pages of history
PAs in the Navy
The physician assistant (PA) profession got its start in 1965, when Navy corpsmen applied their medical training to duties that had been specific to physicians, enabling doctors to do more.
Some of the finest medical institutions in the U.S. are in North Carolina, so it should come as no surprise the Tarheel State is the birthplace of the physician assistant (PA) profession. What’s less known, though, is the first PAs were Navy corpsmen.
Dr. Eugene Stead established the world’s first PA program in 1965 at Duke University Medical Center. Stead was interested in transitioning into civilian life the training military medical personnel received during the Vietnam War, says Michael Borden, CEO of the Durham-based North Carolina Academy of Physician Assistants.
Victor Germino of Durham, N.C., who served as a Navy corpsman stateside during the Vietnam War, was among the first graduates of the Duke PA program. Working for the chief of pulmonary disease at Duke University Medical Center, Germino divided his time between the hospital and the VA medical center across the street. “It really spared the time for [the doctor] to do a lot more,” Germino says. “That was the way they saw utilizing PAs.”
Patients responded well to this new type of practitioner. “Everybody loved us because they felt more comfortable talking to a PA about their problems than a doctor,” Germino says. “They felt we had more time to listen to them.”
More than 80,000 PAs currently are employed in the U.S. Military PAs have played a significant role in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
— Don Vaughan
Fly Marines!
A new exhibit, “Fly Marines! The Centennial of Marine Corps Aviation: 1912-2012,” at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., features 91 works of art from the Marine Corps Art Program. The artwork documents the history of Marine Corps aviation, from its birth in the early 20th century through the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
The exhibit includes works from master aviation artist Keith Ferris, who painted the mural “Fortresses Under Fire,” which serves as the backdrop for the museum’s World War II gallery; poster art for “Fly with the U.S. Marines” (1920) by American artist Howard Chandler Christy; and a depiction of Marine Corps aviator Lt. Alfred A. Cunningham flying a Wright B-1 float plane in 1912 by Col. Horace Avery Chenoweth, USMCR. Objects such as uniforms, squadron patches, and flight suits also are on display. The exhibit runs through Jan. 6, 2013. MO
History Lesson On April 9, 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Va. Unable to outrun Grant to the west of Richmond and Petersburg in Virginia, Lee arrived at Appomattox to find his path was blocked.
APRIL 2012 MILITARY OFFICER 71
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