Online Extended Master of Clinical Health Services, University of Washington – New Web site and information meeting
Offered through MEDEX Northwest and the UW School of Medicine, the online Extended Master of Clinical Health Services (EMCHS) for physician assistants is designed working PAs. The EMCHS helps you assume leadership roles through the development of skills and techniques needed to manage the rapidly changing world of health care.

Focused Study
This innovative online program allows you to earn credit in your current clinical practice and pursue a focused study under the mentorship of leading practitioners in specialized fields.

• Health care for rural and medically underserved populations
• Health care administration and public health
• Academic medicine and specialty practice
• Global health

Apply by May 29, 2010, to start summer 2010. Learn more at http://outreach.washington.edu/emchs/ or at an online information meeting, January 14, 2010.

The Association of Practitioners in Infection Control and Epidemiology
Fall Conference
Focus on TB 2009.

Click here for flyer. For more info visit www.apicalaska.org.

3-2-09 AAPA Survey on clinical doctorate

Is the clinical doctorate appropriate to the PA profession as an entry-level degree, as a postgraduate degree, or not at all? How should the PA profession approach the emerging issue of the clinical doctorate?

Many health professions, including physical therapy, nursing, audiology, and pharmacy, have implemented or are making plans to implement the clinical doctorate as a part of their profession. These professions have cited leadership skills, higher pay, and patient acceptance as reasons why doctorate education is needed. The PA community has for the most part been officially silent on this issue but recognizes that this position will not serve the profession well in the long run.

To help answer these questions and others AAPA and PAEA have partnered to explore the role of the clinical doctorate in the PA profession. As part of that exploration we have created a survey to assess the opinions of physician assistants on the issue. The 21 question survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete. Your input is critical as the profession considers how to move forward on the issue of the clinical doctorate.

Click here to go to the AAPA Survey.

1-19-09

On January 19, 2009, AKAPA's new board gathered for its first meeting of the year. Attended by Tim Pampusch, Martha Flores, Heather Tonga, Robert Thomas and HOD delegate Paul Hager, as well as Executive Secretary Steve Gonzalez, the full day meeting included setting the annual budget, planning our participation in the upcoming CORE and House of Delegates events, setting dates and location of our fall CME event, reviewing changes to Bylaws and other academy business. A full report will be delivered in our next newsletter.

11-14-08

The PA community lost a dear friend and colleague when AAPA President-elect Paul Robinson tragically passed away on November 12 of cardiac arrest at the age of 55.

Paul had fallen ill during an AAPA business trip in Orlando yesterday, but wished to return home on schedule. Last evening, he flew from Orlando to Detroit; Bill Fenn (VP/Speaker of the House of Delegates) was with Paul on the flight.

Paul’s situation was so serious during the flight that the airline arranged for an ambulance to meet him upon arrival at the Detroit Airport. After arrival at the hospital, Paul died of cardiac arrest early this morning.
His body will be returned to River Falls, Wisconsin, his hometown. Dianne Robinson, Paul’s wife, has notified AAPA about the family’s plans for honoring Paul and asked us to share them with you.

Visitation:
Saturday, November 15, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Bakken-Young Funeral & Cremation Services, 805 E. Division Street, River Falls, Wisconsin, 54022; phone 715-425-8788.

Memorial Service:
Sunday, November 16, 3:00 p.m.
United Methodist Church of River Falls, 127 S 2nd St., River Falls, WI 54022; phone 715-425-6233

Robinson Home Address:
Dianne, Amanda, and Aaron Robinson, 1191 Meadowbrook Lane, River Falls, WI 54022.

Memorial Fund/Charity:
Details regarding memorial funds and donations will be sent as soon as we know them.

For more information, please contact:

Marilyn H. Fitzgerald, Senior Vice President
Governance & Leadership Development
American Academy of Physician Assistants
950 N. Washington St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
ph 703/836-2272, ext, 3302; fx 703/684-4308
marilyn@aapa.org

10-15-08

The AKAPA Annual Meeting and Elections occurred Thursday, October 10th. Bylaws and the election
for officers were voted on by AKAPA members. See Elections for details.

Meet the 2009/ 2010 AKAPA Board Members

Martha Flores, President-Elect 2010
Christie Froiland, Vice President 2009
Robert Thomas, Secretary/ Treasurer 2009
J.D. Smith, One year Board Member at Large 2009
Paul Hager, Junior House of Delegates 2009

Congratulations!

10-15-08

The 2008 All-Alaska Medical Conference

Click below to view images from the Conference!

