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ADVANCE Blog for PAs

Long Island Town Loses 'Beloved' Physician Assistant

Published January 27, 2009 6:25 PM by Stephen Cornell
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New York physician assistant Ken Dodge has cared for patients in East Hampton for 36 years. He's moving to a new town, and many local residents are disappointed.

Many of Mr. Dodge’s patients are sorry and worried to see him go.

“He’s a wonderful guy,” said one of his patients, Peggy DiSunno. “That he has to leave is horrible. As a doctor he gives you 100 percent. He’s always there when you need him. He’s a very compassionate person.”

Ms. DiSunno said that people are worried about his departure because there are many elderly patients who rely on him, and it will be much harder for them to see him, because they will have to travel so far, if they can make the trip to Noyac at all.

“It’s the older patients that are of more concern to me,” Mr. Dodge said. “My concern is that they get good medical care and they have accessibility to it. But change is hard for older people.”

Mr. Dodge is also worried about his patients who live in Montauk. “There has been a fair amount of turnover with the doctors in Montauk and people have been happy being able to go somewhere where they can have a steady practitioner,” he said.

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posted by Stephen Cornell
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5 comments
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In Alaska I lived in a small town called Thorne Bay. There was a clinic there opened three or four days a week and it was run by a PA. He is overseen by a physician, of course, but that physician is 50 miles away or not on the island at all. The PA functions as a small town doc.  Because Alaska lacks quality health care providers, the ones that work in Alaska play a major role in underserved health care than the lower 48 States. I am in GA, and the clinical setting in the state of GA is very liberal.

carla , PA-C - Family Practice January 29, 2009 7:55 PM

In Alaska I lived in a small town called Thorne Bay. There was a clinic there opened three or four days a week and it was run by a PA. He is overseen by a physician, of course, but that physician is 50 miles away or not on the island at all. The PA functions as a small town doc.  Because Alaska lacks aquality health care providers, the ones that work in Alaska play a major role in underserved health care than the lower 48 States. I am in GA, and the clinical setting in the state of GA is very liberal.

carla , PA-C - Family Practice January 29, 2009 7:52 PM

PingBack from http://senioraids.info/2009/01/advance-blog-for-pas-long-island-town-loses-beloved-physician/
January 28, 2009 8:17 PM

A number of underserved health care delivery systems have been implemented to provide access to care in underserved regions, and provide underserved America with increased access to quality health care.  We need more health services and free clinics which does not discriminate against our patients' insurance status and improve our patients' access to care.
Anonymous , Family Practice - PA-C January 27, 2009 7:53 PM

Patients with special needs, who may need handicap access to care, are even more disadvantaged by the leave one of our PAs.  What was cited as the reason for the move?  In 2006 the AAPA reports 16% of PAs work in rural areas and 8% work in Community Health Regions, which reflects the significant role of PAs in increasing access to health care in underserved regions.  As PAs we should encourage PAs to increasingly move where a population has less access to care and advocate the new population distribution of the nation with a focus on the underserved populations.  
jmj , Wilderness Medicine - PA-C January 27, 2009 7:29 PM

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