How You Can Celebrate PA Week 2019

Ideas for Your School and Workplace

September 20, 2019

Every year from October 6-12, we celebrate National PA Week, which recognizes the PA profession and its contributions to the nation’s health. This week is also an opportunity to raise awareness and visibility of the profession. Looking for ways to celebrate PA Week at your school or workplace? We’ve got lots of ideas for you!

Share on social media
One of the best ways you can celebrate PA Week is to get involved on social media. Share our PA Week graphics on your social channels and help us educate your network about who PAs are and how they practice medicine. Use #PAweek when you’re posting, and check out what your fellow PAs and PA students are sharing as well.

Attend PAs on the Plaza
On Monday, October 7, PAs and PA students from around the country will head to New York City and the set of the Today show. If you’re in the area – or up for a trip to New York – bring your white coat and meet up with other PAs who will be out on the plaza representing your profession. You may get a picture with Hoda!

Host a community health event
Hosting an event in your community is a popular way to promote the profession, raise awareness of PAs, and help your community. Great events involve careful planning. We’ve got tips for to help you make your event a success.

PAs are valuable contributors to their employers. Talk to your boss about hosting a celebration – maybe it’s a catered lunch, or a coffee run, or a sheet cake in the break room. PA Week is a great chance to take a short break, talk to your colleagues, and be proud of your profession and your contributions to your team. We’ve got banners for your party, but you’re on your own for baking the cake.

Encourage your legislators to issue a PA Week proclamation
A proclamation is a formal public announcement or declaration made by officials to commend individuals or to announce upcoming events or celebrations. PA Week is the perfect opportunity to solicit a proclamation to honor and recognize the contributions of the PA workforce in your practice, facility, state, or community. We’ve got resources to help you.

Write an op-ed and submit to your local paper
Educate your community about all the PAs can do, and how they contribute to the nation’s health. PA Week is a great time to submit an op-ed and encourage your neighbors to talk to a PA and learn more about the profession. Check out our sample op-ed, or write your own.

Do it for the ‘Gram
Each day during PA Week, we ask our Instagram followers to take a photo to go along with a theme. All you have to do is print the photo challenge sign, take a photo using that day’s theme, upload your photo, tag @aapaorg and use the #PAweek hashtag so we’ll be sure to see your photo. There are prizes each day, and a grand prize for one person who participates each day of the photo challenge. We love seeing the originality and creativity of all of our PAs and PA students, so keep your eyes peeled for the themes to be announced!

Participate in PA Student Service Week
During PA Week, PA students across the nation give their time and talents to help others and make a positive impact in their communities. PA programs participate in everything from canned food drives to charity runs and many of them even provide free health services to community members.

Give back to your profession
PA Week is a great time to give back to your profession. You stand on the shoulders of those who came before you, all the way back to those first PAs who graduated from Duke University in 1967. Consider donating to the PA Foundation, which promotes better health and wellness by providing PAs and PA students with philanthropic opportunities and resources. Or help strengthen our voice on Capitol Hill by supporting our PAC, the only federal healthcare PAC dedicated to advancing the PA profession.

We hope you’re excited about PA Week 2019 – we certainly are!