{"id":10797,"date":"2017-07-06T11:13:10","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T18:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/?p=10797"},"modified":"2022-03-18T23:12:55","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T23:12:55","slug":"medex-incoming-class-2017-healthcare-as-a-team-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/medex-incoming-class-2017-healthcare-as-a-team-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"MEDEX Incoming Class 2017: Healthcare As A Team Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<span class=\"dropcap\">O<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 18pt\"><strong>n June 26<sup>th<\/sup><\/strong><\/span>, a total of 130 new MEDEX Northwest students convened in Seattle on the campus of the University of Washington. In preparation for this day, each had been working independently on an online Anatomy and Physiology review since March. &nbsp;The students of the 2017 incoming class came from four different MEDEX sites\u2014Anchorage, Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma. Over the next six weeks they will be learning, studying together and building bonds before returning to their respective site locations.\n\nThe excitement was palpable as MEDEX Northwest Program Director Terry Scott, MPA, PA-C addressed the crowd.\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"MEDEX Day One 2017\" width=\"1020\" height=\"574\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4TQfBoqk0Ic?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n&nbsp;\n\n<span class=\"dropcap\">\u201cI<\/span> <span style=\"font-size: 18pt\"><strong>want to welcome you<\/strong><\/span> on behalf of this talented faculty and staff to the MEDEX program,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat have you just entered into? Well, the next couple of years are going to be ones of tremendous growth for you. You might take a picture of yourself today, post it on the refrigerator. Take one a year from today, then two years from now. You\u2019ll still be in essence the same individual, but in a lot of ways you\u2019ll be so different. Medical training and medical education does that to all of us. We have to send you through a rigorous training process that, by its very nature, will transform you in many ways.\u201d\n\nTerry Scott continued: \u201cYou should feel really proud of yourselves. For every one of you that\u2019s here, there are ten individuals that would like to be here.\u201d\n\nThe statistics bear this out. A total of 1,550 candidates applied to the 2017 incoming program, winnowed down by to rigorous selection process to the current cohort of 130.\n\nNext, Dr. Paul Ramsey, Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Washington, spoke to the incoming students.\n<div>[smartslider3 slider=125]<\/div>\n<span class=\"dropcap\">\u201cY<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 18pt\"><strong>ou are joining us<\/strong><\/span> at what I consider to be the most challenging time in the history of health and healthcare,\u201d said Dean Ramsey. \u201cResearch is changing what we know about health, disease, how to diagnose, and treat disease. What you will be doing is, of course, healthcare. But what we do\u2014what you will be doing\u2014is about improving health. It\u2019s also a challenging time\u2014a time of uncertainty. We don\u2019t really know what the US healthcare system is going to be like in terms of providing coverage for patients to see us. Regardless of what goes on with that Senate Bill in Congress, access to healthcare is one of our primary problems. It\u2019s one of the reasons I say that this is one of the most challenging times in history.\u201d\n\n\u201cToo many people around the world, and certainly too many citizens of our country, do not have appropriate access to healthcare,\u201d continued Dean Ramsey. \u201cAt UW Medicine, it\u2019s our mission to improve the health of the public. How we\u2019re going to change in the next 10, 20 to 30 years will be led by you.\u201d\n\nMEDEX Northwest is part of the Department of Family Medicine at UW Medicine. The department\u2019s new chair, Dr. Paul James, formerly of the University of Iowa, addressed the crowd next.\n<div>[smartslider3 slider=126]<\/div>\n<span class=\"dropcap\">\u201cI<\/span> <span style=\"font-size: 18pt\"><strong>feel the excitement<\/strong><\/span> and energy in this room,\u201d said Dr. James. \u201cYou\u2019re in a very special place and, as Dr. Ramsey says, you\u2019re in a very special time. You have chosen the PA profession. I hope you\u2019re here for the right reason which, in some way, relates to service to others. You\u2019re going to work really, really hard. And you really need to be motivated for the right reasons.\u201d\n\n\u201cI want you to think about your role as a learner,\u201d added Dr. James. \u201cNow that you have started on this pathway, it\u2019s going to be hard to turn back. You invested a lot of money. So let\u2019s work hard because there are people out there\u2014at their jobs today, having breakfast this morning\u2014that are going to come into contact with you, and they\u2019re going to ask for your help. You don\u2019t know who they are\u2014they\u2019re somebody\u2019s mother, child, brother or sister\u2014and they\u2019re going to need you to know what you\u2019re doing. That\u2019s a heavy burden, but there\u2019s great opportunity in that. Because healthcare today is a team sport. I\u2019m a well-trained doctor, but I\u2019ve been put in situations where I didn\u2019t think I had everything I needed. You can be put into situations where you have to think methodically, you have to think disciplined, and you have to give your best to others. And we can do that as a team. And we can do that knowing that each of us are trained to do our part.