Northern Celebrates Medical Assistants

In celebration of Medical Assistants Recognition Week in October, Medical Assisting program officials at West Virginia Northern Community College are holding information sessions along with free blood pressure readings.

The information sessions will be conducted Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 4 p.m. on the Wheeling campus and again on Friday, Oct. 23, at 11 a.m. on the Weirton campus, according to Michele Watson, director of the certificate and associate in applied science degree Medical Assisting programs.

Students in the Clinical Medical Assistant Associate Degree Program will be taking free blood pressures in the lobby of the B&O Building, downtown Wheeling campus, on Monday, Oct. 26, from 10-11 a.m. and on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and Thursday, Oct. 29, from 8:30-9:30 a.m.

Medical Assistants Recognition Week was designated by the American Association of Medical Assistants for Oct. 19-23. Medical assistants across the country will be recognized during this special week and honored on Medical Assistants Recognition Day Oct. 21, Watson said.

She also explained a Medical Assisting reunion dinner, to be held at 6 p.m. Oct 21 in the B&O Building auditorium, is being hosted for graduates of the Clinical Medical Assisting program, featuring guest speaker Mary Frances Hash, a member of the Medical Assisting Education Review Board.

Medical Assisting is an allied health profession whose practitioners function as members of the health care delivery team and perform administrative and clinical procedures. Administrative duties may include scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records and obtaining billing and coding information for insurance purposes. Clinical duties may include taking and recording vital signs and medical histories, preparing patients for examinations, drawing blood and administrating medications as directed by a physician.

10/16/15