Personal Narrative: A Career As A Medical Office Assistant

On my search for a full-time job, I came across this ad. This ad led me to a career option, that I had not be aware of. I had never heard of an occupational therapy assistant. The picture demonstrated what they did, and it moved me. In fact, I wish I had known about them when my mom was ill. We were looking for a physical therapist, and they had said that it would not be a good fit for her. She was ill, but she wanted that independence. Perhaps, an occupational therapist would have been able to help her with that.

I am currently enrolled as a full-time student in the medical assisting program at Peninsula College. At the end of fall quarter 2015, I will complete the program and earn my certification as a medical assistant. To achieve my goal, I have concentrated solely on my academic career. This has left little time in my life to resume a full-time position in the workforce. As a mother of three, I know how challenging it can be to go back to school, much less try to live on one income. I hope to use this scholarship to help ease my family's financial burden. A scholarship could help me buy extra supplies, such as scrubs, closed toe leather shoes, a stethoscope and other items that are not covered by financial aid, but are all vital materials needed

Volunteer work has always been a prominent activity that occurred within my life. Growing up with a father that was involved in the community so much that it felt like it was his job, I was always surrounded by community service and helping others. At the young age of six years old, I decided to do my part as well, feeding the homeless in a local church in New Bedford, Massachusetts. From that year on, I believe a majority of my most valuable characteristics derived directly from my volunteer work. Now, almost thirteen years later, I am involved in over 100 hours of community service per year and am ready to apply it into a new field- as a Resident Assistant.

During my last clinical rotation of my adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner graduate program, I worked closely with an orthopedic surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital. He frequently became exasperated when residents would present new consults and focus solely on imaging. He wanted to know what the history and physical revealed. One morning on rounds, he grabbed my hands and exclaimed, “Always look at your patient! Touch them!”

The events occurring during the summer of 2012 opened my eyes to what would become my life’s ambition. I discovered first hand how moments matter and how fragile life can be. My destiny is in the medical field and I am a believer that things happen for a reason.

Scared, nervous, anxious my emotions were all over the place. I didn’t know the interview was going to be a group interview? “Great!” I said to myself, now I have to deal with making myself stand out more. I thought to myself I need this internship so I can be able to look at different careers in the medical field. I need to calm myself down now the interview is about to start. Each time it came to my turn I felt so nervous that I couldn’t get the right words out of my mouth. Nine questions went by and the interview was finally done. I shake hands with both interviewers as I step out the door I felt intimidated by the other applicants. I don’t even know if I aced the interview or completely bombed it.

Working as a nursing assistant for over 4 years has provided me with several humbling experiences. My position, for instance, allows me to spend the most time with patients. Yet, the time spent with them does not just entail care, mostly it is filled with conversing.

When individuals think of dead people, images of loved ones might scroll through their brain or perhaps they are reminded of the infamous quote, “I see dead people” from the movie, The Sixth Sense. However, for me, the two words evoke a momentous memory in which I inspected cadavers. I was a teenager at the time, attending a summer medical program and it seemed as if I had entered the gates of heaven or simply put, the gates of Georgetown University. I had always wanted to pursue a career in medicine, and this was evident in second grade when I dressed up as a doctor for career day. It was sensational strutting around in my immaculate, white lab coat and using my Fisher Price stethoscope to “hear” the other students’ heartbeats. I felt the

Six years ago I had never considered going into medicine. At seventeen, life revolved around my first passion -- basketball. The start of my senior season was just around the corner and a childhood dream of playing college ball felt within reach. When I could no longer play I planned to go into coaching, but it wasn’t meant to be. On the first night of the annual family campout I blindly ran into a concrete bench. The collision left me with a compound tibial fracture, and a clean break of my fibula. After surgery the doctor found a blood clot in my calf, and other scary complications like “drop foot” and “compartment syndrome” were thrown around. I was scared. The fear of not being able to run, or walk without a limp quickly displaced any anger

I would like to work as a healthcare manager in (my husband’s) medical office. Some of my primary responsibilities would include developing and implementing office policies and procedures, maintaining medical records, submitting claims to insurance companies, managing the administration part of the office as well as supervising the staff professionals such as registered nurses, medical assistants, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and front desk personnel. My job duty would also include training new employees and assessing their performances.

Until now, putting leadership skills into practice has never truly caused me to question myself. In the past I had just approached leadership, and never thoroughly thought about what I needed to actually be doing or thinking. Starting a project and thinking more about my actions has allowed me to see what type of leader I am and what type of leader I want to be. The Leadership and Management course for engineers has begun to give me the tools I need to succeed not only in my future career, but in current projects I work on now.

As you grow older you realize that you will never learn nothing that should taken for granted. Is all valuable.

I am a strong believer in the fair treatment of all people regardless of the race, creed, ethnicity, nationality etc. As an African American male, I know all too well how it feels to be judged and stereotyped. As a physician, I would actively work to ensure that I am never on the giving end of such a negative aspect of the human existence. If we are ever to avoid major atrocities such as the Tuskegee experiment (1932-1972), we as physician must remember that we take the Hippocratic Oath to serve all not a select few. As a physician, I would like to serve the underserved and give back to communities across this country and the world that may not have a much access to healthcare as the rest of the world. This is how I believe that I can ensure

“Ma.. I lost and I am sorry for letting you down!” I replied with tears in my eyes.

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