A Sign of the Times in Washington
I've noticed an increase in the number of profiles in the news about clinics that serve uninsured and underinsured Americans. Maybe the dire economic conditions eventually can help lead to a solution to this decades-old problem, which now has been driven home for so many more Americans. Of course, we know that PAs have been one of the solutions.
One such article from Washington's Kitsap Sun yesterday focused on a clinic staffed by two physicians and three PAs.
As one of the newest practitioners at Peninsula Community Health Services, Tony Lyon-Loftus sees many of the medical organization's newest patients.
He's busy. With people losing jobs and medical insurance in a slumping economy, a surge of newcomers is coming to Peninsula, a low-cost health-care provider that takes pride in turning no one away.
Fresh out of medical school, Lyon-Loftus, a physician's assistant with a master's degree in public health, is gratified by the work. But sometimes new patients, apparently embarrassed by their change in circumstance, say something that can't help but sting.
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