As one of the youngest members of the Redbud team, I am excited to be asked to share my perspective of a medical assistant’s (MA) role. While becoming a medical assistant does not require years of schooling, it does require attentiveness and initiative. As we are the first of the medical staff to see your child upon entering Redbud’s door, we make sure to pay close attention to detail so that we can communicate your child’s condition to the medical team to ensure the best care while in our hands.

We perform tasks that help the physicians decide the care plan for your child. When your child comes in for their visit, we take down a brief history, settle you in with paperwork, and get your child’s vitals for the doctors to review before seeing you. It is our job to make sure your child is calm and comfortable so that we can be accurate in these important measurements (weight, height, blood pressure, temperature, etc.) So, often we ask a lot of questions and may ask to measure your child multiple times in your visit so that we can record the correct information.

You will also find us knocking on your door to administer vaccines. While it is a tough part of the job, it is satisfying for us to know that when your child leaves our clinic they will be protected from life threatening illnesses.  I am not sure about you, but that helps me sleep much better at night! You can also find us breaking the news to your child that they will have to have a “small poke in their arm” – which means they are getting blood taken for labs. Although it is also a tough part of the job it can give you answers to your child’s physical being or help them live a better-quality life… so count us in!

We are all for helping your child grow to be a healthy and happy adult! After all, our children do hold the future of this world in their little hands. MAs are the glue to the clinic and love caring for your children and will do what it takes to make your visit go smoothly…even the tough ones. All that to say, we have a great deal of patience and are happy to do what it takes to make your child comfortable!

–  Kaitlin Holland, Medical Assistant