Meg Huey will join the emergency department staff at Smith County Memorial Hospital in July. Huey first became aware of SCMH through a clinical rotation she did as a student in Wichita State University’s physician assistant program.
“Following my rotation with Dr. Conant in June of 2020, I was not shy about how great my experience with SCMH had been,” Huey said. “I relayed to multiple people that if a job were to become available that I would love the opportunity to come back as a PA. I had so many wonderful experiences as a student with all of the providers within the clinic and in the hospital and ER.”
Huey is an example of why the medical team at SCMH believes so strongly in supporting students and clinical education.
“We loved having Meg as part of our team,” said Dr. Ferrill Conant, the physician who oversaw most of Huey’s rotation last year. “When we learned she was interested in our opening, every provider was excited to be part of the conversation and encourage her decision to return to SCMH.”
Education has been a big part of Huey’s journey. Before enrolling in PA school, she worked as an educator through Teach for America. It was through this program that she began to see long-term problems that untreated medical conditions create for individuals, family units and whole communities.
“After graduating with a degree in history and neuroscience from Grinnell College, a small liberal arts college in Iowa, I worked as a middle school science teacher for an underserved, urban middle school in Huntsville, Ala.,” Huey said. “Entering my second year of teaching I realized that teaching was not the right fit for a long-term career so I began to consider options that would best utilize my personal strengths and appealed to my interest in science.”
Through her own research and shadowing, Huey decided to go back to school to become a physician assistant.
“I was a non-traditional PA student in that I worked as a teacher and full-time in a hospital setting as a mental health worker for a total of five years prior to beginning PA school,” she said. “Knowing that I chose this career after other career experiences and much thought and consideration is a huge drive for me to continue striving to be the best PA possible considering all that went into my path to becoming a PA.”
Huey credits her career experiences as the reason she is so passionate about helping patients and their families.
“I loved the possibility of helping people in a more one-on-one setting and felt it would still allow me to teach and educate others, an aspect I had loved about teaching,” Huey said. “I’m interested in the variety that comes with working in an ER setting and the broad range of patient cases that present to the ER. As a provider, it keeps you learning in order to provide the best patient care and outcomes.”
Huey joins Perry Desbien and Lindsay Rut in the emergency department providing full-time ER care.