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is a great day to think of as a transition from being whoever you were in your past life to now being on this pathway where you\u2019re going to intersect with patients, and you\u2019re going to help them. There is no greater experience in all the world than to help others. You\u2019re in the right place, you\u2019re in the right time. You\u2019re in a great program.\u201d\n<div>[smartslider3 slider=127]<\/div>\n<span class=\"dropcap\">T<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 18pt\"><strong>he orientation event continued<\/strong><\/span> with faculty and staff introductions, and a presentation on the historic origins of the MEDEX Northwest program under the leadership of its founder, Dr. Richard A. Smith.\n\nThe morning concluded with the students and faculty from each site breaking into a group meeting. The largest site is Seattle with 50 students, followed by Spokane at 30, Tacoma with 27 and Anchorage with 23.\n\nAmong the 2017 incoming class are 51 males and 79 females. 16.5%, or a total of 22, are military veterans. 110 come from within the 5-state WWAMI Region: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. 20 are residents from outside that area.\n\nWe\u2019d like you to meet six of these new students, each of them promising for their own unique accomplishments and aspirations. We think you\u2019ll agree that the future of the PA profession is looking bright.\n\n<hr>\n\n<span style=\"font-size: 18pt\"><strong>Jake Collins \u2013 Seattle Class 51<\/strong><\/span>\n\nJake Collins comes to the MEDEX Northwest program from a position of healthcare advocacy with the LGBT community. \u201cIt\u2019s been kind of a stepwise journey,\u201d he explains.\n\nOriginally from Dacula, Georgia, Jake got his MPH from the University of Arizona. That led him to Los Angeles to work in HIV\/AIDS non-profits. \u201cI was a health educator for a while and ended up getting involved with an organization called <em>The Men&#8217;s Health Foundation,<\/em> part of an LGBT clinic in West Hollywood,\u201d Jake says.\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jacob-Collins.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10890\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jacob-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\"><\/a>\n\nThe Foundation also performed clinical research, and Jake got involved with their clinical research doing HIV treatment trials.\n\n\u201cI really enjoyed this because I got to work with the LGBT patient population, mostly gay HIV positive men,\u201d he says. \u201cCoordinating research trials was a great experience. I always knew I wanted to work with this specific population, but this gave me the experience in a clinical setting to kind of dip my toes in the water and see if that was something I was interested in.\u201d\n\nJake became the face of the clinic for the patients participating in research trials. As the clinical research coordinator, he was taking vitals, drawing blood, doing entry, etc. But he didn\u2019t really have the opportunity to make any decisions about the patient\u2019s health.\n<div>[smartslider3 slider=128]<\/div>\n\u201cThe physician, PA or nurse practitioner would see the patient for the physical exams, have close contact, make decisions on their health, and offer treatment plans,\u201d he says. From observation and, later, shadowing, Jake realized that this was the role that he wanted to have.\n\n\u201cI wanted to be able to have that kind of impact,\u201d he says. \u201cSeeing the role that LGBT Health Services have in our community, I mean, we do have specific health needs. Having a competent provider who actually cares enough to put in that extra thought and effort, well, it really means a lot to the patient. That is something I wanted to do.\u201d\n\nThe way Jake tells it, there was a PA in his office that saw his potential and pushed him to consider the physician assistant path. \u201cI really appreciated that because I was content with my job at the time. But I think he believed in me and encouraged me to look into it.\u201d\n\nFrom that time of realization, it took Jake around two and a half years to get to the point where he was accepted into the MEDEX program. Of course, there was a lot of planning, including making certain he had all the necessary prerequisites. \u201cI didn&#8217;t have all of them, and I think some of them were getting close to expiring,\u201d he says.\n\nLooking ahead, Jake sees himself continuing working with the LGBT community upon graduation from MEDEX in August of 2019.\n\n\u201cThat&#8217;s the main reason why I want to become a PA,\u201d he states. \u201cWorking in HIV has been the highlight of my career so far, and being involved in the health care for a community that is so personally important to me is like a dream come true.\u201d\n\nWe ask Jake if he expects to return to Los Angeles after graduation.