and taken on adaptive sports from surfing to chair yoga.
She says her former patients are her biggest motivators.
“I think about them every day,” said Parezo, now 40. “I haven’t forgotten a single one of them that I’ve treated in outpatient.”
Amanda Parezo was paralyzed after a stray bullet hit her spine. She is now in a wheelchair.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
The injury
On the evening of the shooting in 2021, Parezo, then 36, had just finished playing a game of kickball at Hancock Playground in Olde Kensington with her friends. They were sitting near the benches, chatting and packing up, when gunshots from a nearby shooting suddenly rang out.
As her teammates ducked for cover, she felt a stinging sensation enter the right side of her body, just below her ribs. Parezo immediately fell backward as a wave of numbness swept from her hips down into her toes.
In that split second, a series of images flashed through her mind.
She saw patients she had treated as an occupational therapist. She saw herself sitting in a classroom, studying a PowerPoint slide about spinal cord injuries. And she imagined herself in a wheelchair.
“There was no doubt in my mind that I had a spinal cord injury, and I knew it was bad,” she said.
She screamed in pain as everything the stray bullet touched started to dysfunction. Authorities have not identified the shooter.
At Temple University Hospital, she would be diagnosed with a complete spinal cord injury, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.
“You don’t think you’re going to have to spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair the next day,” Parezo said.
Although she knew a yoga studio near her Old City home offered chair yoga, she was intimidated by the idea of going. She worried she would feel upset seeing women whose bodies looked like hers before her injury, wearing the outfits she once wore and attending 6 a.m. yoga classes, as she once had.
Then she attended an open house for the studio.
“They were just phenomenal women,” she said.
Now, she goes every Monday and is good friends with the instructor.
Parezo said she is grateful for the people in her life who encouraged her to get out of bed and do things.
She thought about a patient who had been shot in the head but continued coming to her clinic every other day for occupational therapy. If the patient could remain motivated after such a traumatic experience, Parezo thought, she needed to be motivated, too.
“I am just so grateful for my background, and just the irony of being on the other side of things,” Parezo said.
Advocating for accessibility
Parezo frequently encounters accessibility challenges in her daily life.
But she has turned those stressful moments into opportunities for advocacy, through posting to social media and reporting issues around the city to 311, the non-emergency contact center.
When Parezo arrived at a SEPTA subway station in 2024, she discovered the elevator down to the street level was broken.
The station had three flights of stairs, but no signage indicating that the elevator was out of service. SEPTA’s app also hadn’t marked the elevator as inoperable.
She posted a video to Instagram of her stuck in the station, in tears, frustrated by the lack of accessibility. That post went semi-viral on Instagram and caught the attention of SEPTA, who reached out for a conversation about her concerns.
“As we continue work to improve accessibility across the system, SEPTA is committed to working closely with riders to help them navigate outages and other challenges,” a spokesperson said in a Friday statement.
SEPTA recently began its latest accessibility improvement project at 11th Street Station on the L, and will invest more than $700 million to make Metro and Regional Rail stations accessible.
Her friend Katie Adams recalls seeing Parezo bump off curbs and nearly fall into traffic because of obstacles on the sidewalk.
“Never in my wildest dreams [did I think] anyone in this situation would turn this around and make this not a life-defining moment, but a lifelong work and advocacy,” Adams said about Parezo.
In July, Parezo represented the state of Pennsylvania in the Ms. Wheelchair USA pageant.
In July, Parezo represented the state of Pennsylvania in the Ms. Wheelchair USA pageant.Courtesy of Amanda Parezo
She was named first runner-up and received awards for education and inspiration. She also serves on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission for Women and draws on her experience as a wheelchair user to teach her occupational therapy students at Jefferson.
“Having to live the life of a patient that they might treat [gives] me a perspective I can share with my students that a lot of people probably couldn’t,” Parezo said.
Amanda Parezo serves on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission for Women.Courtesy of Katie Adams
Finding relief in surfing
Life Rolls On founder Jesse Billauer started the “They Will Surf Again” event 25 years ago after a surfing injury left him quadriplegic.
The first time his friends took him surfing after the accident, he experienced “that freedom, that independence, and just joy being on the water.”
The event became his way of sharing that sense of freedom with other people with spinal cord injuries and physical disabilities.
