UNE's PA Program Celebrates National Physician Assistant Week Oct. 6-12

During the week of Oct. 6-12, 2008 physician assistants (PAs) around the United States - including the alumni, faculty and students of the University of New England's physician assistant program - will celebrate National Physician Assistant Week.

The UNE PA Program celebrated the beginning of Physician Assistant Week on Oct. 6th with its traditional White Coat Ceremony at Ludcke Auditorium on UNE's Westbrook College Campus. This ceremony welcomes the new students into the profession as they embark on their first clinical encounters.

The University of New England is the only institution in Maine educating physician assistants, and to recognize the impact these PAs have on primary care in Maine, proclamation ceremonies are being held this week by both Portland Mayor Ed Suslovic (Oct. 6th at 4 p.m.) and Governor John Baldacci (Oct. 9th at 2 p.m.). Several UNE PA faculty, students and alumni, as well as representatives from the DownEast Association for Physician Assistants will attend.

Background information

The first class of Physician Assistants graduated from Duke University in 1967. Physician assistants are licensed health professionals who practice medicine as members of a team with their supervising physicians. PAs deliver a broad range of medical and surgical services to diverse populations in rural and urban settings. As part of their comprehensive responsibilities, PAs conduct physical exams, diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret tests, counsel on preventive health care, prescribe medications, and assist in surgery.

UNE graduates approximately 45 PAs per year, and many of them remain to practice in Maine. With a known shortage of primary care physicians in Maine, physician assistants are the providers most people see for day-to-day health care or emergency room care. With approximately 500 practicing PAs in Maine holding around 36,000 clinical visits per week, PAs have nearly 2 million clinical encounters per year just in Maine, the majority of them in primary care.

UNE's PA students are involved in community outreach activities on an ongoing basis. Some of these activities include working with the developmentally challenged students of Strive U. to teach them about healthy lifestyles; providing treatment in local homeless shelters; and holding bone marrow drives. One such bone marrow drive held last fall, resulted in a PA alumna being an initial match, and a UNE staff member being matched up and actually donating bone marrow this past month to a young girl.

For more information about the University of New England Physician Assistant program, visit www.une.edu/chp/pa.  For more information about the PA profession, visit the American Academy of Physician Assistants at www.aapa.org  and the DownEast Association of Physician Assistants at www.deapa.com.