\n\n\u201cActually, this program worked out really well for me because I&#8217;ve always kind of wanted to live in Seattle,\u201d he says. \u201cI love the city, and I&#8217;ll probably stay here. It&#8217;s a big HIV center on the West Coast, and there are a lot of physicians already doing great work up here. So I anticipate being here for a while.\u201d\n\nJake takes in a deep breath then beams his contagious smile.\n\n\u201cI&#8217;m very excited to get started here with MEDEX, and I&#8217;m so happy that the school chose me.\u201d\n\n<hr>\n\n<span style=\"font-size: 18pt\"><strong>Jenelle Johnson \u2013 Anchorage Class 9<\/strong><\/span>\n\nJenelle Johnson is a champion of remote Alaskan community health. Originally from Nome\u2014population 3,800\u2014she sees one of the biggest challenges as getting trained providers out into these rural areas.\n\n\u201cAs I understand it, it\u2019s hard to get people to make that initial trip to rural Alaska,\u201d she says.\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Janelle-Johnson.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10891\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Janelle-Johnson.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\"><\/a>\n\nIn the face of these shortages, the state puts a lot on local community health aides. \u201cI think they\u2019re a really valuable resource,\u201d says Jenelle. \u201cI\u2019d like to learn more about the role our health aides play and eventually work alongside them.\u201d\n\nAlaska\u2019s health aide network dates back to before statehood. For patients living in some of Alaska&#8217;s most remote communities, the health aides can make all the difference. The Alaska Community Health Aide Program network&#8217;s strength lies in its strong ties to the local communities. Individual community health aides usually have personal ties to the places they serve. Today, CHAP consists of a network of approximately 550 Community Health Aides\/Practitioners (CHA\/Ps) in more than 170 rural Alaska villages.\n\n<figure id=\"attachment_10917\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10917\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jenelle-Johnson-fishing-in-Alaska.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10917\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jenelle-Johnson-fishing-in-Alaska-400x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10917\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jenelle Johnson fishing in Alaska<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\u201cCommunities that some might consider small and remote, like Nome, actually serve as hubs for the smaller surrounding villages,\u201d explains Jenelle. In many ways it\u2019s a fragile landscape for healthcare with big distances and a lot of obstacles. \u201cSometimes, a health aide or provider has to reach out to somebody at a bigger facility like Nome or Anchorage by telemedicine for assistance.\u201d\n\nJenelle has lived in Anchorage for about nine years, and admits that her background is bit different from her fellow students of the incoming 2017 MEDEX class.\n\nAlways interested in health sciences, she started out as a pre-nursing major. She then took a break from college and got certified as a medical assistant. She soon returned to school where a microbiology class diverted her path. \u201cI loved microbiology and changed my major to medical laboratory science,\u201d she tells us.\n\nJenelle was a first-year applicant to MEDEX, and it was her lab work that qualified her for the program. We\u2019d add that her commitment to rural underserved weighed heavily in the decision as well.\n\n\u201cAs a lab tech, my patient contact was minimal,\u201d she says. \u201cWhich is a big part of why I stepped away from the lab. I was craving that patient contact.\u201d\n\n[smartslider3 slider=129]\n\nJenelle is really interested in women&#8217;s health, emergency medicine and primary care. \u201cI\u2019ve always been interested in women\u2019s health and emergency medicine, but I\u2019ve been drawn more and more toward family practice the past few years,\u201d she tells us.\n\nAt the completion of her two years at MEDEX in Anchorage, Jenelle would love to end up back home in Nome. \u201cI think Nome is like a lot of other small communities around the state, where there\u2019s a constant need for providers,\u201d she says. \u201cGiving back to my home community would be incredibly meaningful to me.\u201d\n\nThat said, Jenelle would consider another remote rural community. \u201cI\u2019m also interested in exploring Alaska,\u201d she says.\n\n<hr>\n\n<span style=\"font-size: 18pt\"><strong>Matthew Yap \u2013 Spokane Class 21<\/strong><\/span>\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve never lived out of the state of Hawaii,\u201d says Matthew Yap. \u201cSo, you know, this is a new experience.\u201d\n\nMatthew was raised on The Big Island, a land mass largely covered by volcanic basalt except for the fertile greenery hugging the coastal edges. \u201cI grew up hunting and fishing,\u201d he explains. \u201cLife was rural and pretty much do-it-yourself. We didn\u2019t have county water, we had catchment water. It was really different.\u201d\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Matthew-Yap.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10892\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Matthew-Yap.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\"><\/a>\n\nOf Chinese and Japanese ancestry, Matthew Yap\u2019s family has been in Hawaii for five generations now.