Malmstrom Airman selected to attend physician assistant program

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Delia Marchick
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  A Malmstrom NCO was recently notified of his selection to attend the Tri-Service Physician Assistant Training program.

The program is a combined military service PA training program designed to educate and train PAs. In the Air Force, the program is open to qualified active duty enlisted members that meet eligibility requirements and complete prerequisites.

Tech. Sgt. Kristopher Dolehanty, 341st Civil Engineering Squadron NCO in charge of heating ventilating and air conditioning, submitted his application in December 2014 and received the news that he was one of the 32 out of 58 applicants accepted April 20, 2015.

Dolehanty made the decision to pursue a career in medicine in 2011 after he returned from a deployment in Afghanistan.

"I started to have more interest in the medical field, so I talked with one of my chiefs and he asked me if I heard about the PA program," said Dolehanty. "I was originally going for the nursing program but after I did more research on the PA program, it started to peak my interest and sounded like an outstanding program."

Like most commissioning programs, the physician assistant programs requires each applicant to meet specific scholastic requirements such as, taking the SAT, the Armed Service Vocational Aptitude Battery, completing 60 hours of transferrable college credit while meeting the minimum grade point average and taking the mandatory medical prerequisites.

"Part of the application requirement is shadowing an active PA," said Dolehanty. "I shadowed Captain Stacey Vierra and First Lieutenant Andrea Tidd, who have both been through the program, so they also gave me some advice."

Dolehanty said that while his biggest source of inspiration was his last squadron commander at Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas, his wife has been his biggest supporter.

"My biggest supporter is my wife," said Dolehanty. "I could not do this without her. She took care of our four kids while I was in school, studying on the weekends and she is going to have to continue to do that through the program because it is very rigorous."

Dolehanty also had a lot of support from his coworkers while working toward his goal.

"I found out Technical Sergeant Dolehanty was applying for this program six months ago, and I was very supportive," said Dale Huschka, 341st CES Infrastructure Systems superintendent.

Huschka said that he noticed a difference in the shop when Dolehanty arrived.

"He is one of the finest NCOs I have been associated with in my 37 years working for the Air Force," Huschka added. "He has great people skills. Since becoming the NCO in charge of the HVAC shop he has turned it around 100 percent."

Huschka and the HVAC shop are excited for Dolehanty's new career path, but they aren't excited to let him go.

"We will miss his leadership," said Huschka.

Dolehanty's superintendent and the shop are proud of him and know that he will make a great physician assistant.

"The next NCO in charge has some big shoes to fill," added Huschka. "I wish him and his family the best and hope to see him someday when I make an appointment at the clinic."

Dolehanty doesn't start the program until April 2016. Until then, he plans on enjoying his days left in HVAC and spending time with his family because he knows his free time will be limited throughout the program.

The program is broken into two phases. The first phase is the didactic portion, lasting 14 months and the second is the clinical rotation phase which lasts 15 months.

Once he is done with the program, Dolehanty will be awarded a master's degree and commissioned as a first lieutenant.

"I'm a little nervous because I've been in HVAC for nine years and I think a lot of the other selected Airmen have a medical background, but if I was selected they must have seen something there," said Dolehanty.

Dolehanty believes that having a goal is important and that it carries over into other aspects of life.

"Always have a goal," he said. "I didn't know exactly what I wanted, but once I figured it out...I went for it full force. I think having a goal helps with how you carry yourself and interact with people on a daily basis. So whether your career goal is to apply to a commissioning program or making the next rank, just do it and give 100 percent."