{"id":14003,"date":"2019-08-01T08:43:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T15:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/?p=14003"},"modified":"2019-08-01T08:43:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T15:43:00","slug":"no-reason-to-hit-the-brakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/no-reason-to-hit-the-brakes\/","title":{"rendered":"No Reason To Hit The Brakes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"dropcap\">T<\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt\">imara Freeman-Young is a single mom<\/span><\/strong> raising a 10-year-old son while at the MEDEX Northwest program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cActually, I don&#8217;t know that I have been raising him during PA school as much as he\u2019s been raising the both of us,\u201d she says. \u201cHe\u2019s had to grow up pretty fast. Yeah, he\u2019s a great kid. We\u2019ve also had a lot of help from family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still, there are all sorts of challenges parenting while being in an intensive academic program.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Timara Freeman Young, MEDEX Northwest, Seattle Class 51\" width=\"1020\" height=\"574\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d0nzrQoLITs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m not home much,\u201d Timara tells us. \u201cAnd when I am home, I&#8217;m usually pretty stressed out, but he\u2019s my number one priority. We figured out ways to make home life feel good in short spurts. We have a lot of kitchen dance parties and we do our homework together. He\u2019s learned to cook. It\u2019s busy but fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Timara admits that she used to being an excellent student.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was really proud of that about myself. And in order to be a better parent during school, I&#8217;ve had to lower the bar a little bit on myself as a student, and that has been humbling. But then, medicine is humbling. And I think that it\u2019s important that we take these humbling experiences and recognize them for what they are. Because every time a patient comes into an exam room, they&#8217;re experiencing that for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"dropcap\">T<\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt\">hese insights might lead you to believe<\/span><\/strong> that Timara Freeman-Young has a background in psychology, and you\u2019d be right.<\/p>\n<p>Early on Timara knew that she wanted to work with people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew that I wanted to treat people who were in distress or who needed acute care,\u201d she tells us. \u201cI just didn&#8217;t see a path for myself at that time, so I ended up getting my degree in psychology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Timara reflects for a moment, then continues. \u201cYou know, ultimately, I&#8217;m really glad that\u2019s the way my life went because both the degree and the experiences that I got as part of that have led me here.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>[smartslider3 slider=230]<\/div>\n<p>With her bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology, Timara worked as a counselor with women who had experienced intimate partner violence. Later, as a youth development specialist for <em>Planned Parenthood<\/em>, her focus was young women at risk for teen pregnancy along with their families. She describes this work in rural Lewis County as \u201ca marriage between sexuality education and mental health counseling\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had a thousand jobs,\u201d Timara says. But the counseling work with young women in Lewis County took root and paved the way for her future career as a physician assistant. \u201cMy initial degrees and education in psychology have not just been relevant, it\u2019s been critical to my role as a PA student, and is a foundational part of my skill set.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That said, Timara admits there\u2019s a toll taken when working in behavioral health.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI loved the work, but it was also very emotionally challenging. I had considered medicine straight out of high school so it was at the top of the list when my son was a toddler and I was considering a career change. Behavioral health is deeply rewarding but can feel like an uphill battle. I wanted an occupation where I could see a measurable impact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Timara sat down with a career counselor and discussed her life and career goals. \u201cWe deconstructed my previous jobs and compiled a list of my interests, skills and strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The first job the counselor suggested was a PA. And to that, Timara replied, \u2018What&#8217;s a PA?\u2019&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As she researched the profession it became clear that was the right career path for Timara. She returned to school, got certified as a Medical Assistant, sought out an internship, and then employment with <em>Country Doctor Community Health Centers.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had heard about them and loved their work,\u201d she says. \u201c<em>Country Doctor<\/em> is a really special place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"dropcap\">T<\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt\">imara has always been drawn to work<\/span><\/strong> for organizations that are mission-driven. As a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), <em>Country Doctor<\/em> embodies an urban underserved mission. In fact, it was founded by community activists 50 years ago to meet the healthcare needs of the poor and marginalized. Country Doctor continues in that tradition today.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>Country Doctor\u2019s <\/em>first clinic, <em>Carolyn Downs Family Medical Center<\/em>, was started in part by members of Seattle\u2019s<em> Black Panther Party<\/em>,\u201d she explains. \u201cThey recognized that there wasn\u2019t good medical care for people of color living in Seattle\u2019s Central District.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_14025\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14025\" style=\"width: 167px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Vert1-Timara-Freeman-Young.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-14025\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Vert1-Timara-Freeman-Young-167x250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"167\" height=\"250\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14025\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Country Doctor Community Clinic on Capitol Hill in Seattle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Timara continues: \u201cFrom the beginning, <em>Country Doctor<\/em> actively sought out folks who don&#8217;t otherwise have access to excellent medical care. And they provide care regardless of a person&#8217;s ability to pay. Throughout their history, they&#8217;ve continued to find pockets of the community who are being left out. Whether that\u2019s refugees or immigrants, those living with HIV or hepatitis or, more recently, people with opioid addiction, they&#8217;ve managed to stay current and deeply aligned with the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When we caught up with Timara, she was at a 4-week clinical rotation back at <em>Country Doctor<\/em> as part of her final year in MEDEX Seattle Class 51.