{"id":9995,"date":"2016-06-02T12:24:12","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T12:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/[caption%20id=attachment_10144%20align=alignright%20width=450]"},"modified":"2018-01-22T19:30:42","modified_gmt":"2018-01-22T19:30:42","slug":"a-second-calling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\/mission\/a-second-calling\/","title":{"rendered":"A second calling"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Roland
After Roland Paquette \u201912 was injured while serving as a medic in Afghanistan in 2005, he enrolled at the Health Science Center and earned his master of physician assistant studies. He is a physician assistant and adjunct faculty member at the university.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After losing both of his legs above the knee in an IED blast during his deployment to Afghanistan in 2005, U.S. Army Special Forces medic Roland Paquette received a Purple Heart, underwent rehabilitation and took a government job.<\/p>\n

But the same desire to serve that drew Paquette to join the military after 9\/11 is what pulled him back to patient care. He enrolled at the Health Science Center and earned his master of physician assistant studies degree in 2012. Paquette is now a physician assistant in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Health Science Center and adjunct faculty in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had felt that kind of bug before where I just needed to go do something,\u201d he said. \u201cI was feeling the same thing about getting back to patient care and doing medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paquette, 37, said his own experience shapes the care he gives patients, but he is careful to keep the focus on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least once a day on a shift, when I see a patient who is experiencing pain or has experienced an injury or whose family seems more stressed out than others, I think I can empathize with that,\u201d Paquette said.<\/p>\n

His experience allows him to foster trust with patients that can be tough to build when medical professionals are sometimes viewed as adversaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not just somebody in a white coat on the other side of things,\u201d Paquette said.<\/p>\n

If people ask about his prosthetics, Paquette will share his story, when appropriate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I don\u2019t want to do is make someone feel like I\u2019m minimizing what they are going through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sometimes patients or their families with whom he hasn\u2019t shared any of his background will ask if he injured his back\u2014something he takes as a compliment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take it as a sign of success,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t have any legs and this person thinks I may have hurt my back.\u201d<\/p>\n

His experience in physical and occupational rehabilitation enables him to give patients a sense of what to expect in their own journey. It is hard to accept limits on physical ability, and there are low points along the way, he said. What made a difference for him was having clear goals for his rehabilitation. He urges patients to focus on the \u201cwhy\u201d of recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is hard, painful and very frustrating,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you can, put it into a better context: Why is it you want to rehab? Why do you want this wound\u00a0to get better? Why do you want to get more mobile?\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from his clinical work, the father of three also trains first responders through a company he started last year. He also mentors soldiers through the nonprofit Green Beret Foundation, which his wife, Jennifer, heads as executive director. Recently, he served as the principal investigator on a study comparing the effectiveness of tourniquets to hemorrhaging clamps in massive extremity hemorrhages.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really satisfied with what I\u2019m doing,\u201d Paquette said. \u201cI think you just keep swimming upstream and that\u2019s what I\u2019m doing. You just keep trying to work with what you\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The same desire to serve as a U.S. Army Special Forces medic pulled Roland Paquette \u201912, back into health care as a physician assistant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":10316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,206],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[281],"class_list":["post-9995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-springsummer-2016"],"yoast_head":"\nA second calling - Mission Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\/mission\/a-second-calling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A second calling - Mission Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The same desire to serve as a U.S. Army Special Forces medic pulled Roland Paquette \u201912, back into health care as a physician assistant.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\/mission\/a-second-calling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mission Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-02T12:24:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-22T19:30:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/06\/Paquette-military.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"980\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"819\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lety Laurel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lety Laurel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\\\/mission\\\/a-second-calling\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\\\/mission\\\/a-second-calling\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lety Laurel\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\\\/mission\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1325d64aa41023ee56656bc3858ae91\"},\"headline\":\"A second calling\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-02T12:24:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-22T19:30:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\\\/mission\\\/a-second-calling\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":579,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\\\/mission\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\\\/mission\\\/a-second-calling\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\\\/mission\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/20\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/Paquette-military.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni\",\"spring\\\/summer 2016\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\\\/mission\\\/a-second-calling\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\\\/mission\\\/a-second-calling\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\\\/mission\\\/a-second-calling\\\/\",\"name\":\"A second calling - 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