Memorial Heroes: Theresa Romero, Certified Medical Assistant

What is your official title?

Certified Medical Assistant

How long have you worked here at Memorial Medical Center?

I have been working for Memorial for 3 years now.

How did you come into this position?

In 2017 I was working for La Clincia De Familia (LCDF) as a Phlebotomist and during that time MMC had a contract with LCDF’s Anthony location. MMC expanded to LCFD OB/GYN and I was hired to continue drawing blood at the offsite location as a MMC employee and I have been here every since.

What was your motivation for a career in Healthcare?

I have a lot of family who play different roles in healthcare and I always wanted to help make a difference within my community. I believe no matter how small of a role you play in healthcare, you still make a BIG impact.

What is a typical day like for you?

My day to day job varies as I work in on outpatient setting and on a walk-in basis only which mean no appointments necessary. Some days can go smoothly, and others can be hectic, but with help of my co-workers we can get the job done and usually get patients in and out.

How would you describe your role’s responsibilities?

My biggest responsibility is taking care of patients. I want to make sure they feel welcomed and know that we are here for them regardless if it is for a yearly checkup or a cancer patient who needs stat labs. Everyone is important and I want them to feel that way. Aside from drawing patients I also help answer phone call from patients or doctor’s office and assisting patients to go to their next appointment such as X-ray, MRI, etc.

In what areas do you help patients?

I help patients who are coming in for lab work to find out a diagnosis for symptoms they are feeling. Others have already been diagnosed and are being treated and monitored. We do blood draws weekly, biweekly, and monthly for our regular patients and others come in once a year, regardless of the patients frequency  I try to make every patient feel like they are my only patient. Some patients come in already nervous due to a previous bad experience and I try to make them feel as comfortable as possible.

What are some of your interests outside of work?

I have two daughters who keep me busy with sports! When there isn’t a pandemic going on, I enjoy my weekends watching one play baseball or basketball and the other who just started gymnastics.

What is your favorite part about working for Memorial Medical Center?

The best part about working at Memorial is the friendships I have built with my co-workers, we all get along and work so well together. Every day is a learning experience, I think we all have weaknesses and strengths, but we help each other out without skipping a beat.