For Immediate Release:
May 08, 2009
Brooke Braun
703-836-2272 ext. 3502
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Melia Dayeh
703-836-2272 ext. 3501
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North Carolina Physician Assistant Named Outstanding PA of the Year
American Academy of Physician Assistants Announces 2009 PAragon Award Winners
(Durham, N.C.) - The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) will award the 2009 Outstanding PA of the Year Award to Robin Hunter Buskey, MPAS, PA-C. Buskey serves as a senior clinical PA at the Butner Federal Correction Complex (FCC) in Butner, N.C., while on active duty as a Health Service Officer with the U.S. Public Health Service.
The Outstanding PA of the Year Award, which will be presented Friday, May 22 in San Diego at AAPA's 37th Annual Physician Assistant Conference, honors a PA who has demonstrated exemplary service to the PA profession and the community and has furthered the public image of PAs.
As an employee of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Buskey has played a vital role in the development of health care for inmate populations. She coordinated the first Diabetes Continuing Medical Education for Butner FCC to further educate medical providers and officers on the treatment and prevention of diabetes. She also implemented creative biweekly classes that use such slogans as "Eat less and move more" and "Know your numbers" to give inmates and staff a better understanding of how to monitor and care for their health.
"I feel honored to win this award," said Buskey. "I found disbelief, denial, risky behaviors and poor life style choices within the inmates that increased the prevalence and severity of diabetes. The Diabetes Center of Excellence initiatives at Butner FCC have yielded increased staff and inmate knowledge about diabetes and have demonstrated improved outcomes."
In addition to her diabetes work, Buskey played an integral role to developing a transportation system that now serves as a model for the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which efficiently moves inmates around the complex for medical care while allowing custody staff to maintain a high level of security. She also works with the BOP on issues such as: how to provide quality treatment to the aging and sick inmates, how to overcome the primary care provider shortages in the BOP system, and how to surmount fiscal challenges while providing invaluable health care services to inmates.
Aside from her professional accomplishments at Butner FCC, Buskey serves as the first PA elected to the Board of Directors for the Federation of State Medical Boards and as a member of the Institute of Medicine. In the past, Buskey served for six years on the North Carolina Medical Board and for nine years on the New York Board for Professional Medical Conduct as one of only two non-physician members nationwide who served on more than one state medical board.
In her spare time, Buskey has contributed her talents toward the Special Olympics, The American Red Cross, several disaster relief agencies - and has mentored a great number of minority men and women into the PA profession.
In recognition of her achievements, Buskey will be presented a crystal Outstanding PA of the Year Award, a check for $2500, and a donation of $1,500 to the PA Foundation and $1,000 to the PHS Commissioned Officer Foundation - all of which is made possible with support of Pfizer Inc. The award is one of five PAragon Awards presented annually by AAPA to recognize members who have demonstrated distinguished service to patients, the community, and the profession. Other awards include: Humanitarian PA of the Year, Physician-PA Partnership Award, Federal Service PA of the Year, and the PA Service to the Underserved Award.
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The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) is the only national professional association that represents PAs across all medical and surgical specialties in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the armed forces and federal services. Founded in 1968, AAPA works to increase the professional and personal growth of the entire PA workforce by providing comprehensive support and advocacy for physician assistants so that they may, in turn, provide patients with increased access to quality, cost-effective health care. Learn more at www.aapa.org.
