CHCS - Perspectives Winter/Spring 2016

COLLEGE OF HEALTH CARE SCIENCES • 67 Rachel Macalua, PA-C, is the first recipient of the College of Health Care Sciences’ Community Health—Collabora- tive Service Scholarship. A 2015 graduate of the Orlando Physician Assistant Program, Macalua was recognized for her lifelong dedication to community service and caring for those in need. With initial motivation from her parents while still a child, she routinely visited local nursing homes and served breakfast to the homeless. Her hospital visits and interactions continued after moving to Orlando to attend Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences in 2008. Her active involvement in community service continued in 2011 in Central Florida when she worked with Service and Love Together, which provides services ranging from feeding the homeless and youth programs in low-income housing facilities to health screenings and counseling for families. Macalua’s clinical experiences in the PA program were highlighted by her mentor in her family medicine rotation, whose compassion for the families he cares for further cemented her motivation to practice primary care medicine, with emphasis on emotional and spiritual well-being. She rounded out her clinical training with an additional elective experience in a primary care setting. The Community Health— Collaborative Service Initiative is an endowed scholarship fund created in 2015 to recognize NSU PA students nearing completion of their training who possess a commitment to providing primary and preventive health care services, coupled with a further commitment to community service for those in need. The initiative also recognizes and promotes NSU PA graduates in the community who not only have a similar commitment to primary/preventive health care delivery, but have also given back to the university by mentoring students during their learning. ■ Alumna Named Inaugural Scholarship Recipient BY WILLIAM H. MARQUARDT, M.A., PA, DFAAPA, ASSOCIATE DEAN National Health Service Corps Scholarship Award in NSU Orlando Physician Assistant Program history. The scholarship is granted to students who demonstrate a passion for working in medically underserved popula- tions in primary care. In return for full tuition and a stipend, Northup will work for three years in an under- served community. Out of 5,100 applicants, she was one of only 196 chosen recipients. She has also volun- teered in medically destitute regions of Panama and Nicaragua, as well as at clinics in Tampa, that serve disadvantaged populations. Northup hopes to dedicate her mind, body, and spirit to the primary health care of underserved communities once she becomes a PA-C. She is especially interested in catering to the needs of Hispanic populations because she feels her ability to communicate in Spanish will help build a deeper, more individualized rapport with her patients. While every student in the class of 2017 brings unique strengths to the group, Stein and Northup are exemplary pillars of strength and integrity. They show their peers, faculty members, and community what it means to be an ideal NSU physician assistant student. ■ William H. Marquardt presents the inaugural CHCS Community Health—Collaborative Service Scholarship to Rachel Macalua.