\n\nWhile speaking with him we had to ask for clarification on a few words.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve got to control my Pidgin,\u201d he says in response. \u201cIt\u2019s our local language in Hawaii, and we have a different accent. It\u2019s expected there, but no one knows what I\u2019m speaking here.\u201d\n\n<figure id=\"attachment_10918\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10918\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Matthew-on-Mauna-Kea-near-the-Big-Island-observatories.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10918\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Matthew-on-Mauna-Kea-near-the-Big-Island-observatories-400x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10918\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matthew Yap on Mauna Kea near the Big Island observatories.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\nFor five years Matthew worked as an EMT on the more populous island of Oahu. He started as an EMT with the City and County of Honolulu. Eventually, the hours in public service proved to be too much for him. He then found employment with American Medical Response, a private ambulance company.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s like I didn\u2019t have a life, working 16 hour shifts every day,\u201d says Matthew.\n\nDuring this period, Matthew learned about the role of the physician assistant, and started to consider it for himself. Working for a private ambulance company, AMR, freed him to return to school and knock off his prerequisites in preparation for PA school.\n\nWe ask Matthew what he expects the transition from EMT to provider will be like.\n\n\u201cI think it&#8217;s going to be hard, because they drilled it into us to look at medicine from a certain perspective,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd that training, it&#8217;s like a lifestyle. But this is a new lifestyle\u2014a whole new mindset\u2014and I&#8217;ve got to adapt. Stop being an EMT, because this is a whole new game. It&#8217;ll be good.\u201d\n\nPrior to acceptance at MEDEX, Matthew did all his PA shadowing at West Hawaii Community Clinic. There\u2019s no physician assistant training program in Hawaii, so all practicing PAs within the state must get their education and certification on the mainland. But Matthew\u2019s clear where he\u2019s heading after graduation in 2019.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m definitely going back to The Big Island,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s all pretty open for me, and I\u2019m looking to work in Family Practice.\u201d\n\n<hr>\n\n<span style=\"font-size: 18pt\"><strong>Molly Reque \u2013 Anchorage Class 9<\/strong><\/span>\n\nPursuing a career as a physician assistant has been a lifelong dream for Molly Reque, and she is excited to finally be here. \u201cExcited and a little nervous,\u201d she tells us. \u201cIt is definitely a huge life change.\u201d\n\nMolly comes from a military background. She had just finished school at Bemidji State University when she felt obligated to join the US Army. Molly went to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and trained to become an Army medic at Fort Sam Houston in Texas.\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Molly-22Q22-Reque.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10894\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Molly-22Q22-Reque.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\"><\/a>\n\nMolly had studied pre-med in college because, \u201cI enjoy helping people,\u201d she says. \u201cI have empathy for the pains in the world. At the same time, I like learning and problem-solving.\u201d\n\nHer first deployment to Iraq was as a ground medic supporting the convoys. Molly worked to keep her fellow soldiers alive until the MEDEVAC helicopters arrived and picked them up. \u201cIt was a different part of my life, but a good part,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve never regretted it.\u201d\n\n<figure id=\"attachment_10920\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10920\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Molly-Reque-and-dogs.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10920\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Molly-Reque-and-dogs-400x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10920\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Molly Reque at home in Alaska with her dogs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\nReturning from that first deployment, Molly trained to become a flight medic, and was subsequently sent out on her second deployment. Returning stateside again, Molly was looking at her ETS date\u2014Expiration Term of Service. She was facing a choice: re-up with the military for a third deployment, or consider her path into a civilian medical career. In 2010, she applied to the MEDEX program and was accepted into the 2011 Anchorage Class. At the time she was stationed at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska. In the spring of that year, she commenced with her online studies of Anatomy and Physiology prior to the start of summer classroom.\n\nBut, as Molly tells it, \u201clife happened.&#8221; The opportunity for a third deployment arose, and she withdrew from MEDEX Anchorage Class 3 to accept the deployment. \u201cI really felt obligated to deploy again,\u201d she says.