Rough draft done, Any input would help!

[casey2757]

Thanks for any help you can give!

Here is my statement.

 

On a family ski trip, I came upon a severe accident. A skier had lost control and fallen from a cliff into a boulder field, landing off the main path. He was unconscious with irregular breathing, significant blood loss, visible open fractures and only me for help. Me, the guy who spent the last few years of school believing I wanted to be a journalist and who barely knew how to put a Band-Aid on. After several minutes of feeling helpless a friend of mine, who happened to be an EMT, arrived. With no equipment on hand I watched my friend calmly hold pressure to control bleeding, stabilize C spine, and make sure the man had a patent airway, all while instructing a passerby to get ski patrol. From the second he saw the injured man, he had a plan and knew exactly what to do. It was that moment my perspective changed and all of my future ambitions were redirected. I decided then that I would start moving towards being one that would know what to do in an emergency.

 

I have now been an EMT for five years, responding daily to 911 calls and acting as shift lead for a private ambulance company on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. I want to continue serving my community as long as I can. My family is here, I was raised here and I want to raise my children here. My home has instilled in me a love for the outdoors, a passion for community and a strong desire to make where I live a better place. This is what directed me towards healthcare and spurred in me a desire to become a physicians assistant (PA) .

 

Coming from a generation of construction workers and laborers, the field of healthcare wasn’t really on my radar and I floated through my first few years of college with little drive or direction. This changed drastically when my wife and I became pregnant with our son.

 

We were young, nervous and had no idea what to expect from each doctor’s appointment. On several occasions we called for unscheduled appointments because we thought something may be wrong. When our primary physician was unavailable we were seen by his PA. this was my first interaction with a PA and It was inspiring how knowledgeable and reassuring he was and how easy it was to transition between he and our primary doctor. The communication and teamwork between our Physician and his PA was evident and inspiring.

 

Three years after our son was born he began getting sick. Almost weekly, he would develop breathing problems and eventually stopped gaining weight due to constant vomiting. We were told his symptoms were likely caused by virus induced asthma and spent a year in and out of hospitals giving him constant medications with no long term improvement. We were then recommended to a specialist who had him tested for allergies. When we received the results we were shocked to find he was allergic to wheat, dairy, eggs, peanuts and beef. Allergies seemed like such a simple explanation and I had a difficult time understanding why it took so long to find the answers we needed to make our child healthy.

 

This was my first encounter with the difficulties of living in an area that is medically underserved. Most of my son’s appointments were urgent resulting in the rotation of emergency room staff and on-call physicians each one seeing my son for the first time with very little continuity of care. This only further motivated me to pursue a field that could make myself a small part of the solution.

 

I’ve seen first hand both personally and professionally how important having adequate access to primary care is and how devastating it can be when access to care is inadequate. As a first responder, many times I have responded to calls for patients who were forced to call 911 because a simple infection had progressed to something severe while they were waiting weeks for the earliest available appointment. I have also listened to patients on numerous occasions explain how they didn’t have a primary doctor but were on the waiting list for multiple clinics. In an area where the retirement population is constantly growing, getting quality providers that are able to stay in the area is crucial.

 

For me, the opportunity to pursue something I’ve truly found passion in and translate that into a positive influence in my community is something I can’t pass up. I’ve always had a passion for the outdoors and the mystery and excitement that surrounds it. I believe that passion for exploration and the work it takes to discover those mysteries is what makes being a PA so alluring. Being able to work as a team to constantly discover and develop new methods of treatment for each individual patient is a process that directly conveys the way I want to continue my career. As the need for quality providers is ever increasing the PA role is constantly evolving in ways that help strengthen the healthcare field. To have the opportunity to take part in that change and push myself to be the best healthcare provider I can be is a step I can’t wait to take.

[Raynet]

The essay is compelling. However, I would get around to why you wanted to be a PA sooner, like in the first paragraph. Also I would make sure you specify a little more as to why you are so interested in the PA field as opposed to other medical specialties, or even being a physician.