“It just gets people out of their wheelchair, doing things that they never thought was possible,” he said.
Amanda Parezo participated in the They Will Surf Again event in Wildwood in August.Courtesy of Jefferson Health
A little boy born with a spinal cord injury was among the 150 participants at this year’s event in Wildwood.
Parezo, who knows the boy’s mother, hopes seeing older participants with disabilities surfing will inspire him as he grows up.
“There are no limits to what we’re able to do,” she said.
Philadelphia-area health systems are warning residents to beware of an online phishing scam that mimics MyChart, the secure online patient portal used by most leading health systems.
The scam involves emails and text messages that encourage people to claim a “MyChart Medicare Kit” by clicking on the embedded link to complete a survey. The resource kit is fictional, and clicking the malicious link could give hackers access to their MyChart portal, which stores identification information, including birth dates and addresses, and private health details, such as medications, medical conditions, and doctor conversations.
Penn Medicine, Jefferson Health, Temple Health, Main Line Health, and Virtua are among the local systems that have posted warnings on their websites and sent notices to patients urging them to not to share passwords or other personal information through email links.
Attorney General David Sunday has also urged people to “stay on the lookout for this new scam tactic.”
Phishing emails are becoming more sophisticated, as artificial intelligence does away with misspellings, grammatical errors, and graphics irregularities that were once telltale signs of a scam.
Phishing attacks have grown more than 40-fold since ChatGPT, an AI program that can draft emails and letters based on a prompt, was introduced in 2022, according to a 2026 trend report from HoxHunt, a cybersecurity risk management and training company.
Scams that relate to people’s healthcare or insurance can be especially dangerous because of the type of information they may expose and because of the urgency people may feel to respond to the message, said Tom Gordon, chief information officer at Virtua Health.
“The leverage with healthcare is you’re going to have a certain reaction,” Gordon said. “It drives an emotion, it affects people’s defenses.
A screenshot of a MyChart Medicare Kit phishing email shows one of the ways scammers attempt to obtain personal information.Sarah Gantz / Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia hospitals take action
Philadelphia-area health systems work together to track scams and alert patients, said Lou Dignam, Virtua’s vice president of cybersecurity.
Virtua is part of Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center, known as Health-ISAC, a nonprofit membership organization for hospitals, insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and other health security professionals across the country to share real-time threats and best practices.
When Digman and Gordon heard about the MyChart Medicare scam, they turned to their group chat with security officers at Penn, Jefferson, Cooper, Inspira, Main Line Health, and others. They talked about what to do, even coordinating what to write in online notices and emails to patients.
“People may look at these organizations as competitors, but on this type of thing, it’s very collaborative and unified,” Gordon said.
Cohesive communication across health systems is especially valuable in the Philadelphia area, where a high concentration of providers means patients may see doctors at multiple systems, he said.
Their main message: Always be curious and cautious.
How to avoid phishing scams
Cybersecurity experts say vigilance is the best protection against phishing scams.
“Scammers are always looking for new ways to obtain as much of your personal information as possible,” Attorney General Sunday said in a statement.
Sunday and Gordon offered consumers some tips:
Be skeptical of unsolicited free offers and rewards.
Hover over email addresses and links, which can be disguised to appear to be from a trusted sender.
Avoid clicking links in emails and text messages. Instead, go directly to the website or mobile application.
Do not “unsubscribe” from emails that you suspect could be phishing attempts, as the “unsubscribe” link could also be malicious. Instead, delete the email.
Report phishing attempts sent to work email to your employer.
The Eagles held the 16th open practice of their 2026 training camp on Tuesday at Lincoln Financial Field. Here were my observations from Day 16 (and links to Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15):
Stowers update
Eli Stowers missed a second straight practice with a hamstring injury that he suffered in the second preseason game against the New England Patriots. The rookie tight end is expected to be out for about two weeks, from what I understand. If he’s healthy by the Wednesday before Week 1 of the regular season, he could be available for the season opener.
The following Eagles were also held out because of injury: Tackle Markel Bell (thumb/leg), cornerback Jonathan Jones (shoulder), tight end Grant Calcaterra (back), cornerback Jakorian Bennett (knee) and safety Cole Wisniewski (concussion). Cornerback Mac McWilliams (shoulder) was limited.
