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Alumni Profile: Ty J. McComas, FNP-C, Chief Medical Officer, Molokai Community Health Center

When he began thinking about a career in healthcare, Ty McComas quickly realized that the profession of nursing was for him. Working as a firefighter/paramedic, McComas was surrounded by coworkers who had become RNs and flight nurses themselves.

Ty McComas“It made sense for me to continue my training down that pathway,” McComas says. “The [GEPN] allowed me to pursue nursing with my non-nursing BS degree. It was a wonderful fit.”

The GEPN, or Graduate Entry Program in Nursing, provides opportunities for adult learners who do not have educational backgrounds in nursing to earn advanced degrees in one of several areas. Learners may choose among the Master of Science in Advanced Population Health Nursing (APHN), Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), and PhD in nursing programs. The program involves an intensive three continuous semesters. At the end of the first year, students are eligible to take the NCLEX-RN, the national licensing program. After this, students may transition immediately into their graduate nursing specialty degree tracks and begin courses for their advanced degree. For McComas, the decision to embark on the journey involved much sacrifice.

“I left my wife and two small children and moved to Oahu for the whole year of nursing school,” he says. “I flew home monthly and on the weekends … Sometimes we make sacrifices to help the ones we are sacrificing for. This was one of those times.”

Now, McComas works as a Family Nurse Practitioner and the Chief Medical Officer for Molokai Community Health Center. His goal when he began his journey was to return to Molokai, where his wife was born and raised.

“We didn’t want to raise our kids any other place,” he says. “I always wanted to work at the Community Health Center, and now I have that opportunity and couldn’t be happier.”

His educational experiences, diligent work ethic and work-life balance have combined to equal success for McComas, who, in addition to achieving his dream job, was recently awarded the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) Award of Excellence.

“I am honestly not motivated by awards or recognition in general, but it was nice to see that someone else cared enough about what I do to acknowledge it in the nomination,” McComas humbly says, adding that the program may have contributed by helping to nurture characteristics in him that are essential for his practice. “The program is really tailored to people that are motivated in their own right. They have to be self-learners and hungry to do things for themselves … The program fosters motivation, self-reliance, and self-mastery for the sake of becoming better and providing a better level of service.”

For more information about the GEPN program, contact Christopher Stutes, GEPN coordinator. Applications are available and the deadline is January 5, 2020.

The Rundown: Nurse Practitioners

Nurse practitioners (NPs), like Ty J. McComas, FNP-C, Chief Medical Officer, Molokai Community Health Center, are licensed, independent practitioners. NPs are Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) and are often the provider of choice for millions of Americans. They can evaluate patients, diagnose, write prescriptions and bring comprehensive perspectives to health care, according to the AANP. In order to practice, NPs must complete 6 or more years of academic and clinical preparation. This includes a registered nursing license, graduate nursing education, national board certification and state NP licensure/registration, according to the AANP.

In Hawaii, NPs have full scope of practice. This means they can help to answer the calls for increased primary care around the state. In fact, NPs are choosing primary care more than physicians and physician assistants, with 87% of NPs prepared for primary care programs in 2017, compared to just 14.5% of physicians entering a primary care residency in the same year, according to the AANP.

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