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AAPA News Conference Daily
2005
Veterans
Caucus Memorial Day Ceremony Honors Memory of First PA Killed
in Combat in Iraq
By
Doug Scott
The
evening will long be remembered in the hearts of those PAs and
friends who shared the grief of all the soldiers who have died
to defend the United States — not only today in Iraq but in past
encounters as well. But it was an especially emotional evening
for the PA community when all held hands and shed tears together
in memory of Army Capt. Sean Grimes, who became the first PA to
be killed in action in the Iraqi conflict.
But
like many of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who died while
serving oversees this past year, both military and civilian PAs
alike came to recognize at this year’s Memorial Day Ceremony that
what Grimes represented was all the best qualities a PA can stand
for — he cared for his patients, he was devoted to proving the
best possible medical care, he served his country, and it cost
him his life.
In
speaking of Grimes at the 25th Anniversary of the AAPA Veterans
Caucus Memorial Day Ceremony, caucus Past President Maj. John
Padgett told the audience, “He chose to serve and went with his
troops in harm’s way in the service of his nation. And like us,
he realized that while our nation may not be perfect, it is worth
defending even to the end. Like us, he recognized that the words
duty, honor, and country are not just words, but concepts to be
lived.”
Grimes,
31, was killed along with three other soldiers on March 4, when
a roadside bomb exploded while the group was on patrol in Ramadi
, Iraq . During his service, Grimes received numerous awards,
including the Army Commendation Medal, the Kosovo Campaign Medal,
the Combat Medical Badge, Aviator Crewmen’s Wings, the Basic Parachutist
Badge, and the Air Assault Badge. In addition, he was posthumously
awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
“Like
many motivated soldiers, Sean volunteered for the assignment that
took him to Iraq where he carried on the tradition of being an
Army PA,” Col. Bill Tozier told the audience.
In
memory of his death, a new scholarship was created by the Veterans
Caucus, named the Capt. Sean P. Grimes PA-C US Army, Medical Specialist
Corps Memorial Scholarship, totaling $1,250. Funds to support
the scholarship were donated by past presidents of the Veterans
Caucus. Eugenia C. Roberts, of Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , a student
at the Chatham College PA Program, was named as the first recipient.
Also,
on behalf of the PA Foundation, its President Elect Don Pedersen
and Trustee Emeritus and Deputy U.S. Surgeon General Rear Adm.
Kenneth Moritsugu presented Grimes’ father with a Combat Medic
Sculpture, a replica of the life-size sculpture at the entrance
to the University of Utah PA Program.
“We
will not forget your son, Sean,” said Pedersen in presenting the
sculpture, which contains the Veterans Caucus motto: “Lifesavers
then … Caregivers now.”
“Our
professional brother and colleague, we will not forget the ultimate
sacrifice that he made to keep freedom alive.”
In
accepting the sculpture, Don Grimes said, “I would like to thank
everyone for this, and I would like to say that this was a fantastic
day for me and my family. When Sean was sent to Iraq, he sent
us an e-mail saying that all of us should pray for them and that,
in return, they would do their best and make sure that we would
be proud of them and their associates.”
The
evening’s ceremony was not reserved only for Grimes, but honored
all the men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces
who have not come home to their loved ones. In traditional Veterans
Caucus fashion, it was a ceremony that was a testament to not
only remembering and honoring so many brave soldiers, but also
remembering why they died.
As
the evening began, Veterans Caucus President Tim Egan reminded
the audience of the origins of Memorial Day, which began after
the Civil War, but originally was celebrated on different dates
by veterans’ groups of the Union and Confederate armies. Egan
said that May 30 was officially chosen because this was the date
that flowers normally begin blooming, but over the years, Memorial
Day has come to mean different things to different people.
“To
some it means a three-day weekend, or the beginning of the summer
recreation season; to others it means going to a baseball game
or family picnic, and for them it is a holiday,” Egan said. “However
for those of us who know the cost of defending liberty and freedom,
the day will always be more meaningful, for it is the day that
we honor our fallen comrades.”
As
a nation still living in the shadow of the terrorist attack of
September 11, 2001, keynote speaker Gordon Huie shared with the
audience his feelings about those service men and women who today
are standing in harm’s way in Iraq and Afghanistan. On September
11, Huie lost his sister Susan, who was working in Tower One,
floor 106, when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center.
“It
is with pride that we all remember this Memorial Day,” Huie said
tearfully. “Your great work is not taken for granted — whether
you are presently on active duty, inactive, or a veteran. Your
sacrifices were not in vain, and still are not in vain.”
In
one of the evening’s other highlights, caucus President Elect
Capt. Michael Milner announced the Veterans Caucus 2005 award
recipients. Dennis Woodsmanee was named Civilian of the Year,
Thomas Zampieri was given the rare Lifetime Achievement Award,
and Maj. John Nelson was awarded the Uniformed Service PA of the
Year Award.
Nelson
was recognized for his action in Iraq on December 21, 2004, when
a bomb exploded in the mess hall, killing 22 and wounding 64 soldiers.
While sustaining multiple wounds himself, he was able to provide
urgent medical care to those badly hurt.
In
accepting the award, Nelson seemed to sum up the feelings of many
in the audience by saying, “I love my job and I don’t think there
is any greater gift than being a soldier. But I didn’t give anymore,
and I didn’t do any less, than any one of you in this room would
have done in that circumstance. To those who were in World War
I and II, Korea, and Vietnam, all of you were the ones who made
me what I am today. You are my inspiration and my heroes.”