The Eagles had a number of players make full returns from injury, including center/guard Willie Lampkin (stinger), defensive tackle Byron Young (shoulder), running back Dameon Pierce (hamstring), tackle John Ojukwu (pectoral), wide receiver Quez Watkins (foot), cornerback Ambry Thomas (groin), and receiver Danny Gray (groin).
Eagles fans were back at the Linc and witnessed a defense-dominated display. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Oh, O-line
Guard Landon Dickerson was given a not-injury-related rest day. Whether it’s a coincidence or not, he tore the meniscus in his knee during last year’s open practice at the Linc. The Eagles may have sat him to stay away from potential bad juju. Dickerson rushed back from surgery in time for the opener a year ago, but recently said that he should have waited until he was fully recovered.
Drew Kendall took all the repetitions at left guard in Dickerson’s place. He had his ups and downs in a scrimmage that favored the Eagles defense, particularly the first unit. Kendall got toasted by defensive tackle Moro Ojomo on an inside rush that resulted in a sack at one point. Right tackle Lane Johnson left early not long after edge Nolan Smith Jr. beat him inside for a hurry. Fred Johnson took his spot with Bell out. Ojukwu got bumped up the depth chart and filled in the few times left tackle Jordan Mailata took a rest.
DeVonta Smith (right) was an offensive standout and gave Eagles fans something about which to cheer. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
D-lightful
The makeshift O-line likely had something to do with the struggles of Jalen Hurts and Co. The quarterback was pressured a bunch. But Sean Mannion’s unit was often out of sync except for a couple successful red-zone plays and one good drive after being backed up. Hurts’ two interceptions to cornerback Riq Woolen will make headlines — as they should for both parties — but there were a lot of reasons why the first-unit offense looked sloppy.
Credit has to be given to Vic Fangio’s group. He’s had all of his starters for most of the summer and that same 11 was in the lineup again. Mannion’s installation has been completed for over a week, so there isn’t much new to throw at the defense. The group knows the plays, the snap count, and often what’s coming before it even happens.
On the first series, Hurts hit receiver Dontayvion Wicks for a short gain and Saquon Barkley had a solid run to the left, but it was mostly defensive dominance thereafter. Safety Marcus Epps snuffed out a Hurts draw play. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter met Barkley at the line of scrimmage for a stop. Hurts hooked up with receiver DeVonta Smith after getting forced to his right. But his pass to receiver Makai Lemon on an inside route was broken up by cornerback Quinyon Mitchell.
Jalen Hurts and the offense remains a work in progress. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Hurts so much
The next set was less productive for the offense or more fruitful for the defense — take your pick. Hurts went to Lemon on a schemed-up pass off play-action, but cornerback Cooper DeJean was in the receiver’s pocket. Smith burned Mitchell on a deep post route, but Hurts’ pass was underthrown and Mitchell recovered to break up the pass. Smith is clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the Eagles’ receivers.
Jalyx Hunt made Fred Johnson look like a turnstile on the way to a would-be sack. Hurts continued the play and hit Wicks over the middle, but the play was given to the defense. Another short toss to Lemon netted few yards with cornerback Michael Carter II in tight coverage. Jalen Carter touched up Barkley for a stop. And when Hurts did well to roll away from an unblocked blitzer and found Smith as his outlet, the receiver dropped the ball. On the last play of the set, Hurts chucked the ball wide and out of bounds with a covered Smith.
Jalen Hurts missed some throws behind a patchwork line but was more effective in the red zone. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Lemon aid
Lemon has been getting a tutorial from DeJean, one of the best slots in the NFL. Mannion called for another quick hitter to the receiver off a naked bootleg, but with Hunt in Hurts’ mug, DeJean was all over Lemon by the time the ball arrived. Jalen Carter gifted the offense five yards when he jumped offside, but a Barkley outside zone run on the next play was blown up in the backfield. Hurts likely needed to check out of that call with so many defenders in the box.
It just got worse. A Fangio blitz collapsed the pocket, but Hurts still threw to Lemon on a crossing route. It wasn’t the greatest route and Woolen snatched the ball for his first interception of the night. An offensive false start followed. Hurts did hook up with receiver Darius Cooper on a button hook. And running back Tank Bigsby had decent gains up the middle on the ground.
But Ojomo’s sack and another drop — this time from Cooper — ended the set.
