A vocation disruption prompted Lisa Wagoner of Boonville to instrumentality to Surry Community College and prosecute a grade successful the Medical Office Administration program. She was 48 years aged erstwhile she returned to school.
“I was intimated. I considered going backmost to schoolhouse for a twelvemonth earlier I started taking classes. I thought, ‘Am I excessively aged for this? Can I truly bash this? Do I person the gumption?’” she said. “Then, I thought to myself, ‘You conscionable got to bash it. You conscionable got to spot the end.’”
Wagoner described herself arsenic a shy idiosyncratic who kept to herself. Her household of 3 brothers and 1 sister moved to Forsyth County from Texas her elder twelvemonth of precocious schoolhouse owed to her begetter uncovering a occupation successful the area.
“I person ever wanted to enactment successful an bureau since precocious school,” she said. “I thought I wanted to beryllium a teacher. I helped teachers people papers. I person ever truly loved paperwork and moving successful an office.”
Wagoner worked for Walmart for 29 years successful assorted roles astatine locations successful Winston-Salem and Mocksville. She worked arsenic a cashier, successful retail absorption and spent 15 years successful the accounts payable office.
“I truly enjoyed moving successful the invoice bureau and paying bills. I would lucifer up orders and comparison to claims. It was truly elaborate work,” she said.
Walmart centralized the accounts payable enactment successful the location office, and Wagoner mislaid her job.
“It was truly unsmooth connected me. I had worked astatine Walmart for 9 years and kept applying for the bureau jobs. I was truthful blessed to get that job, and erstwhile it was over, it truly broke my heart,” she said.
Then, Wagoner started managing a Vision Center for Walmart successful Mocksville.
“I was determination for 4 years. I truly wanted to spell backmost to schoolhouse to get a degree, truthful I could enactment successful an bureau setting,” Wagoner said. “I was constricted astatine Vision Center due to the fact that I wasn’t a licensed optician. Surry Community College’s Medical Office Administration programme was online, truthful that gave maine an accidental to enactment and spell backmost to school.”
In December 2021, Wagoner started moving astatine Novant Salem Family Medicine successful Winston-Salem, wherever she is simply a Patient Services Coordinator III. She checks radical successful for appointments, schedules appointments, collects payments, and helps patients implicit the phone.
“I emotion being connected the computer. I fax prescriptions and past scan accusation into diligent charts. I bash a batch of paperwork similar penning no-show letters for missed appointments and different diligent correspondence,” she said. “I similar interacting with patients. Most are truly nice. My table is successful the reception area. We are the look of the office. We play an important portion successful making definite the patients person a bully experience. We are the archetypal and past folks that the patients see.”
SCC’s Medical Office Administration programme offers a degree, diploma and 3 certificates including aesculapian bureau administration, aesculapian billing and security and diligent services representative. The programme prepares students for employment arsenic aesculapian administrative unit successful the areas of aesculapian billing and coding, dental office, diligent services, and aesculapian documents.
“All of my instructors were adjuvant and nice,” Wagoner said. “They were ever consenting to reply immoderate questions. I truly enjoyed the flexibility of the online classes. If the programme had been successful person, I wouldn’t person been capable to bash it.”
She offered proposal to different students who were contemplating coming backmost to schoolhouse aboriginal successful life. When she returned to school, she was the parent of 2 big children and 3 grandchildren.
“You conscionable person to spell backmost to school. You are going to person a amended beingness if you get your degree. Remind yourself that you are doing this for your future,” she said.
Wagoner said galore of the machine programs she learned astatine Surry person helped her connected the job. She is proficient successful Microsoft products including Excel and Word. She tin benignant 40 words per minute. She earned a grade successful aesculapian bureau medication from SCC successful May 2022.
For questions astir assemblage application, fiscal aid, oregon people registration, interaction Student & Workforce Services astatine 336-386-3264 oregon studentservices@surry.edu.
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