Permanent link for Moving Forward Amidst Uncertainty on June 22, 2020

During this unprecedented time, all Grand Valley State University Traverse City Regional Center students had to quickly adapt to the changing education environment of partial online classes to full-time remote online classes. During this transition many have taken the time to reassess their plans, dreams, and future.  For Chris Cox, he is still moving forward full steam ahead to pursue his dreams and aspirations.  

Chris just graduated with his Bachelors in Allied Health Sciences from Grand Valley State University’s Traverse City Regional Center and is applying for the Master of Physician Assistant Studies (PAS) . Chris is also a tutor at NMC for anatomy, physiology and chemistry. His road to success has taken many turns over the years as he learned and discovered what he wanted to pursue in his collegiate and professional life.

Chris started his collegiate career in nursing school at Eastern Michigan University several years ago but decided to leave the nursing program to become a paramedic for the next six years. Chris spent the first two years in Flint and the last four years in southeast Michigan. During this time, he joined a group of PAS students from Eastern as the only paramedic to go to Haiti through the Foundation for Peace program. This experience changed his life as it made him realize his passion for serving and aiding underserved and rural populations as well as how important education and sustainability is.

After three years, Chris was finally able to go back to Haiti this past February. It was certainly a challenge as the border had been shut down for the past year due to unrest and this was the  only medical trip scheduled for the year. However, he was able to work with his Advisors from GVSU Traverse City Center to create a flexible schedule to travel and complete his studies simultaneously. After Chris returned it wasn’t long before everything at school changed rapidly due to Covid-19.

Despite this time of uncertainty and change, Chris is very certain in his next steps for success. Chris has submitted his application for the Master of Physicians Assistant Studies program with an aim to combine his paramedic experience with a PA position.

Chris described his dream job as leading a community paramedic program. Ultimately a PA who works under a medical director that handles the protocols for paramedics in community paramedicine.

Chris further explained that the community paramedicine goal is to keep people out of the hospital by allowing paramedics the training and the use of resources such as; administering certain tests out in the field that would normally be done within the hospital- examples are blood and urine tests. The goal is to meet the needs of the community and the system to fill the gaps on what people need without being hospitalized.

Chris further explained a hypothetical scenario of paramedics being dispatched to see a patient that had disabilities or mobility restrictions, who had UTI’s frequently.  It is difficult to get these types of patients to and from the hospital as it causes a lot of stress on the body and then having to sit in the ER when in this type of situation, wasn’t an emergency. This also presents an opportunity to lower the risk of nosocomial infections and lower exposure chances to things such as Covid-19. 

His dream role as a PA heading up the Community Paramedicine Program is to provide a remote assessment to give the OK to have the onsite paramedic teamwork on the situation rather than going into the ER.

Although Traverse City does not have a program like this currently, Washtenaw and Monroe County Michigan and Georgia have adopted this technique. During uncertain times like this, change is necessary and new leaders like Chris Cox have the skill sets, drive, and creativity to help bring new ideas to the forefront.

Chris wanted to give a special shout out to both Jackie Abeyta, GVSU Traverse City Regional Center Academic Advisor and Shannon Owen, Director of Northern Michigan Programs to say, “thank you both for being amazing people and super supportive. You two are one of the reasons I fell in love with GVSU.”

Take charge of your future and move forward by scheduling an appointment with Jackie Abeyta to start the conversation about your next steps to success. 

 

Posted by Jacquelyn Abeyta on Permanent link for Moving Forward Amidst Uncertainty on June 22, 2020.