AAPA-OM making strides for members

AAPA

-OM DECEMBER 2011

Volume 10

Issue 6

Merry Christmas and

Happy New Year

from your

AAPA-OM Board of Directors

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Membership

Report

3

New PA Student

Representative

3

President-Elect

Urges Support

for Marines

4

ACOEM 5

Chief Delegate—

HOD

6

Outreach 7

Preparing for

Cold Weather

Injuries

Federal Act

Application for

Membership

8

10

11

(Continued to next page)

We are at mid-year of this administration, and our progress with

the organization is going well. We have grown over the past 6 months,

and we continue to grow slowly each month. The leadership of your

academy has been hard at work, working for you. I want to thank each

and everyone who has joined or re-newed their membership this year.

If it were not for you, we could not continue to do the work for you.

Stan Roberts has been on top of the FMCSA proposed rule

changes for medical examiners for the past several years. It looks like

there may be a final rule published at the end of December or begin-

ning of January 2012. Once the final rule is posted, we are planning on

hosting training sessions for PAs.

With the delay in the releasing of the final rules, we are unable

to secure a time slot and space at the AAPA meeting in Toronto. With

that information we decided to make an 8 hour on-line training course.

It will be broken into 8 one-hour segment. This is in the preliminary

stages of planning. If you would like to be one of the 8 on-line instruc-

tors, send me your resume. We will also be recruiting moderators of

the classes that will be taking the course. Again, if you want to be a

moderator, send me your resume. We are doing this jointly with

AAPA. We can share cost and use their knowledge in producing this

training program. We participated in a web-based information session

recently and gained a lot of knowledge, but they (FMCSA) is still

By Edward F. Sorace, PA-C

AAPA-OM board working hard to serve you

DECEMBER 2011 Page 2

working on the final product. So more information to follow as we learn and develop this

training program.

Jack Lasoski has been working with the ACOEM group for several years and is making

great headway in helping us gain legislation that is favorable to PAs. (See Jack’s report in this

issue.) We want to thank Jack for using his vacation time to go to these meetings, some of

which were at his own expense. The Academy just does not have the finances to provide trav-

el expenses for Stan or Jack.

Susan Golanski has been able to keep us in the black, and we have gained about

$1200.00 since July. She is going to work on a proposed budget for 2012-13 now so that Tom

Powell has some money to support this Academy when he takes over the presidency in July.

Becky Chronowski had agreed to stay on as past-president for another year and kept

our membership growing. We have decided to offer a one-time membership 18 month renew-

al for the PAs that have dropped out for one reason or another for the same price as a 12

month membership fee. This would be from January 2012 to June 2013. If you are one of the-

se former members, go to the web site and renew or click on this link http://

www.aapaoccmed.org to renew.

Regina White has taken over the duties of Newsletter Chair, and we have again been

sending out newsletters to our members 4-5 times a year. We have also been sending out re-

newal notices and monthly E-blasts with the assistance of our manager, Suzanne Webb. She

keeps our web page up and sends out all our correspondence.

So what does all this mean to you??? I can tell you that the AAPA-OM leadership is

working hard for you. Your $75.00 dues are being used very wisely and unless you have spent

a day with us, you would not know how much time is expended on your behalf. So if you get

this and are not a paid member, I ask you to submit your membership papers and fee. We are

fighting for you and your privileges every day. If there is anything we can do for you, please

let us know. As soon as we hear from the FMCSA about training and testing, we will let you

know.

Again, thanks to your leadership, we can continue to grow. The Board would like to

wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season.

(Continued from page 1)

The state of financial affairs of the Academy has improved considerably after the BOD

made decisions to handle operations independently in 2011. At the start of the year we had a

few thousand dollars in the treasury. After tightening our spending, dividing our responsibili-

ties, recruiting new members and getting renewals, we have grown both in services and in fi-

nancial solvency, having just over $5000.00 in the bank at this time.

Treasurer’s Report By Susan Golanski, PA-C, Treasurer

AAPA-OM Page 5

DECEMBER 2011 Page 3

AAPA Membership growing steadily;

renewals get 6 free months

By Becky Chronowski, PA-C

Past President/Membership Chairperson

Our AAPA-OM membership is increasing! We have 155 PAs in our database and 73

members have renewed. Are you one of the 82 that have not yet renewed your membership?