\n\nAt the same time there were drawdowns in deployments due to military budget cuts. \u201cWe were put on hold for a while,\u201d Molly says. \u201cYou know, I had already withdrawn from the MEDEX program, and I couldn\u2019t exactly go to them and say, \u2018Oh, change of plans\u2019.\u201d\n\nInstead, Molly redirected her efforts towards flight school as part of the military flight program. Immediately following graduation from the Army Flight School in Ft. Rucker, Alabama, Molly went on a third deployment, this time as a pilot.\n\nAt the end of that deployment, Molly reapplied to MEDEX for the 2015 school year, this time to find her application rejected. It was recommended that she refresh her prerequisites and get some civilian medicine training.\n<div>[smartslider3 slider=130]<\/div>\n\u201cI was now in the Alaska National Guard, so I was able to hold a civilian job and fly for the guard,\u201d Molly says. She worked full-time as a medical assistant in Palmer, went to school in the evenings to cover her prerequisites, maintained the mandatory military flight hours required, and eventually reapplied to MEDEX for a third time.\n\nThe third time\u2019s the charm, so here Molly sits today as a member of MEDEX Anchorage Class 9. Graduation is two years away, and there are many academic and clinical hurdles ahead. But given her extensive background with the military, we wonder what kind of medicine she envisions for herself at the end of it all.\n\n\u201cProbably emergency medicine, or maybe surgical,\u201d she says. \u201cSomething that requires you to think on your feet.\u201d\n\n<hr>\n\n<span style=\"font-size: 18pt\"><strong>Michael Johnson \u2013 Tacoma Class 5<\/strong><\/span>\n\nMichael Johnson has a bold assessment behind his decision to attend physician assistant training.\n\n\u201cWith everything that&#8217;s going on in healthcare right now, it&#8217;s a very unstable climate. We don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s going to happen tomorrow. Literally. So I really feel that now it&#8217;s an important time to become a provider. I really want to help to extend healthcare to as many people as possible. That&#8217;s what I see myself doing. That is my dream.\u201d\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Michael-Johnson.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10893\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Michael-Johnson.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\"><\/a>\n\nClearly, Michael is a strong mission fit for MEDEX Northwest.\n\nHis path to the program started in the Air Force where he trained as a laboratory technician. He was stationed in various places, including Arizona, and then went to Alaska. \u201cThat was a bit of a temperature change there,\u201d he says with a smile.\n\nMichael transitioned out of the military, moved to Alaska and started a family with his wife.&nbsp;There, he worked for the Providence Health System for about 12 years as a laboratory technician in various roles. These included work as a generalist in the chemistry and hematology departments and then, later on, work in microbiology.\n\n<figure id=\"attachment_10919\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10919\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Michael-Johnson-and-wife.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10919 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Michael-Johnson-and-wife-400x600.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10919\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Johnson and his wife in Alaska.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\u201cI found out I loved micro and kind of planted my feet there,\u201d Michael recounts. He was then recruited by one of the infectious disease doctors to become an infection manager. This job entailed surveying hospitals to determine the risks of spreading infectious diseases like MRSA.\n\nShortly after he joined the military\u2014maybe 20 years ago\u2014Michael met an Air Force PA. \u201cI wasn&#8217;t quite sure what his role was,\u201d he tells us. \u201cI used to see him throughout the hospital, and sometimes we&#8217;d work out at the same gymnasium on the Air Force base. I asked him, \u2018I don&#8217;t know exactly what you do, but I know you do something.\u2019 So he told me, &#8216;Come down to my clinic.\u2019 He was IPAP trained, and he told me a bit about what his role entailed. I became really interested. I started thinking about that being a possibility.&#8221;\n\nLiving in Alaska, Michael heard that there was an effort to bring a PA training program to Anchorage through the University of Washington. Himself now out of the Air Force, Michael\u2019s wife remained on active duty military and was assigned to Fort Lewis in Washington State. This brought Michael even closer to the UW and its PA program, MEDEX Northwest.\n\nWith the move to the Pacific Northwest, several things aligned that made this period of intensive schooling possible. His two children are now adults at 19 and 25 years old, and his wife is currently stationed in Korea.\n<div>[smartslider3 slider=131]<\/div>\n\u201cI knew my dream was a possibility,\u201d he says. \u201cMEDEX is the only program that I applied to. Their mission statement resonates with me.\u201d Michael is referring to the MEDEX\u2019s focus on primary care with an emphasis on underserved populations.