ASHS student named Outstanding PA of the Year

The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) awarded the 2009 Outstanding PA of the Year Award to A.T. Still University – The Outstanding PA of the Year Award, which was presented May 22 in San Diego at AAPA’s 37th Annual Physician Assistant Conference, honors a PA who has demonstrated exemplary service to the PA profession and the community and has furthered the public image of PAs.

As an employee of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Buskey has played a vital role in the development of healthcare for inmate populations. She coordinated the first Diabetes Continuing Medical Education for Butner FCC to further educate medical providers and officers on the treatment and prevention of diabetes. She also implemented creative biweekly classes that use such slogans as “Eat less and move more” and “Know your numbers” to give inmates and staff a better understanding of how to monitor and care for their health.

“I feel honored to win this award,” said Buskey. “I found disbelief, denial, risky behaviors, and poor life style choices within the inmates that increased the prevalence and severity of diabetes. The Diabetes Center of Excellence initiatives at Butner FCC have yielded increased staff and inmate knowledge about diabetes and have demonstrated improved outcomes.”

In addition to her diabetes work, Buskey played an integral role to developing a transportation system that now serves as a model for the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which efficiently moves inmates around the complex for medical care while allowing custody staff to maintain a high level of security. She also works with the BOP on issues such as: how to provide quality treatment to the aging and sick inmates, how to overcome the primary care provider shortages in the BOP system, and how to surmount fiscal challenges while providing invaluable healthcare services to inmates.

Aside from her professional accomplishments at Butner FCC, Buskey serves as the first PA elected to the board of directors for the Federation of State Medical Boards and as a member of the Institute of Medicine. In the past, Buskey served six years on the North Carolina Medical Board and nine years on the New York Board for Professional Medical Conduct as one of only two non-physician members nationwide who served on more than one state medical board.

In her spare time, Buskey has contributed her talents toward the Special Olympics, The American Red Cross, several disaster relief agencies – and has mentored a great number of minority men and women into the PA profession.

In recognition of her achievements, Buskey will be presented a crystal Outstanding PA of the Year Award, a check for $2,500, a donation of $1,500 to the PA Foundation, and $1,000 to the PHS Commissioned Officer Foundation – all of which is made possible with support of Pfizer Inc. The award is one of five PAragon Awards presented annually by AAPA to recognize members who have demonstrated distinguished service to patients, the community, and the profession.

Arizona School of Health Sciences (ATSU-ASHS) student Robin Hunter Buskey, MPAS, PA-C. Buskey is a first-year doctor of health sciences (D.H.Sc.) student at ASHS and serves as a senior clinical PA at the Butner Federal Correction Complex (FCC) in Butner, N.C., while on active duty as a Health Service Officer with the U.S. Public Health Service.