Healthcare Hero – Carolanna Hartsfield

Hailey Heseltine
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Meet one of our local healthcare workers, Carolanna Hartsfield!
Hartsfield is a PA-C, Physician Assistant, who currently works with Dr. Susanna Zorn at the Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic (TOC).
Explaining the inspiration behind her decision to become a PA, Hartsfield says, “I loved science growing up, and I became fascinated with how I could help people and combine science. I didn't like the idea of having to choose a field of medicine to work in for my whole career, so the flexibility of PA appealed to me. We are certified to practice in any field of medicine, and we have the ability to switch throughout our careers.”
With that goal in mind, she went to Florida State University (FSU), where she earned a bachelor's degree in Biology with a minor in chemistry. After graduating from FSU, she went to University of South Alabama and graduated with a master's degree in Health Science and her PA certification in 2008.
Hartsfield moved back to Tallahassee after finishing college, beginning her career at the Tallahassee Plastic Surgery Clinic. After three years at the clinic, she began working at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital's emergency room, which she spent two years with. It was then that she found the job she has had ever since at the TOC, working first with Dr. William Thompson and now Dr. Susanna Zorn.
“I shadowed an orthopedic PA during college,” says Hartsfield. “I loved the ways PAs were utilized and the opportunity for time in the operating room. It took me a little bit to get here, but working at TOC is my dream job.”
As a PA at TOC, Hartsfield helps Dr. Zorn take care of athletes from FSU and FAMU for their primary care needs. She describes it as “seeing patients of all ages for musculoskeletal issues and problems...I do a lot of ultrasound guided procedures, including cortisone injections, hyaluronic acid and PRP injections...focusing on non-operative and non-surgical treatments...our focus is sports medicine, but I see all joint pain.”
Her goal as a healthcare worker is simply to “help make people's lives better,” which she says is best accomplished by being attentive, listening to patients needs, understanding their goals and formulating a plan to reach them.
Hartsfield's career is full of rewards. She says the most rewarding part of is all is “seeing a patient who couldn't walk or move their arm able to do the things they desire. Sometimes it's something as simple as being able to walk and shop, sometimes it's a patient competing in a competition, and both are satisfying.” Now and always, she strives “to be known as a provider who listens to her patients and advocates for them.”
In her leisure time, Hartsfield enjoys working out, going to the beach and getting involved in her church, Four Oaks East. She also likes spending time with her husband, Will, an engineer, and their 15-month-old son, Hendley, along with her parents, Joel and Sarah Lawson, and brother Buddy, who she says have supported her education and career choices endlessly.