Stephen Benton, PA-C

Stephen Benton, PA-C, is a board-certified Physician Assistant with a background in emergency and critical care medicine. He began his healthcare career as a nursing assistant and EMT, first transporting patients to dialysis and medical appointments before moving into 911 EMS and later working as an ER/trauma technician in Boulder, Colorado. There, he met Paul Young and Steve Swan, two emergency medicine PAs who helped inspire him to pursue the profession.

Before PA school, Stephen spent time living and traveling throughout Central America, studying abroad, volunteering in medical settings, learning Spanish, and gaining firsthand exposure to healthcare in resource-limited communities. Those experiences eventually led him to the Emory University Physician Assistant Program in Atlanta.

After graduating from Emory, Stephen built his career in critical care before expanding into flight medicine and medevac. His work has taken him from hospital ICUs to remote clinics in Guatemala, the back of an ambulance, medical helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft at 30,000 feet—caring for patients everywhere from major medical centers to remote highways, deserts, and mountainsides. Those experiences taught him to adapt quickly, stay calm under pressure, and provide good medicine when resources and options are limited.

That background ultimately led Stephen to rural emergency medicine, where he enjoys the independence, unpredictability, and broad scope of critical-access practice.

 

Outside of medicine, Stephen enjoys the outdoors, wildlife, hiking, shooting sports, and gardening with his wife. He lives in Colorado Springs with his wife, also a Physician Assistant, and their three cats.