At
Trauma Center , Foreign Visitors Hear of Medical Roles
By
Hillel Kuttler
As
visitors from Great Britain turned a corner at Orlando Regional
Medical Center (ORMC) and entered the flex-care area yesterday,
there to discuss how American medical providers treat trauma victims
was a nurse … from England .
Celeen
Lincoln, who is from Wolverhampton, north of London, and has lived
in the United States for 18 years, explained to the delegations
from England, Scotland, and the Netherlands how PAs and NPs are
utilized at ORMC, and about their prescriptive privileges and
education and work backgrounds.
The
visit to the Level 1 trauma center in downtown Orlando came on
the second of three days of programs at AAPA’s annual conference
geared to deepening the understanding of the PA concept in the
United States for visitors from abroad. A visit was held simultaneously
yesterday to a local primary care office. Delegations from Taiwan
and Canada also are attending this year’s conference.
Visitors
to ORMC agreed afterward on the most impressive thing they’d seen
there: the helipad and helicopter that transport trauma victims
and transfer patients between hospitals.
ORMC
serves 90,000 patients annually, with two to three severe trauma
cases coming in daily, said Timothy Bullard, M.D., ORMC’s chief
medical officer. Bullard also serves as supervising physician
for a PA at the center. He explained to the visitors his use of
the term “physician extenders” to refer to PAs and NPs.
On
the tour, Bullard escorted his visitors to the decontamination
anteroom, trauma room, pediatrics resuscitation area, obstetric-trauma
bed (where emergency Caesarean sections are performed), and triage
lobby.
“There
are times that you don’t want to come here as a physician or physician
extender, because you’ll get mobbed,” said Bullard, standing in
the triage lobby, and pointing up and down the hall, where, he
explained, patients sometimes wait up to four hours to be seen.
“If
you want to come to America , you’ve chosen a good line of work
as physician extenders, because we could always use them,” Bullard
said with a laugh.
In
answer to a question, Bullard said that except in the most routine
cases, like removing sutures, supervising physicians in his emergency
department must review a PA’s or NP’s treatment before a patient’s
discharge.
“For
the hospital, there is the expectation that the attending physician
will see every patient,” he said. “That’s not necessarily driven
by medical necessity, but by liability issues.”
Jo
Anne Welsh, associate workforce designer in Great Britain’s
National Health Services’ National Practitioner Program, asked
what kind of PAs Bullard likes to hire for the trauma center.
“Obviously,
we want to hire the best we can. We’re in one of the fastest-growing
areas of the country. It’s hard to keep up.”
Welsh
and Guy Dean, a former EMT and director of the University of Hertfordshire
’s postgraduate program in medical care practice, said later that
they found the visit informative.
“We
were impressed by the level of staffing and the facilities in
the ER … and by how they use PAs in streaming the work,” said
Welsh. Added Dean: “It was interesting to hear of the relationship
of PAs to other health care professionals, and of the use of PAs
to fill a need, rather than their being just another health care
professional.”
The
visit to ORMC, as in site visits at other recent annual conferences,
came at the request of the delegations “because they wanted to
interface with PAs or their supervising physicians in a clinical
setting,” said Marie-Michèle Léger, AAPA director, clinical and
scientific affairs, who arranged the schedule for the international
delegations. “They seem to always appreciate site visits. The
PAs in Florida , especially John Byrnes, were instrumental in
helping arrange the visits.”
The
schedule for Monday, yesterday, and today included presentations
by each delegation on the evolution in their countries of the
PA concept, PA education, and the PA profession. The roundtable
events also included group discussions of those issues.
AAPA
Comments on VHA Hiring Standards
By
Christopher Doscher
Draft
standards recently released by the Veterans Health Administration
(VHA) on the hiring of PAs that would require PAs who work for
the administration to hold a master’s degree would reduce the
VHA’s applicant pool of qualified PAs, AAPA Executive Vice President/CEO
Steve Crane told Jim Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs,
in written comments submitted May 5.
The
VHA’s proposed policy calls for all new PAs hired after December
31, 2010 , to hold master’s degrees. While a growing number of
PAs hold master’s degrees, in 2004, only 23.4 percent of clinically
practicing PAs held master’s degrees in PA studies, Crane wrote
in his comments. AAPA’s main concerns are that the applicant pool
of PAs will be reduced at a time when an increasing number of
veterans will be entering the VA health care system, and that
VHA will pass over qualified veterans for PA jobs because they
graduated from programs that did not award master’s degrees.
“If
the VHA intends to move forward with a master’s degree requirement
for PAs, AAPA believes that it must do so in a manner that allows
the greatest flexibility in recruiting and hiring experienced
PAs, particularly veterans, who do not possess a master’s degree,”
Crane wrote. “Accordingly, AAPA urged the VHA to revise the proposed
standard to require all applicants who graduate from PA educational
programs after December 31, 2010 , to have a master’s degree.
In doing so, the VHA would be moving toward a master’s degree
PA workforce in a manner that does not arbitrarily restrict its
ability to recruit and hire qualified PAs.”
In
the same letter, Crane reiterated AAPA’s efforts to give the position
of PA Advisor to the Under Secretary for Health full-time status.
In the two years since the position was created, the number of
PAs working for the administration has grown from 1,195 to nearly
1,600 — an increase of nearly 34 percent. AAPA has received many
calls from PAs employed by the VA system who are confused about
issues regarding licensure, scope of practice, credentialing,
certification, and reimbursement.
“AAPA
believes that the presence of a full-time PA advisor is needed
to provide guidance and clarification on these often complex issues
and questions,” Crane wrote. Currently, PA Denni Woodmansee serves
as acting PA Advisor to the Under Secretary for Health on a part-time
basis, located in Massachusetts .
