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WES COMER, PA-C
Wes Comer, PA-C was honored as the 2002 FAPA Humanitarian PA of the Year. Wes was presented with the prestigious award at the FAPA Winter Symposium & Recertification Review Course in Orlando on February 22nd. The award was sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceuticals. This award is given annually to honor a Florida PA who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to volunteerism and human rights on a local or state level and who exemplifies the physician assistant profession's philosophy of providing accessible and quality health care. Wes Comer has certainly earned this award with his commitment and dedication in his volunteer efforts as a PA. Wes has volunteered through his church, Cokesbsury United Methodist Church, in Pensacola as a member of a Mission Team to Mexico for the past three years. The efforts are coordinated through the Methodist Church of Mexico. The mission teams visit small towns and villages in the state of Puebla where the assistance is felt to be the most needed. The teams consist of 15-18 people and they do construction work for the church, church ministry, and provide much needed medical and dental care. Wes was accompanied this past year by a medical student and a registered nurse. A dentist usually accompanies them as well. Wes works under the supervision of a local physician on these mission trips. These trips are to the more poor areas and living conditions are not great as one can imagine. The local church arranges the facilities for the teams. Frequently they work in rooms with dirt floors, and very little in the way of sanitation. They stay with local families and share meals with them. Their church provides financial assistance to the local church for food and lodging so as not to be a burden. On their most recent trip, Wes reports they saw nearly three hundred patients in four days of clinics. The patients ranged in age from infants to geriatric patients. They did well patient checks, treated infectious diseases, chronic problems, and made referrals to specialists in government clinics. They did what they did with donated supplies and equipment and very little else. Wes feels the team members gain a great deal spiritually on these trips and gain a greater appreciation for their lives here in the U.S. It is amazing he states what you can do with little in the way of tools when you put your mind to it. Ironically, it is easier to do this sort of thing outside the U.S. where the credentialling issues are less because the need is greater. Wes plans to continue his yearly trips to Mexico. Wes is retired from the U.S. Navy and lives with his wife and family in Pensacola where he is in practice in Gastroenterology. He is a 1984 graduate of George Washington University with a BS Degree with Distinction. Congratulations Wes and thank you from rest of us for doing the outstanding job you have done and continue to do in your volunteer efforts. And from one old salt to another, "Well done sailor for an outstanding job in the best traditions of the PA profession!"
Written by Ron Pace, PA-C |
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