College program greatly reduces costs for future medical assistants

San Diego Union-Tribune

March 1, 2017 4:25 PM PT

It can cost up to $18,000 to become a medical assistant, a price that is out of reach for many working-class families. A new program put together by Vista Community Clinic and the Cal State University San Marcos nursing school makes the journey much more affordable.

Twenty-nine newly minted medical assistants — the program’s first graduating class — gathered at Shadowridge Golf Club in Vista on Monday night to celebrate not just the milestone of entering careers with significant growth potential but also the fact that they spent only $2,000 to complete the curriculum.

Grant money from the San Diego Women’s Foundation and an anonymous donor underwrote the program, allowing coordinators to keep costs low for students. Watching graduates line up for Monday’s award ceremony dinner, Fernando Sañudo, the Vista clinic’s chief executive, said he had been dreaming of this program for years.

He said with six months of intense training, participants can pick up enough familiarity with medical concepts to work in a range of health settings — from the waiting room to the exam room. They learn, for instance, about the differences in health insurance coverage and how to take vital signs, draw blood, give shots and counsel patients on properly following requests issued by medical staff.

“Because they have a basic understanding of health care they’re able to fit, pretty much, throughout the clinic,” Sañudo said.

Vista Community Clinic, one of the largest community health centers operating in North County, plans to hire seven to nine of the program’s graduates. Sañudo said a look at the job listings for the region’s 18 community clinics alone shows there are always opportunities available for medical assistants.

“These folks are not going to have a problem getting jobs. I think they’re going to have a choice of where they want to work,” he said.

Members of the inaugural graduating class come from practically all kinds of places, from practically all walks of life. The following are four of the graduates’ stories:

Alberto Niño Delgado, 22, began working for a local sprinkler-parts manufacturing plant since graduating from high school in San Marcos. It was an encounter with a knife that got him thinking about a career in health care.

“I was stabbed. They tried to steal my car,” Delgado said.

That experience was illuminating. He liked the way the medical workers he encountered helped him get through the nerve damage that resulted from the assault, and how they encouraged him to apply for the new medical assistant program even though he liked his job at the time — putting stainless-steel molds into machines that turned plastic pellets into sprinkler parts. And, he said, his sister’s experience as a medical assistant convinced him that health care simply had a higher ceiling.

“I saw more growth, more opportunity, professionally and as a person,” Delgado said.

Cynthia Colon, 40, enjoyed working as a dispatcher for the online retailer Amazon through a contract company. But then that contractor didn’t get a renewal.

Colon managed to find another role: driving a delivery truck, something she also liked doing. After one year in that position, once again, her company lost its contract and she was laid off.

As she began taking classes to prepare for nursing school, Colon heard about the medical assistant program and said it made sense to give it a try while continuing to get prerequisites out of the way for eventual enrollment in nursing school.

“In the back of my mind, this is really what I wanted to do. But it has always been a struggle with money,” she said, referring to the standard tuition and fees.

Colon said she will bring her experience with the world’s largest retailer to her new career. Though the products delivered are very different, she said the central concern is the same: “Amazon cares about their customers … I feel the same way about the patient.”

Marta Licia Camacho Hernandez, 19, started helping in her family’s Mexican-themed restaurants before her 10th birthday. As her high school years drew to a close, she was managing the family’s San Marcos location, one of six scattered across the county. She had money coming in, a regular paycheck, but knew she didn’t want to be in the family restaurant business her whole life. Still in her teens, she had already learned to be a cashier, cook and supervisor.

“I wanted to do more than just being a manager in a restaurant,” she said.

Now having gone through the medical assistant program, she believes there are many parallels to the work she was doing before. She said health care keeps her busy and engaged. And satisfying consumers is always a prime goal, she added.

“One of the main things at the restaurant was customer service, and that’s one of the main things I will be doing as a medical assistant — helping patients,” she said.

Angela Vanbrock, 25, graduated from MiraCosta College with an associate degree in social and behavioral sciences — and picked up a certified nursing assistant license at the same time. Her big aim is to become a registered nurse, but the exact path for getting there was not clear, especially because her budget is tight.

When she spotted a description of the medical assistant program in the newspaper and saw that the cost was within her reach, she said it became clear that this training should be her next step.

“I felt it was a really good option. Medical assistants and RNs go hand in hand,” Vanbrock said.

For people who might be considering an occupational change, this mother and Carlsbad resident said go for it, even if it might seem scary.

“To jump into something new is exciting. It’s never too late for change,” she said.

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