Branching Into New Fields
Creation Date: 01/08/2024
Program Details
Shaina’s favorite part of working as an agent in The Lighthouse’s Low Vision Call Center was learning about patients' eye conditions. She started to think about having a full-time position in the medical field, but she wasn’t sure where to start.
Fortunately for Shaina, The Lighthouse, in August 2022, launched a partnership with Moraine Valley Community College to help people with disabilities – Shaina has a visual impairment – learn to become Certified Medical Administrative Assistants. When she heard about the program, Shaina enrolled immediately. “I wanted to find a way back into the medical field, and this one was perfect,” Shaina says.
Using ZoomText, Shaina worked through the self-directed course of modules covering scheduling, privacy, and insurance coding at a pace much faster than the prescribed 16 weeks. “It was very thought-provoking,” she says. “Some of it was familiar, but a lot was new.”
Shaina’s vision has begun to fade further, and she is now learning to use a JAWS screen reader before taking the National Certification Exam.
Shaina was hired in February 2023 as a medical scheduler at the UI health call center.