The AKAPA's All-Alaska Medical Conference took place October 7th-10th and was well attended by PA's from all over Alaska and other parts of the country. A few highlights of the event include the dinner presentation by Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation Attorney, Dan Winkleman. The following morning an inspiring keynote presentation on Medicine in Sudan was given by noted Alaskan Physician Jack Hickel. The Wednesday luncheon featured a presentation by Rosalyn Singleton, MD with Updates in Immunization. Two presentation tracks were offered over the course of the three day conference, as well as a workshop on Intubation by Robert Smith, MD. Those who attended will receive up to 22 CME credits from this year's All-Alaska Medical Conference. 

The AKAPA 2008 All Alaska Medical Conference was made possible by the generous contribution of time and energy by our dedicated CME Committee: Carolyn Craig, Cora Bosshart, and Shannon Smith. Special thanks to Ashley Marquardt, Ed Hall, Jean Rounds-Riley, Kim Kinnebrew, Jim Bliven, and Christie Froiland.

Very special thanks to our presenters:  

BJ Coops, M.D.

Bob Chaney, Ph.D.

Dan Winkelman, VP of Administration and General Counsel, Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation 

George Stransky, M.D.

Geronimo Sahagun, M.D.

Heather Macomber, Ph.D.

Jack Hickel, M.D.

Jack Sedwick, M.D.

James Eule, M.D.

Jim Jordan, Executive Director, Alaska State Medical Association

John Riley, PA-C

Jonni Cooper, M.D.

KC Kaltenborn, M.D.

Larry Levine, M.D.

Lynn McCormick, M.D.

Peter Ehrnstrom, M.D.

Randy Orsborn, PA-C

Robert Lada, M.D.

Robert Smith, M.D.

Rosalyn Singleton, M.D.

Ross Tanner, D.O.

Russell Cherry, PsyD

Stephen M. Lewis, PA-C

Terri Bramel, PA-C

Thomas Hennessy, M.D.

Vee Yoong, PA-C

William Fenn, Ph.D., PA-C

William Mills, M.D.

You can check out the 2008 All-Alaska Medical Education Conference Schedule by following the link provided below

CME Schedule link

For a complete listing of CME conferences nationwide, click the link below.
http://www.aapa.org/cme/approvedcat1.html

Medex Northwest Physician Assistant Program

UAA will soon have a PA training site and will be accepting students in the University of Washington Northwest MEDEX program. Find out more by following the link provided below
http://health.uaa.alaska.edu/bshs/medex.htm

Physician Assistant of the Year: Steve Gage

Sitka's very own, Steve Gage was selected as the Alaska PA of the Year, by the AKAPA. Steve is a veteran PA, graduating from MEDEX Class 12 in 1979. Since then, Steve has practiced in Alaska for 28 years, the last 18 in Sitka, Alaska. He has also served on the AKAPA Board of Directors for 5 years, including one year as President. Steve is known for his dedication to his patients, the community, the PA profession and colleagues. For his hard work and exemplary service, Steve Gage was awarded the 2008 PA of the Year. Thank you, Steve Gage.

Advanced Trauma Life Support Cards for PA's

Starting in October 2008, PAs will receive cards for completing the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) course offered by the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Between now and this fall, ACS will work to restructure the rules, design the cards, and inform ATLS course managers of the new policy. Until then, PAs will continue to receive letters indicating that they have attended the course. AAPA liaisons to the ACS have worked for many years to achieve this goal. Dan Vetrosky, PA-C, M.Ed., current Academy liaison to ACS, congratulated all those whose past efforts contributed to this achievement.
 
"From what we get, we can make a living; however, what we give, makes a life." -Arthur Ashe

Frances P. Placide, PA-C, MMS
CDR, USPHS
National PA Chief Clinical Consultant, IHS
Cherokee Indian Hospital
Cherokee NC 28719
828-497-9163 ext 6499 (W)
828-497-5343 (F)
828-506-1086 (C)
frances.placide@cherokeehospital.org New work email address!

The Rasmuson Foundation and Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason

                                     Working together to bring clinical research trials to Alaska                                                  
The Rasmuson Foundation and the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason are joining together to enhance medical research opportunities in Alaska. To date, Alaskans have had limited access to cutting-edge medical research. Recently, the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason received a grant from the Rasmuson Foundation that will increase opportunities for Alaskan patients to participate in clinical research trials, making the latest therapeutic options available to them. This work will supplement the good work of the individual providers and agencies already serving patients in Alaska.

Research Trials Available.