Or do you know someone contemplating joining AAPA-OM? There is a special offer right now

for you! For your $75 annual membership fee, you can enjoy a 1 ½ year membership for the

price of 1 year. Your membership includes e-mail updates to keep us abreast of current issues

affecting PAs in Occupational Medicine, the quarterly newsletter, and networking opportuni-

ties.

Special thanks to AAPA-OM President, Ed Sorace, and all the PAs “behind the scenes”

for your work in keeping our members informed of the current issues, including the latest on

certification for performing DOT physicals, and organizing the outreach program through

which packages are sent to our adopted marine corps stationed at Camp Pendleton. There is

strength in numbers. So join us now to make your voice heard for the betterment of practicing

Occupational Medicine PAs across the country!

Best Wishes for a happy and safe New Year!

Kelley Lawton, a Physician Assistant student at Massachusetts Col-

lege of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, otherwise known as MCPHS is the

new AAPA-OM student representative to the Board of Directors. According

to Kelley, currently being a Physician Assistant student defines what she does every day for 18

hours a day. In the near future she will graduate and the name Physician Assistant will define

not only her occupation, but one of her many passions.

Kelley describes herself as a loyal friend, a strong runner, an adventurous traveler, a lov-

ing wife, and an avid skier who was born and raised in Connecticut. From Connecticut, she

moved to continue her education at Bates College in Maine and Boston University in, Massa-

chusetts. From there she moved to completed her Masters in Medical Management at Saint Jo-

seph College in Connecticut. Her education and job experiences along the way led her to PA

studies. While studying at MCPHS, she has become very involved in primary care medicine

and wants to be a part of its progression upon graduation. She feels being the student repre-

sentative for AAPA-OM will allow her to follow new practice measures on a national level as

well as provide insight for future practice.

AAPA-OM welcomes

Kelley Lawton to the BOD

AAPA-OM Page 4

DECEMBER 2011 Page 4

It is hard to believe that it has been 6 months since I was again honored to be selected as

President Elect of AAPA-OM. I have some big shoes to fill as Ed Sorace has taken us from the

brink of extinction back on track to a growing organization. He has continued our Operation

Outreach to Alpha 1/1 Marines who came home for Thanksgiving before they begin to train up

for their next deployment somewhere in the world. (See info on next shipment on p. 7) He has

reorganized us with the loss of our administrative staff and still kept us in the black.

For those who don’t know how the U.S. Marines Corps works, let me brief you on what

it is like for these young heroes.

A Marine division is made up of three regiments of Marines. The regiment is made of

three battalions: infantry, motor transport, and artillery. Each battalion has four companies plus

a headquarters company and each company has three or four platoons. Each platoon is made up

of four squads and each squad has four fire teams. The fire team consists of four or five men.

They are accompanied by a division surgeon, regimental surgeons and a medical battalion with

four hospital companies. The battalion corpsmen and doctors man up the Battalion Aid Station

and provide eight corpsmen per company. The company corpsmen are divided up to cover the

platoons and the squads. Our adopted unit, Alpha 1/1/1, it is the 1st Company of the 1st Marine

Regiment of the 1st Marine Division. It is commonly known as the “First of the First”.

A Marine Expeditionary Force [MEF] is made up of a Battalion Landing Team [BLT],

several squadrons of helicopters [attack, medium transport, and heavy transport] and some ar-

mored vehicles, including amphibious landing craft. Our Marines deploy as part of that am-

phibious force, ready, willing, and able to project the finest fighting force in the world, any-

where in the world at a moment’s notice. After a deployment they will return to their home

base and take some well-earned leave. The Marines will then repair or replace equipment, get

replacement troops, clean their gear and begin training for the next deployment. They will

begin work-up with training assaults to test what they have learned, fix what didn’t work and

prepare to do it all again.

Our Marines are from 18 to 25 years of age. All are high school graduates. Some have a

college education. Some are married with children. They get paid less than minimum wage on

the outside without overtime. They will miss holidays, birthdays, births of children, funerals of

loved ones. They will miss their daughters’ first dance recital, their sons’ baseball game, proms

and kids’ first words. They will complain about the chow, the weather and the job but they will

do it anyway and put their life on the line because they are MARINES.

Let us keep Alpha 1/1 along with all our men and women in service both at home and

abroad in our hearts during the upcoming holiday season. I hope you all have a happy and a

blessed Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanza or Holiday Season.

