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Authentic Indian fry bread was the featured menu item at a luncheon hosted by ASDOH’s student chapter of the Society of American Indian Dentists (SAID) Wednesday, May 27. The luncheon was a campus-wide fundraiser as well as an opportunity to honor George Blue Spruce, D.D.S., M.P.H., ASDOH assistant dean for American Indian affairs.

Dr. Blue Spruce was presented with a framed copy of a recent article in the Arizona Republic featuring his continued commitment to recruiting and training American Indian dentists. Attendees also enjoyed music by traditional American Indian flute player Randy Kemp, and browsing native jewelry by Navajo artist Elouise John that was available for sale.

According to Nicole Gore, D4, SAID-ASDOH student chapter president and member of the Crown Nation of Montana, funds raised from the luncheon will help send at least one SAID-ASDOH student chapter member to the organization’s 2010 annual conference at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Funds will also help with the distribution of information, recruitment, and mentoring of American Indian and Alaska Native dental students.

“The Last Lecture” was the final lecture given to the KCOM class of 2011 before they left the classroom and began rotations. The class elects the speakers through voting, and vote for one basic science faculty member and one clinical faculty member to deliver the lecture. This year, students nominated Neal Chamberlain, Ph.D., and Maria Evans, M.D., and the two gave the lecture on May 21.

The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) awarded the 2009 Outstanding PA of the Year Award to A.T. Still University – The Outstanding PA of the Year Award, which was presented May 22 in San Diego at AAPA’s 37th Annual Physician Assistant Conference, honors a PA who has demonstrated exemplary service to the PA profession and the community and has furthered the public image of PAs.

As an employee of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Buskey has played a vital role in the development of healthcare for inmate populations. She coordinated the first Diabetes Continuing Medical Education for Butner FCC to further educate medical providers and officers on the treatment and prevention of diabetes. She also implemented creative biweekly classes that use such slogans as “Eat less and move more” and “Know your numbers” to give inmates and staff a better understanding of how to monitor and care for their health.

“I feel honored to win this award,” said Buskey. “I found disbelief, denial, risky behaviors, and poor life style choices within the inmates that increased the prevalence and severity of diabetes. The Diabetes Center of Excellence initiatives at Butner FCC have yielded increased staff and inmate knowledge about diabetes and have demonstrated improved outcomes.”

In addition to her diabetes work, Buskey played an integral role to developing a transportation system that now serves as a model for the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which efficiently moves inmates around the complex for medical care while allowing custody staff to maintain a high level of security. She also works with the BOP on issues such as: how to provide quality treatment to the aging and sick inmates, how to overcome the primary care provider shortages in the BOP system, and how to surmount fiscal challenges while providing invaluable healthcare services to inmates.

Aside from her professional accomplishments at Butner FCC, Buskey serves as the first PA elected to the board of directors for the Federation of State Medical Boards and as a member of the Institute of Medicine. In the past, Buskey served six years on the North Carolina Medical Board and nine years on the New York Board for Professional Medical Conduct as one of only two non-physician members nationwide who served on more than one state medical board.

In her spare time, Buskey has contributed her talents toward the Special Olympics, The American Red Cross, several disaster relief agencies – and has mentored a great number of minority men and women into the PA profession.

In recognition of her achievements, Buskey will be presented a crystal Outstanding PA of the Year Award, a check for $2,500, a donation of $1,500 to the PA Foundation, and $1,000 to the PHS Commissioned Officer Foundation – all of which is made possible with support of Pfizer Inc. The award is one of five PAragon Awards presented annually by AAPA to recognize members who have demonstrated distinguished service to patients, the community, and the profession.

Arizona School of Health Sciences (ATSU-ASHS) student Robin Hunter Buskey, MPAS, PA-C. Buskey is a first-year doctor of health sciences (D.H.Sc.) student at ASHS and serves as a senior clinical PA at the Butner Federal Correction Complex (FCC) in Butner, N.C., while on active duty as a Health Service Officer with the U.S. Public Health Service.

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Second-year KCOM student Brad Scoggins thinks that every medical student should know the basics of saving a life – before they enter medical school. To achieve that goal, he has partnered with John Rickelman, D.O., ’00, Daraban Human Patient Simulation Center staff David Patterson and Elaine Louder, Associate Dean Steve Laird, D.O., the Student Government Association, and the local chapter of the service fraternity APO to train first-year medical students in basic life support (BLS) and the use of automatic electronic defibrillators.

“The most important goal is that students are able to fulfill the role society expects of them,” said Scoggins. “The whole gamut of healthcare providers needs to know how to do this. We need students who are confident and competent in providing this type of care outside a hospital environment.”

Now, thanks to Scoggins, KCOM students take a BLS course before their first year, at a lower cost, and using the University’s human patient simulators for practice. Thirty-six students can be trained simultaneously using flat screens and test out at the end of the course.

So far, 140 first- and second-year students have been trained, and more are on the schedule. Scoggins hopes to eventually offer the course to ATSU faculty and staff, as well as the community, and to raise money to purchase enough $2,000 AEDs to be placed in strategic spots across Campus. During the course, Scoggins also is training students to be instructors.

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A.T. Still University featured in EdTech Magazine

Gary Cloud, Ph.D., assistant provost and associate dean of ATSU’s School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSU-SOMA), and Thomas Hotvedt, network programmer, information technology & services, tell the story of how ATSU uses network communications to keep med students connected to Campus from community health centers.

The article was published May 19 by EdTech Magazine.

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