By Brandon Cline
Managing Editor 

New hospital PA-C is all about teamwork

 

Last updated 2/21/2019 at 9:35am

Photo courtesy of Julie Shapiro

New EARH PA-C Julie Shapiro says she has enjoyed the teamwork approach that the hospital takes in the month that she has been on the job.

East Adams Rural Healthcare has a new physician's assistant (PA), and recent college graduate Julie Shapiro has spent the past month getting to know her new patients and getting comfortable in her new position.

Shapiro is a graduate from A.T. Still University in Mesa, Arizona, a non-profit, private, graduate school that focuses on health sciences. Shapiro attended PA school at ATSU, and prior to that received her Bachelor's degree in Health Sciences from Arizona State University.

Initially planning on majoring in nursing at ASU, Shapiro said she changed her mind halfway through school to look into becoming a PA because she had other family members who were also going into that career field. Shapiro started attending ATSU in 2016 after earning her Bachelor's degree at ASU, and graduated last August with a Master's degree in Physician Assistant studies.

"It was definitely one heck of a ride," said Shapiro. "They definitely tell you, 'don't work during PA school, that is your life for the next two years,' and they sure mean it."

While attending ATSU, Shapiro volunteered with the Arizona Camp Sunrise and Sidekicks, which is a summer camp "dedicated to providing a healthy summer camp experience to children affected by cancer," according to the organization's website. Shapiro and her classmates gave performed tasks such as giving the children physical exams to make sure they were able to go to camp.

"It puts so much joy in me to know that I was there and that I could make a kid smile, or give them a hug and say 'you're going to have a wonderful day at camp,'" said Shapiro. "And they would tell me their stories about Jello Wars and throwing jello at each other and having fun."

Shapiro and her class also did volunteer work with a program that taught karate to special education students, and said it was super fun to interact with the kids. They also worked with rehab patients who had been addicted to drugs, helping them cope and talking with them to allow them to open themselves up to others.

Childhood experiences were what drew Shapiro to the medical field in general. She had really bad asthma as a child, and remembers being in the hospital a lot when she was in second grade. She had her tonsils removed that year and remembered going through certain doctors and PA's who had a great rapport with each other, with her mom and with herself.

"And while I was growing up ... that kind of encouraged me to be like 'wow, this is so cool, I want to do that one day,'" said Shapiro. "I wanted to give the care that somebody gave me when I was sick."

Shapiro was born in Cleveland, Ohio and lived in Queens, New York for several years growing up. She said living in Queens was a hectic experience, and that New York City had its pros and cons, and noted that she pretty much walked everywhere while living there.

"I loved being able to visit with family, but I also loved coming back to a place with a little quieter of an environment," Shapiro said.

Her family moved from Queens to Arizona before she started high school in Arizona, and lived there until she graduated from ATSU. Shapiro said that she didn't encounter snow at all while living in Arizona, and that the past month has been a surprise to her in that regard.

"I came from Arizona, and we don't know what snow is unless it's two hours away," said Shapiro. "So coming here, that was definitely a culture shock for me, which was beautiful because I haven't seen snow since New York."

Shapiro is commuting to Ritzville from Spokane each day. She's had to commute before while attending grad school, so she's pretty used to her new hour-long commute each way. She likes to pass the time by listening to podcasts and music.

Shapiro marked her first month of the job on Feb. 14 and says that everyone at the hospital has been so kind and helpful, which is what initially drew her to the position. She visited EARH in November before she had gotten the job, and said the kindness and warmness shown to her was very welcoming.

"You know how when you're the newbie and thinking how 'oh, this is awkward' and you have to meet a lot of people? Everybody was just so kind and super informative, and that was definitely a nice feature," Shapiro said.

Shapiro has enjoyed the teamwork approach that the EARH staff takes, which is the type of environment she wanted to join after graduating from ATSU. One of the things ATSU taught Shapiro was how to collaborate with other members of the hospital staff and getting used to working as a team. She says that having that previous experience has helped make her transition from PA school to her new position easier.

She also loves the "body, mind and spirit" approach that was taught to her at ATSU, and that the teamwork approach isn't just limited to the staff, but includes the patients as well.

"I'm always more so thinking 'how can we treat you?' without the need of medicine. And then when we need it, we'll use it," said Shapiro. "But let's come up with a plan together as a team, me and the patient, and figure out how we can make you better without the need of a high-dose opioid, because that's the last thing I'll ever want to do."

Outside of the job, Shapiro is very much into ballroom dancing. She's done it since she was living in Queens, when her mom put her in dance classes. It's also something she does that can help be a de-stresser.

You know how when something stresses you out [and you need to relieve stress]? For some people it's reading a book or playing a guitar, but for me it's definitely dancing," said Shapiro. "It's something that's stuck with me since I was a kiddo. Apparently when my mom was pregnant with me and whenever there was music on, her belly was just doing crazy dance moves."

Shapiro is also an avid hockey fan and roots for the NHL's Arizona Coyotes. She played volleyball in high school and likes to stay active, which is something she couldn't do as much the past two years while attending PA school.

She's getting married next month and loves to hang out with close family and have the opportunity to laugh with them. Shapiro is also bilingual, speaking English and Russian fluently. She also understands Spanish if it's spoken at a slower pace, and is trying to learn it and become fluent in it.

At the end of the day, Shapiro wants her patients and the community to know that patient care is of the utmost importance to her as a PA.

"I want every patient to understand that when they come to see me, it's my time. I'm not going to be on the computer typing, it's me and them," said Shapiro. "Whatever care they need, I will sit there with them and make sure that they are cared for."

Author Bio

Brandon Cline, Former editor

Brandon is a former editor of The Ritzville Adams County Journal.

 

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