The students in Mrs Castaneda’s and Mrs De la Garza’s classes received their certification to become licensed medical assistants and EKG specialists two weeks ago. 

“Skill wise I teach them vital signs, how to check height, weight, blood pressure, and pulse. Teacher Vanessa Castaneda said. We also teach Respirations, temperature, how to assess for pain, and in our second level I teach how to schedule appointments, verify insurance benefits, assist with the doctors needs in a routine doctor’s appointment, and in the third year I teach students how to take EKGs and check the electrical activity of the heart.”

The students earned their certification through the local community college, the process took about 4 years and the students had to go through a number of training procedures and take many exams to get where they are today. Including a final certification exam. 

“They begin health science courses in 9th grade and then 9th,10th,11th, and 12th grade are pre requisites to begin the lab certification.” Medical science teacher Amanda De la Garza said. “ The certification process for 10th grade which is medical assistance goes over all aspects of the human body, and then they learn how to talk with patients and take care of a maid cal office, as well as minor surgical procedures, and the largest aspect of the program which is taking blood or phlebotomy.”

So now that these students are officially certified as EKG specialists and medical assistants most plan to go into careers in the medical field. 

“I can see myself going into cardiology in the future, and being certified in EKG tech really helps me to want to better my knowledge about everything that has to do with the heart,” student Briseis Del Fiero said.