Keep all our service men and women

in mind this Christmas By Tom Powell, PA-C, President-Elect

ACOEM Liaison staying busy

working for AAPA-OM’s members

AAPA-OM Page 3

DECEMBER 2011 Page 5

It appears that this will be another busy year for me as your liaison to the American Col-

lege of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Since the last newsletter I have been in-

volved in the following activities:

Participated in an AAPA conference call for all AAPA Medical Liaisons on October 5, 2011

at which time I discussed the letter of support for reimbursement of physician assistants

sent to congressional leaders by Dr. T. Warner Hudson, the President of ACOEM .(

Met with Dr. A. G. Rhodes, Chairman of the ACOEM Occupational Physician/PA Section

on October 31, 2011 in Lexington, Kentucky. We briefly discussed the upcoming ACOEM

HOD meeting and his role as our delegate.

Completed all the new requirements for ACOEM Specialty Sections as the elected Secretar-

y/Treasurer of the Occupational/PA Section by the October 31, 2011 deadline in order to

keep our Section in good standing with full privileges in the House of Delegates.

Participated in the November 4, 2011 ACOEM HOD in Chicago through the “Live Meet-

ing” connection. I was able to interact with Dr. Rhodes, our chairman. I also was able to

communicate with two other prominent Section members who were also in attendance: Dr.

Butler, past chairman of our section and ACOEM HOD officer and Dr. Svazas, associate

Section chairman and ACOEM BOD member.

In close contact with Stan Roberts and AAPA staff regarding activities revolving around the

Department of Transportation FMCSA new rules and regulations and its impact on our pro-

fession.

Participated in the ACOEM Special Interest Section Leadership Conference call on Decem-

ber 7, 2011. Dr. Hudson, ACOEM president, presided over the hour long session and dis-

cussed broader roles for Sections such as ours in the ACOEM House of Delegates.

Dr. Janiga, ACOEM Speaker of the HOD, discussed the importance of delegate activities

and the plans for future HOD meetings.

The American Occupational Health Conference (AOHC) announcement and registration

material became available over the internet this week. Please check the ACOEM web site for

details. The AOHC will be held from April 29 until May 2, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.

The ACOEM HOD will begin the first day of the meeting. I am in the process of making ar-

rangements to attend. I will also be making arrangements for our annual Section membership

meeting.

By Jack Lasoski, PA-C, MPAS, DFAAPA

(Continued to next page)

Page 5

DECEMBER 2011 Page 6

Delegates gearing up for AAPA in Toronto

The 40th AAPA Annual Physician Assistant Conference material was sent out this week.

This will be the first time that it is being held outside the United States. Please try to make an

effort to attend what appears to be a very promising CME Conference in Toronto, Canada from

May 26-31, 2012. The House of Delegates will be meeting the first three days and I have made

arrangements to once again serve as your delegate.

Ed Sorace and Thomas Powell have agreed to be alternate delegates and will relieve me

as needed. Please let me know if there are any resolutions that you would like AAPA-OM to

introduce next year. I will certainly make sure that any critical resolutions that will affect our

members will be discussed prior to the HOD meeting.

Stan Roberts will present a lecture on the changes that will be occurring regarding DOT

physical exams and I suggest that any of our members that need current information attend. In

addition, other occupational medicine topics will be available.

We are in the early stages of making arrangements for the annual AAPA-OM member-

ship meeting. We hope to see you there. Feel free to call or e-mail me if you have any ques-

tions regarding the conference. My cell phone number is 270-331-3776 and my e-mail is

lasoskijc@pgdp.usec.com.

By Jack Lasoski, PA-C, MPAS, DFAAPA

(Continued from previous page)

Please wish me luck since I am in the process of making arrangements to attend three

major events in a six week period in April and May: the AAPA Conference in Toronto at the

end of May, the AOHC in Los Angeles in the beginning of May, and my daughter’s wedding in

New Orleans on April 22, 2012..

Call for articles for YOUR newsletter This newsletter is YOUR newsletter. We would love to have articles, editorials, opin-

ions, etc. from our members. We need more articles to support and help each other like Jona-

than Greene’s article on cold weather injuries. We also like features on members who have

received awards and who can share practice experiences both past and present with our mem-

bers.

