|
|
Horricks joins Boundary Community Clinics
|
|
July 10, 2012 |
By Marcia Morman
 “Our
goal,” explained Boundary Community Hospital’s
administrator, Craig A. Johnson, "is for
patients to receive the care they need at the
hospital closest to their home capable of
providing the needed service. Not only is it a
convenience to the patient, but also to their
immediately family.”
As an implementation of that goal, Boundary
Community Hospital and Kootenai Health of Coeur
d’Alene created Boundary Community Clinics in
September, 2011, to bring more primary-care
physicians to Boundary County.
At that time, Dr. Michael Snyder was recruited
and hired and serves the community from his
office at 6641 Kaniksu, right across the street
from the hospital’s main entrance. Now, Amanda
Horricks, PA-C is joining Dr. Snyder.
Growing up in a large extended family peppered
with medical people, Amanda Horricks, at an
early age heard stories of healing and help to
suffering people. Her father was a dentist, her
mother an occupational therapist; aunts, uncles
and cousins were also in the medical field. One
cousin, ten years older than Amanda,
particularly influenced her choice of an
occupation. She was a physician assistant.
The question is asked often, “Exactly what is a
physician assistant?”
In 1965, Dr. Eugene Stead of Duke University
Medical in North Carolina, in response to the
shortage and uneven distribution of primary-care
physicians, began a program emulating the
fast-track training of doctors in World War II.
His first students were Navy corpsmen who had
already received extensive medical training
during their military service, including the war
in Vietnam. The graduates of his course of study
received the title “Physician Assistants.”
Physician assistants are trained and active in
all areas of primary care-medicine. They work in
family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics,
and obstetrics and gynecology—even surgery, and
surgery subspecialties. Exactly what they do
varies from state to state, but all 50 states
have enacted laws that authorize them to
prescribe medicine. Physician assistants always
work in a clinic or hospital with a supervising
physician.
What does the “C” stand for in PA-C? It stands
for certified. It means the person who holds the
title has fulfilled the course of study set by
the National Commission on Certification of
Physician Assistants (NCCPA). To maintain the
“C”, one-hundred hours of continuing medical
education every two years is required and they
are required to pass a recertification exam
every six years.
It can seem awkward at times, but the proper way
to address a physician assistant is not
“Doctor.” They are not a doctor-in-training but
have their own role in the medical community
complete with degrees and certifications.
Amanda Horricks listened intently as her cousin
told of her training and her work. She decided
that is what she wanted to be – a physician
assistant.
After graduating high school, she attended
Andrews University in Barrium Springs, Michigan,
followed by Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Before being certified, one of the last
requirements in the intensive course of study
for all physician assistants is a time-period of
actively working in each medical specialty at
different medical facilities.
An interesting side note; as the young physician
assistants travel around the country from one
hospital to another during this hands-on
training period, they are responsible for
finding their own living quarters; there are no
dorms or housing arrangements by their host
hospital for these short-term stays.
Amanda made the choice to select her training
centers where family lived. As she progressed
through each phase of her practicum year, she
resided with a new set of aunts and uncles. She
trained in Maryland, Virginia and Tennessee. It
was during her practicum year that Amanda
discovered her passion for emergency room work.
Since receiving her certification, Amanda has
worked in an Internal Medicine Outpatient Clinic
in Riverside, California; as a hospitalist and
emergency room attendant in a teaching hospital,
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton,
California; and in the emergency room in
Mackenzie/Willamette hospital in Springfield,
Oregon.
Often 200 patients a day sought treatment in the
emergency room in Arrowhead. Amanda thrived in
the busy, intense atmosphere where relief from,
and treatment of, pain is so immediate.
While in Springfield, Amanda met her future
husband, Marc Turner. After marriage, with plans
for children, they decided to move to Bonners
Ferry, where Amanda’s parents would retire.
Kaniksu Health Services quickly hired Amanda,
and she worked there for three years. She took
time away from work for the birth of their nine
pound, one ounce baby girl, Emma.
She and husband enjoy hiking, camping and
rafting the Moyie River. Family continues to be
a large part of Amanda’s life. Her sister
Jessica-Kaufmann is a local dentist and her
brother-in-law, Josh Kaufmann, is employed at
Boundary Community Hospital as a physical
therapist.
She is excited to join Dr. Snyder at Boundary
Community Clinics, and looks forward, once
again, to attending to her patients’ needs. |
|
|
|
|
