Ep22 - The Role of the Physician Assistant: Ally or Competitor? Joseph M Daleo

02/25/22 • 53 min

On this episode of The Pursuit of Health Podcast we dive further into the realm of public health by pausing to learn about the invaluable role of the Physician Assistant. We are fortunate to have a frontline clinician, educator and pioneer, Joseph M. Daleo, as our guest to take us through this topic.
Major Daleo is an active member of the US Army Reserve and holds a Doctorate Degree of Physician Assistant Studies from Touro University. He wears many honorable hats including an Assistant Professorship and the Directorship of Clinical Operations at NY Touro College’s Physician Assistant Program. He is a Clinical Instructor for SUNY Stony Brook’s Family Medicine and Nurse Practitioner Program as well as the Supervising Physician Assistant for the American Family Care’s Covid-19 Mitigation and Vaccination Program.
Major Daleo begins our discussion by taking us through his often bumpy personal journey to pursue a health career as a practicing Physician Assistant and educator. In so doing, he emphasizes that Physician Assistants are a vital and unique profession within the US healthcare system. He explains the honorable history of the Physician Assistant profession in the US and marvels at the exponential growth of this field both domestically and globally over the past few decades.
Our guest sheds some very important light on the misconceptions about the Physician Assistant model, stressing that this model supports a complementary, not adversarial, interaction of healthcare professionals on behalf of the patient. He provides us with a sobering reminder of the serious gaps and failures of our current system and provides much needed recommendations to make healthcare partnerships stronger to address the disparities of acute and chronic disease. He sees physician assistants as one of the critical “force multipliers” of a potentially robust approach to healthcare reform.
We finish our fascinating discussion with Major Daleo wisely advising us all to continue to adopt the pioneer spirit that made our health system exceptional in the first place. He urges us to remain open-minded so that we may learn and apply new preventative and treatment modalities to the benefit of our patients, clinicians and society.
Dr. Fethke and the team at The Pursuit of Health Podcast look forward to our audience’s feedback. We can be reached @drfethkemd on Facebook and Instagram, and our upcoming website - drfethkemd.com.
References:

Follow me on Instagram and Facebook @ericfethkemd and checkout my website at www.EricFethkeMD.com.
My brand new book, The Privilege of Caring, is out now on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CP6H6QN4

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Ep21 - Public Health When We Need It Most, Megan Deichler from CHAHEC

Public Health has become a term used repeatedly during the Covid-19 pandemic. On this episode, the Pursuit of Health Podcast is fortunate to have one of New York’s leading public health experts and educators to help us understand and appreciate the importance of a strong public health system. Megan Deichler is the Executive Director of the Catskill Hudson Area Health Education Center (CHAHEC). Ms. Deichler brings extensive global and domestic experience in population health research and strategic charity programs to her current position.
Ms. Deichler explains that her focus on community health education is built upon a 50 year legacy of the federally-created Area Health Education Centers (AHECs). She shares her personal career decision to return to New York and serve our nation’s greatest number of people living in any state who are federally-designated as Medically Underserved.
Ms. Deichler and Dr. Fethke help explain the meaning and proud history of the US Public Health system. Our guest expands the scope of public health to include housing, food and the environment. She explains that her team at CHAHEC introduces and supports the role of public health to future and current health professionals at all levels of education and operation.
She emphasizes the importance of an inter-professional Team Approach to achieve optimal healthcare for everyone. She remains optimistic about the future as long as healthcare workers and professionals continue to advocate for a strong and equitable American Public Health system, beginning with early education. Our discussion finishes with plans for possible future educational collaborations with our wonderful guest. Keep in touch and we’ll keep you posted.
The Pursuit of Health Podcast welcomes your feedback and suggestions. We can be reached @drfethkemd on Facebook and Instagram, as well as our website at drfethkemd.com.

References:

Visit CHAHEC.org to learn more!

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Ep23 - Healthcare Disease, Dr. Simon Maltais

The Pursuit of Health Podcast takes a bold look at the mounting stresses that have negatively impacted the careers and lives of too many medical professionals. We have invited a remarkable guest, Dr. Simon Maltais, to help us understand the root causes, profound impact and solutions to this growing problem.
Dr. Maltais is a high-powered cardiothoracic surgeon whose successful career has hit all the right marks along the way. A French Canadian who has trained and worked in some of the most reputable medical institutions in Canada and the United States, he has pioneered innovations in mechanical assist devices for the heart and made tremendous contributions to advance the field of heart failure and heart transplantation. He is recognized internationally for his over 160 peer reviewed articles, medical book chapters, editorials and contributions to several esteemed medical journals. As an academic teacher, researcher and lead physician through such prestigious institutions as Vanderbilt University, The Montreal Heart Institute and the Mayo Clinic, he has undoubtedly climbed the ladder to success.
Despite his numerous achievements, Dr. Maltais boldly and openly shares with us that he came to a point in his professional and personal life where things just started to fall apart. Though no one particular problem stood out, he describes a time when he recognized that he was experiencing what he refers to as “multifaceted failures”. In a bravely honest discussion, he takes us through this turning point in his life when he concluded that he was in a crisis and that things desperately needed to change.
Dr. Maltais goes on to describe how he took this very personal experience and began to analyze it closely so that he could make sense of his situation. As with all great and compassionate clinician pioneers, he began to look outward to see if other colleagues were experiencing the same issues. He explains how he implemented his strong research and diagnostic skills to tackle this problem and then proceed to reach out to others. This new work resulted in his groundbreaking recognition of a condition that he defines as “Healthcare Disease”. This ongoing journey has recently taken the form of a wonderful new book by Dr. Maltais and colleagues - Healthcare Anonymous: Put Yourself First to Avoid Anxiety, Addiction & Burnout - to be publicly released in early April 2022.
In this powerfully refreshing and healing discussion, Dr. Maltais reflects on how his venture into Healthcare Disease has revitalized his physician career. He now works with a supportive and innovative medical team at the Hospital Corporation of America Healthcare based in California. Here he and his colleagues are making positive contributions to the way that healthcare is delivered in one of our nation’s largest providers of medical services. Dr. Maltais suggests that “Outside-the-box thinking is the best way for us to address problems such as healthcare disease and improve our healthcare system.” He is also the Co-founder and CEO of Breakthrough Points: a program dedicated to improving the balance, performance, and effectiveness of physicians and other professionals working in high-intensity environments.
As always, Dr. Eric Fethke and the team at The Pursuit Health Podcast look forward to the comments and contributions of our audience. We can be reached on Facebook and Instagram at drfethkemd and on our website at drfethkemd.com.