Grace Health staff, Faith Freds, Mindy Giambrone, Brendon Putman, Rosalinda Guerrero-Garcia, Kadie Pogue, Alisha Armstrong and Kaitlyn Baggerly successfully completed Grace Health’s Medical Assistant Apprenticeship Program and received certification as a Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA).
Grace Health’s Medical Assistant Apprenticeship Program is provided through a partnership with Career Step. Career Step, an online provider of career-focused education and professional training, provides online training for Grace Health employees who would like to become medical assistants. Grace Health provides the tools and hands-on experience for people to become successful.
It takes Grace Health staff 6 – 7 months to complete the Career Step portion of the program and be eligible to take the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) national certification exam. The entire program takes about 12 months to complete. The Grace Health Medical Assistant Apprenticeship Program offers class time as well as hands-on training and clinical experience all designed to equip employees to function as medical assistants. During training, staff are being paid an hourly wage and receive benefits – making it the only medical assistant training program in our area in which people are paid while they learn. The next program will begin this fall.
Grace Health is a Federally Qualified Health Center and has been serving Calhoun County since 1986, providing care to 1 in 4 County residents. In 2019, more than 134,000 visits were scheduled at Grace Health for just over 31,000 patients, averaging about 500 new patients each month. Approximately 70% of patients seen at Grace Health either have Medicaid or are uninsured. Grace Health employs just over 320 staff.
(left to right, back row): Faith Freds, Mindy Giambrone, Brendon Putman, Rosalinda Guerrero-Garcia, and Kadie Pogue (left to right, front row): Alisha Armstrong and Kaitlyn Baggerly