A message from The Community Health Center, Inc.’s Chief Nursing Officer, Bernadette Thomas, APRN, DNP, MPH, in honor of National Medical Assistants Recognition Day.

Greetings everyone:

In recent years, CHC has undergone tremendous change and growth: we have moved from paper charts to electronic records, we moved from offices to pods, and most recently, we became a Level 3 Patient Centered Medical Home.   Throughout all of these changes the role of CHC’s Medical Assistants has been transformed into a complex and integral part of the delivery of comprehensive patient care. 

Each year, our Medical Assistants order and schedule thousands of mammograms, colon cancer screenings, and vaccinations.  Medical Assistants play a key role in coordinating the care for our patients by identifying and reminding them to schedule critical screenings and tests, assisting with medical records releases, and making urgent referrals.  Medical Assistants help to process massive amounts of patient documents at dizzying speeds.  Medical Assistants perform quality assurance activities to help us achieve JC standards.

For our patients, and for CHC, our MAs are true healthcare heroes.  Our MAs stand behind all of the data and statistics that our agency proudly reports: Over the past years our rates of screening for breast, colon, and cervical cancer, for depression, and for alcohol abuse have increased exponentially.  Thanks to our MAs we are able to proudly report that our pediatric patients receive developmental screens, and that our patients with asthma receive an asthma control test at nearly every visit.  Our MAs truly know our patients, and are the embodiment of the “high touch” care that drives the high quality of services that our patients deserve and receive.

When I think about the world class health care that we have delivered, and that we strive to deliver, I think “Behind every quality patient experience, there must be an excellent MA.” 

To all the MAs this week, we thank you for your dedication to the job and to the patients of CHC!

 Very sincerely,

Bernadette