Call for nominations We are also looking for members who want to step up and take leadership positions to

continue moving our organization forward. Consider being a part of your AAPA-OM by nom-

inating yourself for a leadership position in the spring. New terms will begin July 1.

AAPA-OM ACOEM Liaison keeping hectic schedule

AAPA-OM Page 7

DECEMBER 2011 Page 7

AAPA-OM Care Package Program

Next mail date February 6, 2012

I hope you did not miss our last shipment that went out in Mid-December. We were able to send 7 boxes one of our largest shipments to our Marines for Christmas. Our adopted Marines are back at Camp Pendleton after their deployment to the Mid-East on the USS Green Bay and will be deployed soon again. They had a safe deploy-ment and all Marines and Sailors returned after making several stops in the war zone. I want to thank everyone who contributed to this program. The Marines love getting these care packages and feel that someone cares for them and remembers their sac-rifice that they make for us. This has been a great project. It has touched the lives of many individuals, and we have been able to sustain it for several years.

Here is the wish list for the next shipment: Protein powder and protein bars Mach 3 razor blades Multi-vitamins / Dip Beef Jerky Drink mix Toiletries Baby wipes Hand sanitizer Febreze AA Batteries Magazines (Economy, Sports, Cars, Health/Fitness, and Music) Snacks: swizzles, beef jerky, bubble gum, Socks (Black for boots & white for running shoes) Phone cards and Wal-Mart gift cards work well since they are back in the states. Also, letters from people of the community and children offering their support are a great morale booster for our Marines!!!

If you have any questions, please contact me at esorace14@gmail.com If you miss this shipment, we will be doing one in February. Thanks in advance, Ed Sorace, President AAPA-OM Pease send items to me by February 6, 2012. Edward Sorace, 174 Monticello Place, Elizabethtown, Kentucky 42701

AAPA-OM Page 8

DECEMBER 2011 Page 8

Continued on next page

Misdiagnosis of chemical “frostbite” illustrates

need to review of cold weather injuries for workers By Jonathan R.C. Green, PA-C, MPH

A couple of weeks ago, a patient presented to an occupational medicine clinic (which

shall remain nameless) with a complaint of a chemical spill on his right hand. He works for a

medical equipment supply company and delivers wheelchairs, walkers, etc. to homebound per-

sons. When he presented, he complained of severe pain, 10 out of 10, and had considerable er-

ythema, edema, and a small blister on his hand. The nurse assumed he had a chemical burn.

So she irrigated the hand and put a cold pack on it. And now, the rest of the story: the spill had

occurred while the worker was filling an oxygen tank, and the substance that spilled on his

hand was liquid oxygen. The injury was not a burn, but frostbite. Applying a cold pack to the

hand was decidedly not a good idea. When the health care provider came to see him, the cold

pack was immediately removed. The patient’s hand was immersed in warm (NOT hot, 104

degrees F is ideal) water for 45 minutes. Since the blister was intact, it was not debrided. The

patient happened to be a smoker; so he was told that he must not smoke for at least the next 48

hours as to not further compromise the circulation in the hand. He was given a tetanus boost-

er, NSAID and narcotic analgesics and scheduled for follow up the next day.

In hindsight, such an error sounds pretty bad, but it was actually quite understandable.

The injury occurred in early fall, before any cold weather had hit our area. None of the clinic

staff were thinking of cold injuries. First and second degree frostbite can look very similar to

first and second degree burns. In this case, the patient fortunately healed very nicely over the

next 3 or 4 days, despite his maladroit initial treatment. He was warned at his final clinic visit

that he is now at increased risk of having another cold injury. He needs to take extra precau-

tions with personal protective equipment (e.g. gloves) and be on the alert for signs of frostbite

in the future. The “take-home” from all this is that we, as occupational medicine providers,

must remember that some of our patients work with very cold stuff all year round. We need to

be ready to encounter cold injuries and treat them appropriately all year round.

In any case, cold weather is coming soon. Now is a good time to review the preventive

measures for cold injury in workers, especially those who must work outdoors:

a. Listen to the weather forecasts on the radio and TV, so a “cold snap” does not take you

by surprise. Pay special attention to the Wind Chill Factor or “Real Feel” segment of the

predictions. Have waterproof overgarments and/or shelters available in the event of a

thaw followed by a drop in temperature, or a sudden onslaught of freezing rain.

b. Use the buddy system. Work in pairs, so you can keep an eye on your coworker for early

signs of frostbite or hypothermia. Be also on the lookout for signs of dehydration, which

can be subtle, such as headache, loss of appetite, constipation or lethargy.

