Horricks joins Boundary Community Clinics
“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.