Fans watched as the Eagles defense defeated the offense by a count of 58-36, based on practice scoring. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Red zone district
The offense rebounded in the red zone. On the first play from the 20-yard line, Barkley ran a sort-of corner route and got behind linebacker Zack Baun. Hurts’ throw was perfect and the running back made the catch for a touchdown.
On the next red-zone possession, Barkley gobbled yards up the middle on first down. But on the next play, Hurts’ downfield throw to Lemon off play-action was broken up by Mitchell. The rookie receiver didn’t appear to get enough depth on his route. The ball went back to Lemon on his next pattern — when he motioned inside and ran a wheel route — and the defense didn’t account for him. He waltzed into the end zone untouched.
Hurts built off that modicum of success during the backup portion. A first-down run didn’t net many yards. In fact, it resulted in defensive tackle Jordan Davis hobbling off after he dinged his left arm. (He later returned, outfitted with a brace.) But Bigsby churned ahead on the ground on a couple carries. And Hurts again rolled away from the rush and found tight end Cam Latu for a first down.
We got a rare glimpse of tight end Johnny Mundt in the backfield. The Bigsby rush was thwarted, but not exclusively because of Mundt’s lead block. A screen pass to Smith on the ensuing play was blown up by DeJean. But Hurts wisely kept feeding his best receiver. He rifled a dart to Smith on a comebacker ahead of Mitchell. And two plays later, tossed a strike to No. 6 just out of Woolen’s reach and Smith jetted upfield for chunk yards.
A busted play that forced Hurts into a throwaway and DeJean snuffing out a Will Shipley draw forced another third down. But receiver Hollywood Brown got wide-open downfield and raced the last 10 yards untouched into the end zone.
Saquon Barkley had a frustrating night on the ground in the open practice. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Two for two
The first two-minute drill was an odd one as the offense worked on getting the defense to jump offside. Barkley and tight end Dallas Goedert looked back at their coaches upset or confused or something else when a couple of the tailback’s rushes were curtailed. Center Cam Jurgens walked out of the huddle and was replaced by Jake Majors. Jurgens didn’t appear hurt. But Hurts’ hard count finally did get an impatient Ojomo to jump. It wasn’t exactly riveting stuff for the fans.
Nevertheless, the first units came out for one last hurry-up period. The offense got off to a solid start with a Barkley catch-and-run out of the backfield, a checkdown to Smith and a Hurts seed to Wicks over the middle. But when Hurts was pressured again by Hunt, he tried for Smith near the sideline. Woolen was in lockstep with the receiver, jumped the route and went the other way with the ball for a pick-six.
Nick Sirianni gave Andy Dalton the first crack at No. 2 reps on Tuesday night. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Second best
This was a night almost exclusively for the starters with fans in the house, and the final preseason game reserved for guys fighting to make the roster or the practice squad. There were some periods for the second and third units. Andy Dalton got the nod at quarterback as he and Tanner McKee continued to split snaps in their battle for the No. 2 job.
Dalton overthrew Cooper on his first drop. But he got into a rhythm with receiver Elijah Moore and scored on their third connection when Moore found space on a crossing route and zigzagged into the end zone.
McKee had some good moments, too. He went to Brown for a couple quickies vs. zone coverage. He found Moore as his outlet vs. the blitz. And on fourth down, he hit tight end E.J. Jenkins on a short release. Shipley did the rest on the ground and scored when he ran off right tackle. McKee’s two-point conversion try in the back of the end zone went off Brown’s hands.
McKee shined in the two-minute period. He hooked up with Cooper on a deep crosser and hit Moore on a 15-yard out. His downfield pass to Cooper was on target, but the receiver eased up his route and the ball sailed by. Cooper reacted as if he knew he messed up.
Extra points
The final score was Defense 58, Offense 36. … Rookie quarterback Cole Payton got a few reps in the backup period. … Britain Covey was again the first up to field punts, but Lemon took turns as well. If the Eagles believe the rookie can handle punts, it could make Covey expendable on game days … Shipley and Bigsby were paired as the first two kick returners. … The Eagles announced attendance of more than 45,000. Pennsylvania governor and noted Eagles fan Josh Shapiro was among them. … The Eagles will return to the Jefferson Health Training Complex for practice on Wednesday afternoon. They will have a closed walkthrough on Thursday ahead of Friday’s preseason finale at the Linc vs. the Cincinnati Bengals.
