{"id":8268,"date":"2016-03-15T09:11:24","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T16:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/?post_type=post&p=8268"},"modified":"2022-04-04T20:24:17","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T20:24:17","slug":"its-just-so-cool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/magazine\/2016\/03\/15\/its-just-so-cool\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Just So Cool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amber Huynh \u2013 Seattle Class 49<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Four years as a US Army medic has given Amber Huynh a particular perspective on her physician assistant training at MEDEX Northwest. \u201cYou know, I had an interesting time during deployment,\u201d she tells us. \u201cSo to me, if I could make it through that, then I can make it through anything. The school part is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The thing you notice upon meeting Amber is how even tempered she is. She is modest about her accomplishments, yet appears to know exactly where she\u2019s heading. Such wasn\u2019t always the case. \u201cI had four years of college, no degree and a really crappy part time job,\u201d she says. So Amber walked into an Army recruiter’s office enlisted to become a medic.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Her first duty station was in Germany with the 173rd<\/sup> Airborne Brigade Combat Team. From there she deployed to Afghanistan with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent the first six months of the deployment attached to 1-503rd<\/sup>, an infantry unit on FOB (Forward Operating Base) Airborne in the Wardak Province.\u201d she says. Amber provided medical care not only to US soldiers, but also Afghan civilians, Afghan National Army, and Afghan National Police. Essentially, she provided primary care to whoever came through the door\u2014illnesses and injuries.<\/p>\n

T<\/span>he last six months <\/span><\/strong>of Amber\u2019s deployment<\/span><\/span>\u00a0were\u00a0on FOB Shank in the Logar Province. \u201cWe actually had a surgical team there,\u201d she says. The multi-tent treatment facility included a Forward Surgical Team (FST) that was capable of managing serious trauma. She gained experience in a different setting in the patient hold. \u201cIt was inpatient, but usually stable. If there was a mass casualty event, then I had some expectant patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of four years she decided it was time for the next phase of her life. Although Amber appreciated her military experience, she wanted to pursue her career as a physician assistant.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a medic, I worked for multiple PAs. I was fortunate enough to work for several individuals who liked to teach and treat and who really demystified medicine for me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While using the GI Bill to complete her undergraduate degree, Amber worked as a medical assistant in urgent care. She also learned that the training she acquired as a medic did not translate into the private sector. \u201cYou have all these skills that require civilian credentials, and you don’t necessarily get the credentials formally from the military,\u201d she says. \u201cIn the military you do your own examinations, you do your own evaluations. You might order labs and come up with the treatment plan. If there was a question I could verify with one of our physician assistants.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Amber<\/a>
Amber sets an Afghan worker’s nasal fracture. The attending Major provides conscious sedation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When her husband\u2019s military assignment took the family to Washington State, she began the application process for MEDEX Northwest. To broaden her experience, she took a position as a medical assistant in an otolaryngology clinic while applying to the program. \u201cThat was the first time that I had worked in a surgical subspecialty,\u201d she tells us. \u201cThat was really cool. It was completely different than primary care.\u201d<\/p>\n

A<\/span>mber chose the MEDEX Seattle site<\/span><\/strong> because it offers a master\u2019s degree. Being so close to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the MEDEX Tacoma site focuses heavily on serving veterans. But it remains a bachelor\u2019s only site until 2020 when the entire physician assistant profession converts to master\u2019s exclusively.<\/p>\n

Now halfway through her didactic year, we ask how things are going.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like it,\u201d she says. \u201cHaving worked full time and in the military, you have deployments, and you have these 24-hour shifts all the time. So it\u2019s nice to just be a student who has six hours a day in class and then you’re free to go. There’s so much more autonomy. It’s also nice to have a break from the working world. And I know what I\u2019m working towards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Amber<\/a>
Amber with her husband and son.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amber appreciates the consideration given to veterans at MEDEX Northwest. Amber\u2019s husband is still active duty and was reassigned to Washington. She had already been accepted into another PA program and had to make a choice. \u201cI wanted to keep my family together,\u201d she says. And while the other PA school was very welcoming, they failed to recognize the challenges faced by veterans and their families.<\/p>\n

Amber finds that the MEDEX recognizes the particular culture of military veterans. This even translates into the classroom where students\u2014veterans and civilians alike\u2014discuss the issues facing the veteran students. \u201cI just don’t think you’re going to get that in other programs, honestly,\u201d she says. \u201cIt’s very reassuring, and it’s just a lot of support. There’s a lot of faculty who are veterans here. And they really get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Seattle Class 49, graduation is August of 2017, with the national certification exam to follow. Amber envisions working in family medicine but, at the same time, is open to other possibilities. \u201cI like a bit of everything,\u201d she tells us.<\/p>\n

Standing at the precipice of PA school, Amber is already thinking of ways to pay it forward. \u201cIt’s exciting to know I’m going to be in that kind of role where I can really make a difference,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to be able to do the kinds of things that I was starting to be able to do, but to understand more of it. It’s just so cool.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During four years of service as an Army Healthcare Specialist, Amber Huynh performed tasks that ranged from mundane to unusual. Whatever the job was, she had the guidance of PAs to count on each step of the way. Now, she looks forward to being the knowledgeable professional she once looked up to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8269,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-veterans"],"cp_meta_data":{"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["31"],"student_name":["Amber Huynh"],"_edit_last":["1"],"_thumbnail_id":["8269"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8268"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17345,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8268\/revisions\/17345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}