Roxanne Bacho decided to get into healthcare because she needed to earn more money — and because she wanted to do more with her life.
“I was newly divorced, 29 years old, with two kids depending on me and my limited education,” Bacho said. “I was working as a cashier and one day while I was there, I just stopped and thought, ‘I am capable of more. My kids deserve more. My boys need to see that no matter what happens, how old you are, you don't have to give up.’"
So that night, she went home and started researching school ideas. Bacho said she knew she needed a part-time program that would allow her to keep working and provide for her family but wouldn’t take too long to complete.
That’s when she found American Career College’s medical assistant program.
“It was part-time and only took about eight months (to complete) and that was what worked for me,” Bacho said.
Once enrolled, Bacho said she enjoyed the curriculum but acknowledged that it wasn’t always easy being a mom, a student and working full-time. Luckily for her, she said, there were people at ACC who believed in her.
“Sometimes I would just get a bit overwhelmed with school and work and being a single mom and I tend to be very hard on myself. The person that got me through it was the program director,” Bacho said. “She believed in me and was always there with her door open. She is the reason I not only finished the program but also passed the NCCT exam and became nationally certified.”
After completing the program, Bacho was hired as a certified medical assistant (CMA) by her externship site and worked there for a few years before eventually finding another job closer to home. Not long after taking the new job, she was offered a position with a nonprofit medical organization in the organ/tissue donation field.
“So I now work for the nonprofit full time and work as a CMA per diem. This pandemic is definitely affecting all aspects of life but thankfully I am still working,” she said.
Since graduation, Bacho said she appreciates what she learned at ACC even more and urges that prospective students “take the program seriously.”
“The people in the class who did take it seriously, we now have much better jobs than we would have without the program. My jobs prior to ACC? Minimum wage, no benefits. My jobs after ACC? Well above minimum wage, benefits such as health-care, paid time off, and 401K retirement funds,” she said. “Also, now instead of me chasing jobs trying to apply different places and get hired, my resume is online and the jobs have all found me.”
