To help take care or the underserved, right? That was my answer, too, when asked the question in my PA school interview. Reflecting back, my true motivation was not quite that noble, but I believe it was honorable, to an extent.
As an athletic trainer, I worked A LOT. In one job that I had, as one of two ATCs for 12 DIII sports, I was working between 80 and 100 hours a week. Oh yeah...my salary was $23,000 a year! Needless to say, this was not conducive to starting the young family that my wife and I wanted. Plus, we wanted my wife to be able to stay at home with any kids that we were to have.
When I learned of the PA profession from a professor colleague and got connected with one, I knew that I was going to be a PA!
My wife and I needed me in a career that would be able to provide what we needed for what we wanted our family to become, and with my athletic training career being a great preparatory experience, becoming a PA in orthopedics was a great fit!
Please, share your story.