Some of the money will pay for scholarships to become PAs: "In the end some of these students will graduate debt free."
Jeremy Welsh, a physician assistant who went to Le Moyne College, works with Susanne Baptiste, a nurse at North Medical Urgent Care in North Syracuse. LeMoyne and Upstate Medical University are receiving $4 million to expand their physician assistant training programs.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- The federal government is giving more than $4 million to Upstate Medical University and LeMoyne College to expand their physician assistant training programs.
The grants, announced today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, are designed to help ease the nation’s shortage of health care workers.
Physician assistants are health care professionals licensed to practice under the supervision of a doctor. They can conduct physical exams, diagnose and treat illnesses, order tests, assist in surgery and write prescriptions.
Upstate started its physician assistant program in 2009 and has 28 students enrolled.
Upstate will receive about $2 million to help cover student tuition, fees and stipends. The grant will provide annual stipends of $22,000 annually for two years to 10 students beginning next year, said Sandra Banas, chairman of Upstate’s department of physician assistant studies. “In the end some of these students will graduate debt free,” Banas said.
The federal government awarded Upstate another $1 million earlier this month to pay for faculty development, student housing, software and training equipment in the physician assistant program.
LeMoyne is getting a $1.05 million federal grant to help expand its PA program.
LeMoyne has graduated about 360 PAs since it started its two-year master’s program in 1996.
The grant will allow LeMoyne to provide student scholarships.
“We are hoping this will help address some of the physician shortages in the region,” said Mary E. Springston,, a PA who directs the LeMoyne program.
LeMoyne’s PA program has been getting an increased number of applications. About 70 students are enrolled. The grant will allow LeMoyne to add another 20 students, Springon said.
The grants are part of $320 million being awarded nationwide under the federal health reform law.