Careers In Healthcare Field:

MY CAREERS IN THE HEALTHCARE FIELD

I've spent over thirty years in the healthcare field. My very first taste of wanting to help others came when my Grandmother had her first stroke when I was only fifteen years old. The Physical Therapist came to the house and showed my Grandfather and me how to perform the exercises she needed to do. Wow, I could help my loved one recover! I was excited and this propelled me daily in assisting in her progress. Even with my Grandfather badgering me that I was being overly exuberant, that I didn't need to push her too hard, I continued daily as the Therapist had instructed. In the end my persistence paid off. What was really exciting was when my Grandmother walked into her regular Physician's office, whom said she'd never walk again, with only the assistance of a cane. To know I helped her recover propelled me to help others.

At age seventeen, I was married therefore I soon had a family to care and love. That fulfilled my need to care for others at that time in my life. However, by the time I was twenty two I became a Home Health Aide. I enjoyed the ability to go and help other people, in there homes. I assisted them with the laundry and other household chores that they were unable to do either due to age or disability or illness. I also went with them on walks or drove them to doctor appointments. I also assisted them with dressing and some other personal care needs. I felt happy to do what I could for many years in this capacity. I was very well liked by many of the patients and the patients families. Many people would request me from the company that I worked for therefore I never lacked for people to help.

In 1987, when my kids were pre-teens, I decided to go to Medical Assisting School to further my Education, earn more money, and help in people in different ways. I got a grant to attend. I was twenty-seven then and ready for a change. I graduated third in my class, Mom was very proud of me. I got a job within three months of graduation for a brand-new urgent care clinic that was opening. It was exciting to begin at the beginning of something new. We were open seven days a week, I worked six days of those to start with until they hired an additional Medical Assistant. Our patients ranged from babies to the elderly. We saw many different problems from just a cold to migraines to even accidental injuries. We had a small emergency surgical room in our clinic to treat accidental injuries that required sutures and such. We also had an x-ray machine, narcotics on hand (in a locked cabinet), EKG machine. One emergency I remember most happened on Memorial day weekend, Saturday. Two men entered the doors approaching the receptionist, one holding a bloody towel to his forehead, I had just exited a room where I'd given an injection to a child. I immediately took the man with the bloody towel aside and lifted the towel and saw there was a large staple embedded in his forehead. As the receptionist gathered information from the other man, who was his brother, I took the first man to our emergency room. I cleansed the site with sterile water and put a clean compress on it and got the doctor. After examining him, we called in our radiologist to get an x-ray. I assisted the doctor in the removal of the staple, which had not broken through the skull into the brain. This was just one of many jobs I've held over the years as a Medical Assistant. I believe I enjoyed most the job I had with a Podiatrist I worked with in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was because we did routine massages, nail clips and performed at least three surgeries a week. I enjoyed assisting in surgeries the most as a Medical Assistant. Also, as a Medical Assistant I did the ordering of supplies, bandaging, applying and removing casts. I also, drew blood (know as Phlebotomy), charted, called in prescriptions, took the patients back, took vitals, EKG's, spirometry, gave injections, assisted with the telephones, made appointments, and billing. The Medical field is composed of a variety of jobs. Medical Assisting prepared me for a variety of other jobs in which I did later on.I've also had jobs as a Phlebotomist or EKG Technician when I'd wanted a change of pace for awhile. Also, as a writer I have knowledge in a various areas of the Medical and Health Care fields in which I can apply that knowledge to my writing.

I had a position in a Home Health Agency as Vice President, Assistant Manager and Public Relations Representative for three years. I enjoyed this job as I really started at the bottom as an aide and was made Assistant Manager with five months when the Owner realized my expertise and potential for the company. Once I became the Assistant Manager I helped the company to grow. Within a year we were too big for a home office and bought a condo on the Lawrence Welk Golf Course. We still grew. I loved helping see my efforts go toward helping this company and the people we took care of make it. One such case is a lady who was sent home to die. I went out to meet her and the neighbor. I set up a schedule for a caregiver to be there 24 hours per day, as she had no family. This woman had outlived three husbands, but actually was only 78 and still wasn't ready to give up on life. I went out every day and spent an hour to check on her myself and assess everything and to let the caregiver have a break. On the fourth day I contacted a Physical Therapist to come out, as she had been getting weak in her legs. Physical Therapy began, within ten days the caregiver was able to get her into the shower by walking her. This made the woman more determined to live. Within eight months our caregivers were only there 12 hours per day, then only 6 hrs then only 4 hours per day by the end of eighteen months. Yes, she was still alive, it was then I had married a second husband and was moving to Utah and went to say goodbye. As I walked outside the screen door I over-heard the best compliment paid to me ever as she told the caregiver there "If it wasn't for Pamel, I wouldn't be alive today. She made sure I got the very best of care when the hospital gave up on me." It's the appreciation that you get or feel when you do a job well. Especially when you are taking care of a person, you know that is makes a difference in someones life. Whether it's in the life of that person or that of the family member(s) that are left behind after that person passes on.
Sometimes it's the dignity we give someone who is dying that makes the difference. It does take special people to do Health Care.

You must remember the second word there "Care". That's what it is all about. Your patience and smile can go a long way even with someone who is being difficult and obnoxious. Later, they will really appreciate you or what you did even if they didn't seem to at the time. They are hurting and in pain or really sick and frustrated. It could be that the doctor is taking too long or the wait is too long or nobody is paying them attention so they act
out of frustration. They believe that since they are paying (their insurance) or that they are in such terrible pain they should get something now. It's human nature. A kind word, a smile, a simple gesture goes a long way, whether or not it seems to be appreciated at the time.