\n\n\u201cMy wife is Native American,\u201d Michael says. \u201cHer uncle lived in a remote Alaskan village without a lot of access to healthcare. He died of Hepatitis C. To see that\u2014to see that from the perspective of a loved one\u2014really does something to you. That experience really solidified for me the desire to help people that live in underserved communities.\u201d\n\nMichael and his wife bought a house here in Washington, but they still own a home in Alaska. That always leaves the possibility of returning north once he graduates from MEDEX.\n\n\u201cI&#8217;d love to go back,\u201d he says. \u201cMy dream job is to work in a remote village in Alaska, because I know there&#8217;s a great need for that. Whether the cards will play out that way, you know, at this stage is still pretty early. But my ultimate goal and dream job is to work out in a remote facility.\u201d\n\n<hr>\n\n<span style=\"font-size: 18pt\"><strong>Mylinda Cizmowski \u2013 Anchorage Class 9<\/strong><\/span>\n\nMylinda Cizmowski is in a bit of shock. She\u2019s from Healy, Alaska\u2014population just over 1,000. Now she\u2019s spending the next six weeks in Seattle with 130 incoming students to the MEDEX 2017 program.\n\n\u201cOh, my, there are so many people,\u201d she exclaims. \u201cIt\u2019s so hot, and the streets are so different. I hear Amazon comes straight to your door within hours, in a day or less than a week.\u201d\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mylinda-Cizmowski.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10895\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mylinda-Cizmowski.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\"><\/a>\n\nAt age 24, Mylinda is one of the youngest members of the incoming class. And yet the experience she brings to MEDEX belies this fact.\n\nAs an EMT-3, it was Mylinda and a physician assistant running a 9-to-5 medical clinic at Clear Air Force Base about 70 miles south of Fairbanks. \u201cIt was just me and the PA,\u201d she says. That included emergency services after hours.\n\nOh, and did we mention this was 24 hours, a week at a time?\n\n\u201cI would go to work for a week, then I&#8217;d come home for a week,\u201d she says. \u201cSo we stayed, we slept there. They had housing for us.\u201d Mylinda would make the commute to her weeklong shift from Healy, about 35 miles away.\n\n<figure id=\"attachment_10921\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10921\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mylinda-and-husband.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10921\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mylinda-and-husband-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10921\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mylinda and her husband at home in Healy, Alaska.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\nMylinda\u2019s job duties were wide ranging. \u201cI started by registering patients. I would check them in, take their vitals, get their past medical history. Then, I would assist the PA in whatever we did, since it was just the two of us there. I&#8217;d hook up all the EKGs, run the EKGs. I did all the labs, all the blood draws. I\u2019d do everything from the administrative work all the way through.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s clear that her contributions to the clinic operations were essential. \u201cYeah, I got a lot of experience,\u201d she says.\n\nThis all started back in Healy, Alaska when Mylinda and her family were under the care of John Winklmann, PA-C, graduate of MEDEX Class 4 from 1972. \u201cHe took care of me, and he took care of my dad,\u201d she says. \u201cHonestly, I had no idea he was a PA. At the clinic we called him Dr. John. Just watching the way that he practiced medicine and took care of our whole community, it was really inspiring.\u201d\n\nIn high school Mylinda declared she wanted to go to medical school and become a doctor. \u201cI did shadow hours at the hospital, but I didn&#8217;t like the lack of patient contact doctors had,\u201d she says. \u201cSo I actually followed nurses, and I decided to go to nursing school.\u201d\n\nMylinda didn&#8217;t actually attend nursing school, but completed all the prerequisites and was accepted to their BSN program. While she was waiting to begin the program, she started working with PAs at the Clear Air Force Base, and that refocused her efforts yet again.\n\nNow that\u2019s she in the MEDEX Anchorage 9 class, she envisions returning to remote Alaska after graduation.\n\n\u201cYeah, absolutely. Straight out of school I want to be good and confident in rural medicine. Initially, I want to work in something fast-paced, so I&#8217;m confident when I go back to Healy. But, ultimately I want to be practicing in my hometown. I live in Healy. I own a house there. My husband works there. We&#8217;re not going anywhere. \u201c\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since 1969 MEDEX Northwest has admitted the best and brightest to its physician assistant program. This year saw 130 new individuals set aside the next two years of their lives to prepare for their place in the US healthcare system. Each was selected for their unique background and promise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-didactic-experience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16254,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10797\/revisions\/16254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}