Hospital district marks National PA Week

The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) is leading the effort to recognize and maximize the physician assistant’s role on the health care team by placing a new focus on prevention as a proactive way to provide top-quality, cost-effective health care.

National PA Week is observed each year from October 6-12. The week serves to celebrate the significant impact PAs have made and continue to make in health care, to expand awareness of the profession and to salute the outstanding growth of the PA profession.

AAPA seeks to promote quality, cost-effective, accessible health care, and to promote the professional and personal development of PAs.

Physician assistants recognize that a prevention-first approach to care is critical to patients’ overall health and can save the nation millions in health care costs. With an education modeled after that of doctors, PAs tend to focus on education, helping patients and families to avoid new illnesses and keep chronic conditions from becoming potentially dangerous and even more costly.

All PAs are educated and credentialed with a primary care focus, regardless of the specialty in which they choose to work. PAs practice across a range of medical settings and specialties as part of the health care team, and they add a generalist perspective to the care they provide by helping to identify warning signs and symptoms of chronic illness.

This PA Week, PAs are calling on policymakers, health professionals and the residents of Washington to ensure that every provider can practice to their fullest potential, allowing for a balance between treating illness and preventing disease.

“We are blessed to have three PAs working for us who are dedicated to providing exceptional care to their patients and meeting the primary care needs of our community,” says East Adams Rural Hospital CEO, Mark Barglof.

For more information about local Physician Assistants John Valeri, Cory Anderson, and Marnie Boyer visit earh.com or call 659-1200. For more information about the PA profession, visit the American Academy of Physician Assistants Web page at http://www.aapa.org.