It wasn’t just a change of wardrobe. When a dozen people went to the front of the room at the V.I. Cardiac Center and put on new white coats, it was a change of their lives, and a change of the medical system in the territory.
The 12 are members of the inaugural class of physician assistant students at Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital. Their white coats signify that they are members of the medical community, dedicated to the health and safety of the public, said Keith L. Moore, associate director of the program.
It’s more than a career, he continued. It’s a life.
"This white coat, you will probably be wearing these the rest of your lives," Moore said.
Moore is associate program director of the physician assistant program at Miami’s Barry University. The dozen students at St. Croix are part of a class of 93 – 57 in Miami and 28 in a satellite campus in St. Petersburg.
The Virgin Islands have been designated a medically underserved community, and money was available to develop a program to improve health care in the islands, he said. Barry University was already running a successful physician assistant program and teamed up with the JFL hospital to create the program here.
Starting Monday, the students will begin taking classes at the V.I. Cardiac Center. A separate facility is under construction at Sunny Isle, but is not quite ready. Moore said they expect to move into the new quarters in mid-September.
The first year of the 28-month program is spent in classroom and lab work, Moore said. The students will be in class with their Florida peers, sharing the coursework and professor’s lectures through teleconferencing.
During the second year of the program the students will engage in clinical work, actually working at Juan F. Luis Hospital under the supervision of doctors, learning to take care of patients. The student will benefit from real-life medical situations. The local health care system will benefit from having a dozen fresh, enthusiastic assistants working with them.
When they complete the course, they will be eligible to take the physician assistant test in any state or the territory.
The work begins Monday, but Friday afternoon was a chance to celebrate.
"Hold on tight, but not too tight," Moore advised the students about the coming two years. "I want you to enjoy the ride."
Accompanying the students at Friday afternoon’s program were parents, spouses, friends and in one case, a proud pre-schooler watching his mom.
The students come from as close as St. Croix and St. Thomas, and as far away as Surinam. They are: Jennifer Arizu of Tampa, Fla.; Salvatore Bonventre, Jupiter, Fla.; Nicole Brandon, Suriname; Mackenzie Epler, Mount Carmel, Ill.; Erica Gyorfi, Eau Claire, Wis.; Stephinie Horning, Castle Rock, Col.; Sophia Osmanzada, Fairfax, Va.; Kisten Perez, Greensboro, N.C.; Jennifer Samuel, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; Arthurlyn Sullivan, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Adam Tulp, Port Saint Lucie, Fla.; and Laura Wintsch of Philadelphia.
Sullivan, the Thomian of the class, said she’s already a Barry University alum, and knew she wanted to be a physician assistant. It all came together with a chance to follow her dream in her home territory.
"I can study close to home and I can make an impact here," she said.
