Medical Assistants honored during recognition week

“Not all heroes wear capes.” That’s the superhero theme for the 2021 Medical Assistants Recognition Week, and it’s a fitting description of these vital members of Axis Health System’s care teams.

Axis is celebrating 12 staff members during the recognition week, which is held Oct.18-22 as designated by the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). Medical assistants across the country will be recognized during this special week. In celebration of Medical Assistants Recognition Week, Axis will share gift bags with the MA team, display posters in four integrated clinics and launch a social media campaign, “Meet the MA Behind the Mask.”

Medical assistants help make patients’ visits run smoothly and the provider’s day run efficiently. These multiskilled health professionals perform a wide range of administrative and clinical roles. One of their most valuable skills is simply listening and connecting.

“The favorite part of my job is taking care of our patients,” said Aleena Robson, MA at Dove Creek Integrated Healthcare.  “I often hear patients talk about multiple issues with their health. I am able to share with them that we are here for them with compassion and empathy; and that we have resources, education handouts, and great support with skills and experience from our providers and staff throughout the Axis system.”

What do medical assistants do?

A normal day as a medical assistant might include the following administrative duties:

• Greeting patients
• Updating medical records
• Answering phones or email
• Scheduling appointments for patients, admissions, or laboratory services
• Filling out insurance paperwork
• Managing billing and bookkeeping

On the clinical side, medical assistants will often:

• Prepare patients for examination
• Assist the physician or nurse while an exam is going on
• Conduct basic tests
• Sterilize equipment
• Draw blood
• Change dressings or remove sutures
• Work with medical equipment, such as X-rays
• Assist with the administration of medication
• Help with authorizing prescription refills

Axis medical assistants

Axis medical assistants work with providers at four Community Health Center clinics in Southwest Colorado. All of the clinics are accepting new patients of all ages. The MAs at each clinic include:

• Dove Creek Integrated Healthcare: Joyce Barnett, Aleena Robson, Kristie Whited
• Archuleta Integrated Healthcare: Terri Clifford, Geri Mae Iturralde
• Cortez Integrated Healthcare: Tiffany Foster, Challis Gottman, Leonarda Lewis-Yazzie
• La Plata Integrated Healthcare: Janiece Montano, Lavin Jackson, Lara Grubbs, Carolyn Wise

Join the Axis team

Axis is currently hiring for a full-time Medical Assistant at La Plata Integrated Healthcare in Durango. Interested applicants may apply here.  Medical assisting is an allied health profession with practitioners who function as members of the healthcare delivery team and perform administrative and clinical procedures. With their unique versatility, medical assistants are proving to be the allied health professional of choice for this decade and beyond. Medical assisting is one of the nation’s careers growing much faster than average for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.