\u00a0 After working at the clinic as an MA for two years, she\u2019s returned in student status, seeing patients under the watchful eye of familiar providers.<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of her various clinical rotations, Timara has been exposed to areas of medicine apart from family medicine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve really opened up to other specialties,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ve always wanted to work with the underserved,\u201c she says. \u201cThat\u2019s never been a question. Clinical year has been fantastic in that I\u2019ve gotten to rotate with excellent preceptors in multiple areas of medicine. I knew I would like community health but was surprised by how much I enjoyed my other clerkships. I loved emergency, palliative care, inpatient psychiatry, infectious disease, surgery. Honestly, I haven\u2019t met a specialty I didn\u2019t enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"dropcap\">O<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 18pt\"><strong>ne of the reasons<\/strong><\/span> Timara chose the PA profession was the opportunity for variety.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can hone in on a specialty for three to seven years and then you can change, and that is exciting to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>[smartslider3 slider=231]<\/div>\n<p>\u201cOne of the gifts and challenges of the PA profession is the opportunity for variety,\u201d she says. \u201cI thrive in environments where things are constantly changing. It\u2019s also important to me that I get to use both my brain and my heart. I suspect emergency medicine would be a good fit for me because of the inherent variety and fast pace. Long term I can see myself pursuing a more generalist role either as a hospitalist or in internal medicine. Right now, my sights are just set on next year. I\u2019m currently looking into fellowship opportunities so I can deepen my skill set in one area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Timara also understands the impediments created by our current healthcare system. On the one hand, she\u2019s seeing family medicine patients who are getting good medical care but are let down by the system in general.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are folks who may have an incredible PCP,\u201d she says. \u201cBut they also have comorbidities. Maybe their insurance doesn&#8217;t cover the services that they actually need. It is not uncommon for an insurer to thinks that a surgery or medicine is unnecessary, when we know it is critical in order for the patient to survive life on the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, there are Americans who have no reasonable access to healthcare.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re seeing patients who cannot get what they need,\u201d she says. \u201cThese folks are going to die earlier because they don&#8217;t have money and don&#8217;t have access. Folks with drug addictions, who want to get sober but don&#8217;t have an insurance plan that covers the services they need in order to do so successfully. Others who suffer unnecessarily from manageable conditions because the cost of treatment is prohibitive. Behavioral health services are rarely covered. It\u2019s really discouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"dropcap\">D<\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt\">espite this, Timara has faith<\/span><\/strong> that there are some at work subverting these limitations within US healthcare.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes providers have to get creative,\u201d she states. \u201cThey find ways to get services to folks who really need them. At <em>Country Doctor<\/em>, if there&#8217;s a need in the community and the program doesn&#8217;t exist, then they&#8217;re ready to go out and make it happen. It&#8217;s where medicine, altruism and true social justice meet. And that&#8217;s inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>[smartslider3 slider=232]<\/div>\n<p>Timara contends that providers do not have great resources to facilitate lasting behavioral change for patients managing chronic illness. To address this, she\u2019s designing a tool for habit formation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe all have opportunities to initiate behavior change in our lives, whether it&#8217;s eating better, losing weight or taking our medications,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the subject of her Capstone Project, a culminating assignment due prior to graduation from MEDEX in August.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m writing a book instead of a Capstone. Story of my life. Try to do it all!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The average age of the MEDEX student is 30 years. Timara Freeman-Young has gone through the Seattle-based PA education program as an older adult despite hearing others position their age as a limitation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I hear people say, I don\u2019t like what I\u2019m doing but I\u2019m too old to make a career change. \u00a0I tell them I&#8217;m 46 and in school with 25-year-olds who are freaking awesome! We hold this cultural belief that growth and education is supposed to stop in early adulthood. That is a mythology I\u2019m not buying into.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_14026\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14026\" style=\"width: 167px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Vert1-Timara-Freeman-Young-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-14026\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/medex\/wp-content\/uploads\/Vert1-Timara-Freeman-Young-1-167x250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"167\" height=\"250\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14026\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rich Kovar, MD and Timara Freeman-Young at Country Doctor Community Clinic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe get to choose what we do with our time if we are privileged enough to have our health, our faculties, and resources. So, there\u2019s something I would say to anybody considering becoming a PA, who has this voice that says, \u2018Oh, I&#8217;m too old, I can&#8217;t do it, or learning is going to be impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would say that you <em>can<\/em> do it. You can do it. Yes, it is hard with the challenges of having a full life outside of school, of having family, of having other things going on. But that\u2019s true for all students. Yes, my memory at 46 is not as sharp as it was 20 years ago. Some days I can&#8217;t remember where I left my car keys, let alone a list of inotropes. So, it can take me a little longer to learn things. But the time will pass regardless of how we spend it, so we may as well choose something that gives us joy. Time is no reason to hit the brakes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coming from a behavioral medicine background, Timara Freeman-Young sees the obstacles in U.S. healthcare, and wants to be a force for change in both the system and patient\u2019s lives. She cut her teeth in family medicine as a MA at Seattle\u2019s venerable Country Doctor Community Clinic. Now an older student in Seattle MEDEX Class 51, she\u2019s accustomed to defying expectations.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14005,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clinical-experience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14003","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=14003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}