News

High brow or low brow, alcoholic or non-- it doesn't matter what you're drinking, only who you're drinking with. There's nothing like the camaraderie between Army PAs and our friends. Our members are like no other, whether Active Duty, Reserve, National Guard, retirees or civilians. Join us for the second Thursday of the month to spend time together.

Register at https://www.sapa.org/event-4027933

Every January, AAPA determines the number of delegates for the House of Delegates based on the number of Fellows in each constituent organization (ie SAPA).  This means that for SAPA to represent YOU, you need to designate us as your constituent chapter.  

Here's a quick PDF to show you how to do it.  

SAPA as Constituent Chapter

Designate SAPA as your Constituent Organization TODAY!

Thank you to all of the members who attended the General Membership meeting last month. We had a great conversation about SAPAs direction as we move ahead through the uncertainty of the next year. We have a few specific questions that will help guide improve services for you.  

Please take this 3 minute survey today.  

SAPA Member Survey 

CONGRATULATIONS to our 2020-2021 BOD

The new Board of Directors have been elected.  See Officers for more info.  

Speakers Needed

Calling All Instructor/Speakers

We are working at finishing up the schedule for the SAPA 41^st Annual Conference/CME in 2021.

https://fs26.formsite.com/LzjAeQ/uh7buied3t/index.html

Thank you for your cooperation. Please contact me at orpotter@aol.com.

Bob Potter

Major Aspirations is a SAPA series dedicated to highlighting unique career opportunities for mid-career PAs.  These senior Captains and Majors are making a difference in Army Medicine.

SAPA MAJOR ASPIRATIONS.pdf

Let me ask you to use your imagination:  Imagine yourself in a room with the undivided attention of four O6 PAs to include the Consultant to the Army Surgeon General and his two deputies.  What would you ask?   Imagine you had the undivided attention of both the SAPA Board and the AAPA representative for Military to discuss how hard it seems for you as a PA to get paid for the same work as an NP at a federal facility.  What would you say?     Imagine meeting the PA who sacrificed his career to ensure that PAs went from being Warrant Officers to Commissioned Officers.  What could you learn about yourself? Imagine learning about how the Battle of Mogadishu contributed to the development of TC3 protocols?   What insight would you glean to push medicine forward? Imagine finally sitting down with your HRC representative or Component Consultant and having a real conversation, getting real feedback and making a solid career plan.   You wouldn't have to imagine it if you were at SAPA last April.  That all happened.  Next year will be even better.      Everybody knows that the SAPA Course is the best bang for your buck.  Don't miss out on the opportunity because it's not in Hawaii.  It's never about the place, it's always about the people.      Renewing your membership is a breeze at www.sapa.org/join-us Take a look at the SAPA updates from the last quarter.  Thank you for all that you do.

SAPA JOURNAL_Sept.pdf

All PAs are asked to visit Members of Congress in their district offices in August, and urge their support for the PA Direct Payment legislation, S. 596 / H.R. 1052.  If you met with your Senators’ or Representative’s offices during LAS about the Direct Pay bill and they are not yet a cosponsor, please reach out to them during the month of August and ask them once again to cosponsor S. 596 / H.R. 1052.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate and welcome all of the newly elected SAPA Board Members as well as the newly reelected members. I look forward to serving with each and every one of you over the next year. Together, we will strive to strengthen this outstanding organization and increase our membership. We all have big shoes to fill, as the last BOD was one of the most proactive boards that I have ever been associated with. Again, congratulations and welcome aboard!! 

Patrick E. Malone
PA-C, DFAAPA
SAPA President

President Elect - Sharon Rosser
Secretary - Adhana McCarthy
Treasurer - Jim Miller
Director of Active Duty - Amelia Duran Stanton
Director of Reserves- Melanie Hosker
Director of National Guard - Robyn Mason
Director of Retired - Sherrick Cunningham
Director of Federal Services- Trish Lucas
Director of Civilian Component - Karen Reedy
Delegates to AAPA House of Delegates 2020 - Patrick Malone, Sharon Rosser, Bob Potter, Karen Reedy, Trish Lucas, Pauline Gross, Don Black

Letter from the Outgoing SAPA President Time does fly by fast! My year as SAPA President ends on 30 June.  Pat Malone takes over as President.  This past year SAPA board members had telephone and in person meetings with Federal Congress members and our AAPA        representatives to share our concerns and receive updates from AAPA on issues they are working on for us.  The main issue for all of us was pay and GS rating disparity between nurse practitioners and PAs in federal facilities.  With the VA implementing changes that will/should put PAs and NPs on an even playing field and DHA taking over military medical treatment facilities the Federal Congress needs to stay involved with AAPA to ensure PAs are treated fairly. SAPA asked AAPA to notify the us when meetings are scheduled with OPM, DHA and OTSG to give us the opportunity to attend the meeting with them. This year the SAPA conference was held over a weekend.  Members had requested The board consider a weekend conference a couple of years ago.  We tried it this year, but have decided to go back to a Monday through Friday conference.  This format gives attendees a weekend before and a weekend after to travel/spend with families before going back to work.   This year we incorporated a two day military symposium during the refresher course.  MG (Ret) Volpe gave two outstanding lectures on day two. Lessons Learned from the “Battle of Mogadishu” and “The Future of PAs in the Military”.  BG Reese, MD (PA for Life) spoke on Military Readiness.  He later spoke on his experience as a PA in the National Guard and later working with PAs as a MD.   We’ve added workshops to the course. This year’s workshops were “Battlefield Acupuncture”, “Stop the Bleed”, and EKGs.  This was our 20th annual poster contest.  I know the judges had a difficult time choosing the winners. The last two years several posters made it to the AAPA conference.   During our board meeting we discussed membership  and conference fees.  Both fees have remained stable  for several years.  With conference, marketing, travel, and other administrative costs rising each year the board voted to raise the membership fee to $50.  For several years HRC has not had funding to send the PA  representative.  We know many of you attend not only for the CMEs but also to meet with your career manager.  So this year SAPA provided funding for the HRC Representative to attend. I hope SAPA members have enjoyed keeping up with our news through our Facebook page, the new and  improved website, and newsletters.  We welcome posts from our members and ideas and articles for the  newsletter and website.     Thanks to the SAPA Board members for their hard work to make SAPA and the Refresher Course better.   I wish        the best to Pat Malone as he takes over as SAPA President.    Sincerely, Pauline (Polly) Gross   SAPA President