WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., Feb. 11, 2016 — West Liberty University students enrolled in the Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies degree program shared Valentine love with area patients undergoing oncology treatment recently.
Members of the WLU Physician Assistant Student Society delivered gift bags to the Schiffler Cancer Center of Wheeling Hospital for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatments, hoping to brighten their day.
“As PA students, we enter school dreaming to change lives in our community. During the year in the classroom it is easy to get caught up in the daily studies of student life, and forget the reason we are here. Making the Valentine’s Day gift bags as a class was a fun way to get involved in the community, but more importantly, a reminder of why we are here in the first place,” said project chair Hannah Crewdson, who is from Cross Lanes, W.Va. and is a first year PA graduate student set to finish the program in 2017.
About 100 festive bags were created and packed with homemade cookies, puzzle books, ChapStick and candy by the PA students.
Sarah Brammer, MSPAS, PA-C, academic coordinator of the Physician Assistant Program and herself a graduate of WLU’s program, assisted in the Valentine bag project.
A 24-month master’s degree program, the PA program at WLU offers selected students a chance to enter into an exciting career. PAs are state licensed healthcare professionals who practice medicine with physician supervision and are able to perform a range of medical services from entry-level primary care to highly technical specialty procedures in nearly every medical and surgical healthcare setting.
In some rural and underserved communities they may serve as the primary providers of healthcare.
All PAs must graduate from a nationally accredited (ARC – PA) program, pass a national certification exam (NCCPA) and be licensed by a state medical board before being able to practice with physician supervision.
Just one of the Health Science programs of the College of Sciences, the PA Department is housed in the Campbell Hall of Health Sciences. For more information, please visit westliberty.edu/physician-assistant or call 304-336-5098.