Preventing cold weather injuries for employees Continued from previous page

(Continued to next page)

d. Stay active while working outdoors – swing your arms, walk around, wiggle your toes

inside your boots to keep the circulation going. Chew gum or suck on hard candy to keep

your facial muscles moving.

e. Take frequent short breaks in warm, dry shelters to warm up.

f. Most people tend to eat more if their food is hot; that is why hot cereals such as oatmeal

are traditionally recommended during the winter. There is no special diet that is better

than others to help you keep warm; just hot food, and plenty of it. If you work outside

during the winter, this is not a good time to decide to go on a diet.

g. Wear several loose layers of clothing because the air spaces between the layers of cloth-

ing will keep you warmer than a single heavy garment could do. Also, you can remove

some layers as the day gets warmer and/or you become warmer through exertion, so as to

keep from sweating.

h. A lot of body heat is lost through the head, so wear a warm hat. If you drive a vehicle,

however, don’t wear headgear [e.g. hoods, balaclavas] that might restrict your peripheral

vision.

i. Wearing gloves or mittens makes it harder to operate push knobs and toggles, so it is

tempting to remove them. But if you do that, your fingers will get cold, which in turn will

degrade your manual dexterity. Blowing on your fingers to warm them is a very bad idea:

the moisture in your breath will condense on them and then make the inside of your

gloves wet when you put them on again, causing your fingers to become even colder.

j. If you have to wear a respirator while working outdoors in cold weather, don’t adjust the

straps too tightly – this could cut down on your blood circulation in those areas and lead

to frostbite.

k. Be especially careful when handling gasoline or other volatile chemicals. If they spill on

your clothing or worse, on your bare skin, the resulting rapid evaporation can give you an

instant case of frostbite.

l. If you wear a mustache, consider shaving it off until spring – drainage from your nose

collects in the mustache hairs, and can form a “snotsicle” that will freeze your upper lip.

m. If you wear metal-rimmed spectacles, consider changing to ones with plastic frames that

are much less likely to freeze and adhere to the skin over your cheekbones. Metal pierc-

ings on exposed areas of your body put you equally at risk – you may want to take them

out until spring.

n. Above all, take care of your feet, because they are the body parts most likely to develop

frostbite. To keep your feet dry, you may need to change your socks 2 or 3 times a day,

and apply foot powder each time. If you happen to have exceptionally sweaty feet, try

spraying them with antiperspirant deodorant before putting on your socks. When you

DECEMBER 2011 Page 9

DECEMBER 2011 Page 10

are made of resilient fiber, such as wool, that will help keep your feet from touching the

cold inner surfaces of your boots. The next time you buy work boots, ask for a pair with

a “Nine-Ninety” last that provides adequate wiggle room for your toes. If you have to

stand in one place for long periods (e.g. as a gate guard), stand on a wooden pallet or

piece of cardboard, to keep your body heat from seeping away into the cold ground.

o. Paradoxically, workers can become dehydrated even in cold weather. In response to the

flow of cold air on body surfaces, as much as 99% of blood flow on skin surfaces is redi-

rected back to the internal organs to keep them warm. This physiological reaction causes

an increase of blood in the body core, which sends a signal to the kidneys to excrete

more fluid out of the body. Workers may in turn decrease their fluid intake because they

don’t want to have to go to the Porta-Potty so often, and undo several layers of clothing

to relieve themselves. It is therefore critical to warn workers to continue to drink plenty

of fluids regularly before they feel thirsty. A good rule of thumb is “by the time you feel

thirsty, you are a quart and a half low.”

p. Working outdoors in cold weather while wearing bulky clothing can make many routine

tasks more difficult and time-consuming. Plan more time for accomplishing these tasks,

and don’t skimp on all the usual safety precautions while trying to make up for lost time.

q. Some of our client companies have workers serving the barges on the river. It is vital that

any worker who goes near a body of water wear a life jacket at all times. Many of us

have heard that death from hypothermia occurs rapidly after falling in cold water, but

this is not true; most people will drown first. It can take up to 60 minutes to die of hypo-

thermia after falling into water, but immersion in cold water quickly weakens the arm

and leg muscles. Even good swimmers cannot stay above water for long. It also weak-

ens the chest muscles; so they cannot keep breathing for long even if their heads are

above water.

