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Has the VA Stymied a Profession It Helped Create? - The American Prospect
Jonathon Solonar spent 19 years in the U.S. Navy as a medical corpsman, deploying across the world to help keep America’s fighting force healthy. Among his various roles, Solonar served as the sole medical official on a nuclear submarine, providing primary care to more than 160 fellow sailors traversing the deep seas.
Solonar’s service ended abruptly, in 2022, when he was medically retired, forcing him to scramble for a civilian career. Because he’d been discharged just shy of the 20 years needed to secure his military pension, Solonar hoped to find another federal job that would qualify him for benefits, ideally one with a mission and meaning. He also wanted to move back home to rural Montana. Somewhat remarkably, he found a profession that perfectly fit his needs, as a physician assistant, or PA, at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
In 2018, Solonar’s senator, Jon Tester (D-MT), had helped establish a modest scholarship pilot program to bolster the ranks of PAs. Each year, 35 recipients were sent to PA school on the VA’s dime in exchange for at least two years of clinical service. Solonar applied for a scholarship spot, nabbed one, and in 2023 landed at the University of Washington’s PA program, in Tacoma.
He recently concluded a four-month primary care rotation at the VA in Olympia, work that greatly reaffirmed his new career path. “I was in the military for so long, and I woke up every day with purpose,” Solonar recently explained in an interview. His primary care stint in Olympia engendered similar feelings. “I wasn’t just a number, I wasn’t in a for-profit organization. I was contributing to an integrated health facility taking care of the men and women who served our country.”
Solonar’s service ended abruptly, in 2022, when he was medically retired, forcing him to scramble for a civilian career. Because he’d been discharged just shy of the 20 years needed to secure his military pension, Solonar hoped to find another federal job that would qualify him for benefits, ideally one with a mission and meaning. He also wanted to move back home to rural Montana. Somewhat remarkably, he found a profession that perfectly fit his needs, as a physician assistant, or PA, at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
In 2018, Solonar’s senator, Jon Tester (D-MT), had helped establish a modest scholarship pilot program to bolster the ranks of PAs. Each year, 35 recipients were sent to PA school on the VA’s dime in exchange for at least two years of clinical service. Solonar applied for a scholarship spot, nabbed one, and in 2023 landed at the University of Washington’s PA program, in Tacoma.
He recently concluded a four-month primary care rotation at the VA in Olympia, work that greatly reaffirmed his new career path. “I was in the military for so long, and I woke up every day with purpose,” Solonar recently explained in an interview. His primary care stint in Olympia engendered similar feelings. “I wasn’t just a number, I wasn’t in a for-profit organization. I was contributing to an integrated health facility taking care of the men and women who served our country.”
[link:https://prospect.org/health/2025-04-25-has-va-stymied-profession-it-helped-create-physician-assistants/|