View Larger Image
Aaron Pilkington, MHA, an alum of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, advocates for the improved health of women and children in Arkansas.
| Arkansas Rep. Aaron Pilkington, MHA, has been involved with the health care industry for most of his life, which factored greatly into his drive to improve the health of Arkansas’ women and children.
“I’ve been around hospitals, clinics throughout my life,” he said. “It was almost a foregone conclusion that I’d work at one. I’ve witnessed how hospitals improve lives.”
Pilkington, an alumnus of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health’s Master of Health Administration program, is the vice president of strategic communications for ARcare, a federally qualified health center that serves Arkansas and parts of Kentucky and Mississippi.
When asked about his role and the value of ARcare, Pilkington said having quality clinics and hospitals is vital to Arkansans.
“We have a lot of health issues that we must fix,” Pilkington said. “Helping the state’s hospitals are a great way to start that process.”
“I love working for ARcare because we serve the least, the last and the lost,” he said. “Working in rural health, there’s a massive public health aspect to it. We’re the only provider in a lot of communities. A lot of the time we’re the first line of defense against public illness, public disease.”
ARcare and how it addresses access to care also assists Arkansans financially, Pilkington added.
“When you have a community that’s sick, where people aren’t taking care of themselves and chronic diseases are prevalent, it costs the community money,” he said. “Money is being spent on curing sickness and not on other things that improve a family’s quality of life.”
“If everyone has a mentality to address their health, economically we’re better off,” he added. “As taxpayers, a lot of money goes toward health.”
Being a health care professional and having a public health education impacts Pilkington’s viewpoint. But his stance is also shaped by being exposed to the health field at an early age, including volunteering at a hospital as a youth.
A native of Mena, Arkansas, Pilkington’s grandfather and father were hospital administrators. Their duties gave him an introduction to public health and an inside look at the impact of local hospitals and clinics.
“The hospital was a pillar in our community,” he said. “It was one of our largest employers. Hospitals affect the vitality of a community.”
Early on, Pilkington decided that he wanted to be a health administrator.
After graduating from high school, he went to Washington & Jefferson College, a private liberal arts college in Pennsylvania. Once he earned a bachelor’s degree in 2013, Pilkington returned to Arkansas to pursue a master’s degree. Enrolling in the College of Public Health’s MHA program made sense on multiple levels, he said.
“I knew I wanted to live and work in Arkansas,” he said. “I thought it was best to go to school in the state I planned on living in for the rest of my life.
“Also, UAMS’ MHA program being accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education, was important to me as well.”
Pilkington has fond memories of his time in the program, especially a summer residency he did at Unity Health in Searcy.
“I liked how the professors were very knowledgeable,” he said. “I loved the summer residency programs for administrators. That was a great way to get hands-on experience on how health care works.”
The residency further prepared Pilkington to help community members, especially those who live in rural areas.
“If you want to understand how to improve rural health and how to work in rural state, it’s a great program,” he said. “If you want a program that’s focused on practical application, it’s the program for you. If a person wants to run clinics or hospitals, the UAMS MHA program is the one for you.”
He completed the program in 2015. Pilkington uses his education to help him execute his ARcare duties and to also advocate for Arkansans as a state representative for District 45, located in Pope and Johnson counties.
A member of the House’s public health committee, he’s been involved with numerous legislative developments that directly address maternal health, including the formation of the UAMS Milk Bank. He also wrote the Healthy Mom’s Healthy Babies bill.
Pilkington says it’s all a matter of fulfilling his dream of improving the health status of a state he adores.
“As an elected official, the most rewarding part is seeing the fruits of those labors come to fruition and help the people of Arkansas,” he said. “It’s common for people to wait until they’re about to become a parent to being talking about prenatal health and postnatal health. However, people need to have those conversations much sooner, make lifestyle changes much sooner, to help us improve maternal health.”
link