Have you or a family member expressed an interest in participating in a clinical research trial in Seattle? If so, a grant provided by the Rasmuson Foundation will cover all travel expenses for Alaskan patients until the grant expires in 2010.  To find out if you’re eligible for clinical research trials in the following areas:  

Please visit the Benaroya Research Institute web site at www.benaroyaresearch.org
or call 1-877-248-4802 (toll free).

For Immediate Release
March 31, 2008

Contact: Nancy Hughes, 703/836-2272, ext. 3505
                nancyh@aapa.org
        David Ashner, 703/836-2272, ext. 3513
                dashner@aapa.org

Alaska Physician Assistant Honored with National
PA Service to the Underserved Award

(Alexandria, VA) — The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) will award the 2008 Physician Assistant Service to the Underserved Award posthumously to Jessica Stevens, PA-C, from Talkeetna, Alaska. Stevens served a community of approximately 4,500 residents, the majority of whom are uninsured and spread out in a region of rural Alaska that is larger than Maryland and Delaware combined. The award will be presented to her husband, Robert Ambrose, on May 23 in San Antonio at AAPA’s 36th Annual Physician Assistant Conference.

The Physician Assistant Service to the Underserved Award honors a physician assistant (PA) who has provided accessible, quality health care to the underserved in a rural community or an inner-city setting of the United States.

Stevens, who was British by birth and fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and French, traveled far and wide before settling down in Alaska. In the early 1980s, she visited Panama, Mexico, and Nicaragua to provide volunteer health care. After those lay health care experiences, she began her nursing education in England and moved to California to enroll in the Stanford University Primary Care Associate Program, where she graduated as a physician assistant in 1989.

After practicing as a PA at a community clinic in San Francisco, Stevens moved to Seward, Alaska with her husband and young son in 1991, and then to Talkeetna in 1993 to work at the Sunshine Clinic. In the beginning, she had only a part-time receptionist, in a community that had no other health care option. The clinic had no lab, no x-ray machines, no dental services, no substance abuse counseling, no behavioral health resources, and no family advocacy services. The nearest hospital was more than 70 miles away, a distance made even greater by harsh Alaskan winters. Her supervising physician, Barbara J. Doty, M.D., was based at that hospital and could visit the Sunshine Clinic only once per month. Stevens was on-call 24 hours a day for several years without significant breaks.

Over the next several years, Stevens coordinated with various government agencies, secured grants, and recruited health care professionals in a massive effort to improve the quality and scope of care provided at the Sunshine Clinic. The small building that housed the clinic did not grow along with the staff, who “literally tripped over each other in their effort to provide client services,” according to Doty. With a mostly uninsured patient population, finding the funds to expand the clinic was a daunting task.

In 1999, Stevens and her husband helped Sunshine Clinic secure Community Health Center status from the federal government. Federal funding helped Stevens expand the clinic, which by that time included a lab, mental health services, early childhood education, and dental services. In 2003, Sunshine opened its first permanent satellite clinic in Willow, Alaska, about forty-five miles south of Talkeetna. After a successful capital campaign that raised $5 million, Sunshine opened the doors of its brand-new, 12,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility in January 2004.

In just over a decade, Stevens had taken a clinic with a staff of two people working out of a small converted house and turned it into a federally-qualified community health center with a staff of 40 health care professionals, including a full-time physician and dentist, servicing the communities with two clinics., As her colleague Keith Kehoe, PA-C, put it, “These clinics provide the multitude of high quality, affordable health care services Jess fought so hard to obtain.” The clinic now offers digital x-rays, behavioral health services, drug and alcohol abuse services, and domestic violence counseling.

Stevens was killed in a car accident while driving home after a day of work at the satellite clinic in June last year. Her legacy lives on at Sunshine Community Health Center, and also through the work of the recently established Jessica Stevens Community Foundation (JSCF). JSCF distributes grants to the seven local communities served through Stevens’ efforts, with a mission “to build community assets for the development of health communities in the northern Susitna Valley.

In recognition of her achievements, Jessica’s husband Robert will be presented a crystal PAragon Award and a check for $2,500. The AAPA PA Service to the Underserved Award is made possible with the support of Pfizer Inc.

Physician assistants are licensed health professionals who practice medicine as members of a team with their supervising physicians. PAs deliver a broad range of medical and surgical services to diverse populations in rural and urban settings. As part of their comprehensive responsibilities, PAs conduct physical exams, diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret tests, counsel on preventive health care, assist in surgery, and prescribe medications.

AAPA is the only national organization to represent physician assistants in all medical and surgical specialties and work settings in the United States and federal services. Founded in 1968, the Academy works to promote quality, cost-effective health care, and the professional and personal growth of PAs. For more information about the Academy and the PA profession, visit the AAPA’s Web site at www.aapa.org.