As part of the PA Education Association Fellowship he received as a student, recent graduate Josh Penninger (’23) coordinated a visit by North Carolina Senator Ralph Hise to the Wake PA program’s Boone campus on March 18.
Penninger and Emily Tiehen (’24) gave Senator Hise a tour of the classrooms and labs the PA program uses on Appalachian State University’s campus and an overview of Wake PA’s innovative inquiry-based learning (IBL) curriculum.
Wake PA Chair Gayle Bodner and Program Director Brian Peacock talked with Hise about the goals of Wake PA’s Boone Campus and how the program has grown over the last 10 years. NCAPA CEO Emily Adams and other special guests were also on hand for the visit.
After the tour, Penninger and Tiehen facilitated a Q&A session between Hise and several first-year Wake PA students. The discussion centered on the challenges of providing adequate health care in rural areas of NC.
Hise explained some of the ways the state government shapes health care and encouraged students to take an active role in influencing policy decisions.
“Most importantly, it’s about being an advocate for your profession,” Hise said. “Being part of associations, listening to what’s going on ... reaching out to your local legislators and having those conversations about what you do and the challenges you’re seeing in the field and what are the health issues that you are dealing with and how do we address those.”
Penninger said he was initially encouraged to apply for the PAEA Student Health Policy Fellowship by former PA Program Director Sue Reich. He had earned his Master of Science in Management from Wake Forest University before starting PA school through the Emerging Leaders Program and thought the fellowship was a good opportunity to expand his horizons even further.
“I felt it really aligned with my interests in advocacy and policy and had a very practical side to it as well,” he said.
Only about 20 PA students from across the country are selected to receive the health policy fellowship annually. The program includes a three-day intensive workshop that educates fellows about advocacy and policymaking processes. On the third day, fellows meet with their representatives and staff on Capitol Hill to discuss issues regarding PA education. Penninger said he took a particular interest in the shortage of clinical training sites and preceptors for PA students throughout the state.
For his capstone project, Penninger decided to invite a legislator to visit and learn more about the Wake PA program. Senator Hise seemed like an optimal candidate as he represents NC District 47, which includes Watauga County where App State is located, and co-chairs the Senate Committee for Appropriations on Health and Human Services. While arranging the visit took longer than anticipated, Penninger was pleased with the outcome.
“Overall, I think the visit was very fruitful, both for Hise and Wake PA,” he said. “I feel like he really enjoyed interacting with the first-year students, answering and asking questions and just engaging back and forth.”