Mr. Green graduated from the U.S. Army PA training program in 1983, and completed a resi-

dency in occupational medicine at the University of Oklahoma in 1993. Since retiring from the

Army in 1998, he has worked at the St. Mary’s Occupational Medicine Clinic in Evansville,

Indiana. He is a regular contributor to our newsletter.

Understanding cold weather injuries can help

workers prepare and eliminate lost work time Continued from previous page

AAPA-OM Page 8

DECEMBER 2011

Page 11

Another step forward for Occupational Medicine PAs

November 29, 2011 the House of Representatives approved H.R. 2465, the Federal

Workers' Compensation Modernization and Improvement Act. The bill, which was introduced

on July 8, 2011, amends the Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA) to allow PAs to di-

agnose and treat federal employees with job-related traumatic injuries, 85% of all federal

workers' compensation cases. It was approved by the House Committee on Education and the

Workforce in July and passed without objection. HR 2465 is the first significant reform of FE-

CA in over 40 years.

Many thanks to all the PAs who have worked in support of this legislation for decades.

Your advocacy efforts contributed significantly to its passage by the House. However, there is

still work to be done. Before it can become law, the Senate must approve the House-passed

legislation.

All PAs are asked to contact their Senators and ask them to take action on the Federal

Workers' Compensation Modernization and Improvement Act this Congress. PAs are also

asked to thank their Representatives for passing this important legislation. Take action today!

<http://capwiz.com/aapa/utr/1/KQEFQWLQDA/BQNLQWLQIF/7647852686>

Background: This legislation would make a technical fix to a law that pre-dates the PA profession.

The Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) was enacted before the PA profession was

created and desperately needs to be updated to recognize the role of PAs in a modern health

care system.

Although the overwhelming majority of state workers' compensation programs recog-

nize PAs, the federal program does not. Consequently, unless a physician is on site to sign a

federal workers' compensation claim form for care provided by a PA, the PA must either send

the injured worker to a local emergency room for treatment, or provide care that will not be

compensated by the US Department of Labor.

The inability of PAs to provide medical care to federal employees who are injured on the

job limits federal employees' access to medical care, disrupts continuity of care, and creates

unnecessary costs to the program.

So please contact your Senator and take action today!!

The above news release was reprinted from the AAPA Newswatch.

American Academy of Physician Assistants in Occupational Medicine

174 Monticello Place Elizabethtown, Kentucky 42701

Join online or by mail below http://www.aapaoccmed.org/

info@aapaoccmed.org

Name: ___________________________________ Company: ______________________________ Home Address: ___________________________ Position: _______________________________ ________________________________________ Address: _______________________________ Home Phone: ____________________________ _______________________________________ Cell Phone: ______________________________ Work Phone: ____________________________ E-mail: __________________________________ E-mail: _________________________________ AAPA Number: __________________________ NCCPA Number: _________________________ The AAPA-OM now offers electronic newsletters, e-mail blasts, and online members’ only sections of web site

for membership directories. Please be sure email is correct.

Please select correct membership category below: ____ $75.00: Fellow Member is a graduate of a accredited Physician Assistant or are certified by the (NCCPA) who shall be employed within, or be a participant of occupational medicine or have worked in occupational medicine. AAPA-OM Fellow Members shall be entitled to the privilege of the floor, to hold formal office, and to vote. ____ $10.00: Student Member is a person enrolled in an accredited program or an unaccredited program recognized by the AAPA. Student Members shall be entitled to the privilege of the floor but have no vote or hold any office except for their elected Student Representative. The Student Representa-tive shall be elected by the BOD and enjoys all rights and privileges including formal vote except in matters relating to AAPA. ____ $ 75.00: Physician Member is a U.S. licensed physician who wishes to associate with the organization. He or she shall have the privilege of the floor but shall not be entitled to vote or hold office. ____ $50.00: Associate Member is a person engaged either in selling products and/or providing other services to PAs or an individual employed by a government agency who does not qualify for any other membership category. Associate Members shall be entitled to the privilege of the floor but shall not be entitled to vote or to hold office. Signed : _______________________________________________________________ Dated: ________________________________________________________________