News & Events...
Arizona Physician Assistant Named National
Humanitarian PA of the Year
April 2008
(Alexandria, VA) – Pamela Burwell, M.S., PA-C, from Phoenix, Arizona, has been chosen to receive the 2008 Humanitarian Physician Assistant of the Year Award. It is given each year by the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA). Burwell is being honored for her extraordinary work bringing health care to underserved communities in Central America and Africa through the nonprofit group Peacework Medical Projects, which Burwell founded and directs. Peacework Medical is a unit of Peacework International in Blacksburg, Virginia. The award will be presented on Friday, May 23, in San Antonio at AAPA’s 36th Annual Physician Assistant Conference.
The Humanitarian Physician Assistant of the Year Award honors a physician assistant (PA) who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to human rights and exemplifies the PA profession's philosophy of providing accessible, quality health care to those in need, inside or outside the United States.
Burwell graduated from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program in 1994. In the fall of 1998, Hurricane Mitch wreaked havoc on Nicaragua and Honduras, killing more than 9,000 and leaving countless more without food or shelter. Burwell volunteered in Honduras in the aftermath of that storm, and her experiences there had a lasting impact on her future humanitarian efforts. Back home in Arizona, where she worked as a PA in emergency medicine, Burwell reached out to other health care professionals interested in humanitarian work, and Peacework Medical Projects was born.
In January 2001, Peacework Medical Projects made its inaugural visit to Santa Lucia, Honduras, for a two-week clinic. Burwell’s team of nine medical professionals treated 1,200 patients during their first visit to the small mountain town. Each year since, Peacework has returned to Santa Lucia in January, the month when school children in Honduras are on vacation.
“The strength of Peacework Medical is that the teams return year after year to the same locations, building relationships and trust with the populations they serve,” explained Donna Seton, a colleague of Burwell’s. Regan Buzzelli, a PA who has volunteered with Peacework in Santa Lucia, provided some evidence of the strong bonds between the clinic and the patients: “There are even children named after a few of the volunteers.”
In 2006, Burwell and Peacework opened up a second clinic, this time in the southern Honduran city of Danli, where surrounding villages have little or no access to health care due to the mountainous terrain and the scarcity of basic utilities. In 2007, Burwell’s organization went intercontinental by opening up a third clinic in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Like the original Peacework clinic in Santa Lucia, the clinics in Danli and Accra are open for two weeks at the same time each year.
Altogether, the three clinics treat nearly 5,000 patients, most of whom have no access to quality health care the rest of the year. In addition to primary care, the patients have access to eye exams, dental exams, psychological counseling, and even vaccinations for families’ livestock.
One area where Peacework has had particular success is in fighting cervical cancer. In 2000, it was the leading cause of mortality among women of child-bearing age, according to the Honduran government. In 2001, Burwell began conducting PAP smears in Santa Lucia and arranged for the results to be sent to the Ministry of Health so that patients could receive follow-up treatment as needed. Over the years that Peacework has conducted the screenings, the mortality rate due to cervical cancer has gone down in the villages served. By 2005, cervical cancer had dropped to the third leading cause of mortality among women of child-bearing age.
As director of Peacework Medical Projects, Burwell handles all administrative duties. That includes recruiting volunteer teams, planning and hosting fundraisers, and coordinating with foreign political and medical authorities to maintain credentialing privileges for her volunteers in the countries where Peacework operates. She receives no salary for her work so that 100 percent of the funds raised can be put towards the medicines and equipment used at the clinics. She does all this when she’s not working at her job in the emergency department at Maryvale Hospital in Phoenix.
In recognition of her achievements, Burwell will be presented a crystal PAragon Award and a check for $2,500. The Humanitarian PA of the Year Award is made possible with the support of Pfizer Inc.
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, assist in surgery, and prescribe medications.
AAPA is the only national organization to represent physician assistants in all medical and surgical specialties and work settings in the United States and federal services. Founded in 1968, the Academy works to promote quality, cost-effective health care, and the professional and personal growth of PAs. For more information about the Academy and the PA profession, visit the AAPA’s Web site at www.aapa.org.
WFU PA Program Receives 5 Years of Accreditation
September 2007
This past spring the Physician Assistant Program at Wake Forest University School of Medicine completed a very successful accreditation site visit. On September 13, 2007, after final review, the program received continued accreditation through 2012. The next accreditation visit is scheduled for the spring of 2012. The Wake Forest University School of Medicine (Bowman Gray) Physician Assistant Program has been continually accredited since 1972. The Wake Forest Program is one of 16 currently accredited programs which was originally accredited during that first cycle in 1972. Physician Assistant Programs are accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc (ARC-PA).