We're wrapping up a week of celebrating our PAs -- thank you for all you do to care for patients! As part of our celebration, we've been highlighting a few PAs who specialize in pediatrics.

Alexandra Carroscia is a PA at Neighborhood Health Center Riverway.

What drew you to become a PA?
I was drawn to the PA profession because it was a very collaborative role. I like the team-based approach that the PA profession encompasses.

I also loved how you're able as a PA to jump around to different specialties. If I started my career as a pediatric PA, which I love, in 10 years, I could change and do something in surgery or in the ER.

What made you want to focus on pediatrics?
I had experience working at Nationwide Children's in Columbus, Ohio, when I was doing my undergrad studies. I was trying to feel out different areas of healthcare and figure out what I wanted to do. I love working with kids because you also have the opportunity to work with their families. You're not looking at just one part of the picture, you involve the whole family: what the family life looks like, what the barriers are, what the beliefs are. What everyone in the family is doing impacts the child.

Can you describe a typical day?
I usually start off my morning meeting with my medical assistant, going over our schedule for the day. I'm typically seeing patients from 8 AM to 4. Trying to sneak in a lunch if I can. Meeting with our nurses to talk about nurse visits. Meeting with our triage nurses or our nurses who are also doing our inboxes for any phone calls. Constantly in communication with the rest of the team on the clinical floor throughout the day, too.

What do you love about your work?
It's the patients that make it worth it for me. My team makes it worth it for me, even on the difficult days. That’s why I keep doing it.

I think everybody here comes to Neighborhood because they want to be able to help people. When you have that community of people who want to work together, that's huge. Leading with kindness was one of the main things that I try to do in my everyday life and I was drawn to Neighborhood because I think everybody here has that same mentality.

Madison Linderman is a physician assistant at Neighborhood Health Center Northwest.

What drew you to work at Neighborhood?
I wanted to live in the Buffalo/Western New York area and work with underserved communities. And pediatrics, specifically, was something I was really, really interested in.

What's your favorite part of the job?
I really like working with the youngest kids, like the three-year-olds. It's just so much fun. They have so much energy and I feed off that energy.

What's a typical day like?
This time of year there are a lot of well visits, back to school, people needing their vaccines. And then, as you head more into November, December, January, you get all the sick visits when everyone's getting sick at school. It's definitely a really wide array. I can see a newborn and next see an 18-year-old.

What is a meaningful experience you've had since you started working here?
I had a newborn that I saw who was in the NICU for a while. She was a 24-week premature baby with a lot of congenital problems and was developmentally delayed. She came in for her 15-month visit. Her mom set her down on the floor, and she walked over to me! I almost cried right in the room. It was just amazing to see. I'd been following her since she was this premature, very sick little baby and now she's finally walking. It is just a really rewarding kind of experience.

Is there anything else you want to add or share?
I've just really enjoyed working here. Obviously, I'm having a baby [due date is in three weeks], and I plan on bringing my own baby here. So, that shows how much I like being here and trust everybody here. It's like a new chapter for me being my first baby. It’s been nice to have the experience of working in pediatrics with newborns.

Hanna Carbary works at our Neighborhood Health Center Mattina location.

What drew you to becoming a physician assistant?

After seeing the care provided for sick family members, I knew I wanted to work in the medical field. I followed in my sister's footsteps and I chose to become a PA for the ability to diagnose and treat patients while working with a collaborative team of providers. My favorite part of our profession is the versatility to practice in any area of medicine, allowing for lifelong learning and growth.

What's a typical day like for you?

Prepping patient charts; performing a variety of patient visits such as physicals, sick visits, ER follow-ups, medication follow-ups, and management of chronic disease; documenting visits, sending medication refills, and managing patient documents and messages.

At Neighborhood we provide high quality care for patients who may not always have access to medical appointments. I find it rewarding to be able to provide these services for families, especially for new parents navigating the medical system with newborns.

Thank you to all our PAs for your collaborative spirit and patient-centered approach to care.