You might say that Sandra Fineman first became a health care provider at the age of 12, when she went into the hospital with a case of appendicitis and while there ended up translating for a young, Spanish-speaking mother who was struggling to get proper care for her infant.
And while she was obviously a long way from the health care professional she would become, the 12-year-old’s feeling of confidence and accomplishment while assisting a nurse and patient galvanized her interest in medicine and anticipated her eventual career as a PA working with underserved, Spanish-speaking communities.
A Surprise Job Offer
Even though teaching was a career that Sandra had briefly considered early in her life, she wasn’t looking to become an educator when she heard about a school of optometry getting ready to launch Orange County’s first PA program and approached them to investigate. Her goal was scrutiny. As a PA in Orange County for over a decade by that point, Sandra had worked tirelessly to build patients’ trust in and understanding of the PA profession, and she was concerned that a rushed program might damage that. The response from the school was a bit unexpected.
“They offered me a job,” says Sandra. “And the more I got to know their intentions, and the mission and values of the school, the more I realized it was something I wanted to be involved in. I began part-time at first, but the demands of developing a new program curriculum requires so much time and effort that eventually I became full time – though I still occasionally volunteer at a clinic in Anaheim.”
School of PA Studies (SPAS) Transitions Online
Currently the Director of Clinical Education at MBKU’s School of PA Studies, Sandra has the challenge of incorporating remote learning opportunities for students to supplement their clinical education in a way that allows them to stay on track for graduation. Sandra and her colleagues in the SPAS implemented a telehealth course, training that is more essential than ever now that health care facilities must carefully screen in-person visits of any kind. With the surfeit of time that came from distance learning, Sandra was also able to create a special lecture series that delved into sickle cell diseases, which culminated in her co-presenting a national webinar with support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services focused on innovations in sickle cell disease clinical workforce and building the next generation of providers.
Through the last nine months, Sandra has been blown away by the resiliency of the PA students and of the affirmation of MBKU’s student-centered approach. “One benefit of our small cohort here is that, throughout this time, we have been connected to every one of them,” says Sandra. “The students all have different needs, but we’re able to hear them out, understand their situation, and make sure they’re supported in their rotations. As PAs, we always stress treating and understanding the whole patient, and that’s the way we see our students.”