Jefferson College of Health Professions Alumna Carries
Olympic Flame

Philadelphia, PA – December 17, 2001 – Valerie Valle Gelovich, a Thomas Jefferson University Jefferson College of Health Professions graduate (BS Nursing ’95) will be part of the Olympic Torch Relay which will travel through Philadelphia December 22 and 23. Valerie’s stint, sponsored by Coca Cola is included in the exit run from Philadelphia to New York (December 23, Day 20). Gelovich’s torch will be lit at approximately 7:47 at Broad and Pike streets in North Philadelphia, and she will carry the Olympic Flame the .25 of a mile (approximately one lap around a field track) to Broad and Lycoming Streets.

The Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Torch Relay, which began December 4 in Atlanta, Georgia will travel more than 13,400 miles across the US in 65 days, ending at Rice Eccles Olympic Stadium in Salt Lake City for the official start of the Games on February 8, 2002. 11,500 torchbearers, nominated for the honor by friends, family, colleagues, have been selected to travel the 46 states.

“Valerie is an amazing woman,” explained her mother, Kathy Valle who lives in South Philadelphia. “When I saw what they were looking for, exceptional people who ‘embody the Olympic Spirit and provide inspiration to the community’ I knew she would be a perfect fit.”

Gelovich was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1982. It began with loss of vision and vertigo. Gelovich knew the signs well, having watched her father suffer with the disease during her childhood. He died in 1989.

With the help of steroids (she is currently medication-free), careful attention to doctors orders and a positive outlook on life, Gelovich recovered total vision and can basically function normally. “I had a rough time for three years after I was diagnosed, but after the birth of my first child (she has a son Dan, 4 and a daughter Alyssa, 2 ½) things got better
and the attacks seemed to subside.”

Refusing to let her disability hamper her lifestyle, Gelovich, a trained ballerina, continued teaching dance in New Jersey to hearing impaired and Downs Syndrome children.

Gelovich came to Jefferson’s Jefferson College of Health Professions in 1993 with a degree in recreational therapy and on scholarship from Temple University. She had already been working at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Seashore House as a therapeutic recreational specialist and continued to work there through school in various capacities including work with premature infants. She married physician Stephen Gelovich in 1996 and moved to Magnolia, New Jersey where she resided until two months ago when the family moved to Lake Mary, Florida.

But her roots (and her heart) are still in South Philadelphia where her mother still resides and runs an M.S. awareness group. Valle, a justifiably proud parent who wants the world to know about her daughter, has also submitted Gelovich’s story to Chevrolet and they have subsequently awarded her a Chevy Trailblazer Uncompromising Strength Award. She will be one of the “strong and determined women” who will receive accolades in the March issue of Redbook Magazine.

“Attitude is everything,” says Gelovich. I watched my father wither away and I refuse to let that happen to me. There are a lot of things that I want to do, people who need me. I plan to live the rest of my life to the fullest.”

The Jefferson College of Health Professions of Thomas Jefferson University, founded in 1969 and located in the heart of Philadelphia, provides innovative academic programs to a highly qualified, culturally diverse student population with the primary goal of developing outstanding professionals and future leaders in healthcare. The College offers fully accredited bachelors and master’s degree programs in diagnostic imaging, laboratory sciences, nursing, occupational therapy and physical therapy. In addition, the College offers selected health certificate programs and associate degrees in general studies. Editorial Note: Valerie Gelovich will be in Philadelphia December 22 through the end of the year. Interviews can be arranged by contacting CHP public relations at 215-503-6335.

Back