Butler Physician Assistant Program Donates Toys, Activities & Office Supplies to Trinity

The Butler Physician Assistant (PA) Program is a well-established program that produces graduates who not only have a strong foundation in primary care, but also emphasizes the importance of giving back to the community. This program, established in 1995, has a 24-month curriculum that is divided in a didactic classroom phase and a clinical rotation phase. Moreover, each class that goes through the program fundraises and sponsors their own service events two to three times per year.

Kelley Dufour, Fundraising Chair for the Butler PA program class of 2019, discusses the value of having a strong community surrounding the program. “The community is vital to the Butler PA Program as they give to us and help further our education, especially in the clinical year serving as clinical preceptors and patients.”

This past holiday season, the Butler PA Class of 2019 wanted to focus on free health clinics that are serving the community. They decided to partner with the Trinity Free Clinic and donated office supplies as well as toys, activities, and pillows for the clinic’s pediatric patients.

“We decided to partner with the Trinity Free Clinic because we appreciate the work they are doing in our community and we wanted to help them in their mission,” Dufour said. “We know that healthcare can be difficult for everyone to obtain, and it is important that places such as the Trinity Free Clinic exist to ensure that everyone has equal access to care.”

After being on clinic rotations last year, the PA Class of 2019 realized the need for the Trinity Free Clinic, and clinic’s like it, to care for patients that may not otherwise be able to receive medical care. They were also very excited to know that the toys and activities that were donated to Trinity are putting smiles on pediatric patients’ faces as they leave their appointments.

Dufour wants the Butler Community to really know about how the Trinity Free Clinic’s work is essential to the community in addition to how they can help assist the Trinity Free Clinic. The Trinity Free Clinic was grateful of the donations given to them by the Butler PA program and looks forward to partnering with them again in the future.

“As students we are grateful to be part of a program that places a strong emphasis on service and being leaders within the community,” Dufour said. “We hope to continue to work with clinics to help their mission of caring for the underserved.”