Xochilt Alvarez

Lisa Roberson

CRN #20461

May 13, 2021

I would like to start off by saying that I have never had any personal experience within

the healthcare system, except for when I would attend doctor’s appointment for myself or my

children. The only other experience I ever had was when I started to attend Houston Community

college, with the Career4U program. This program offered a Healthcare course which was

something I had always wanted to do, so when I found out about Career4U I decided to take on

the journey and take courses. My first course was a Certified Nursing Assistant program, which

only took about three months to complete, and my second course was that of Medical Coding,

which took another three months to complete as well.

My personal experience with doctor’s appointments have always been pleasant, my

children have always attended the same clinic and have been seen by the same doctor ever since

they turned one year old, my three children are now 12,10, and 4 years old. What I like about

their clinic is that they always have evening appointment which fits very well with my husband’s

schedule, since sometimes appointments are separate there is no need to take all three of my

children with me. The doctors and nurses at the clinic have always been nice and give very good

customer service, they are all so patient with children. Seeing them worked and watching them

do what they do gave me more encouragement to follow my dreams and start my career in the

healthcare industry.

Ever since I finished high school my dream was always to work in the healthcare

industry, for one reason or another I was unable to follow that dream right after high school. I

always knew that becoming either a nurse or medical coder was something I would enjoy doing.

Alavarez 1
Xochilt Alvarez

Lisa Roberson

CRN #20461

May 13, 2021

I love everything that has to do with the healthcare industry. I got the chance to start making my

dreams come true when Houston Community College offered the Career4U program. The first

course I took was Certified Nursing Assistant. Taking classes was a challenging experience for

me because I was a full time stay at home mom, with three children who were also attending

school. This course was given virtually since the pandemic was going on, which made it even

more challenging because I had to not only focus on doing my work and taking my classes, but I

also had to focus on making sure that my children were attending their virtual classes and turning

in assignments.

Since all this pandemic stuff was going on virtual classes were a little overwhelming

because it was only a three hour class and the course was only a three month course. Given that

little amount of time made it even harder because there were things we could not get into in

class, and since this is more of a hands-on course it made it a little bit more complicated. My

experience overall was pretty good, our professor was always there to help us if we ever needed

help. She made sure that even though we had a minimum amount of time we understood what we

were going through and that we understood our classes very well. After completing the course

we had to take clinicals. The clinicals were taught by Mrs. Gaines with our director being Mrs.

Brazil. Mrs. Gaines was an incredible teacher, since we couldn’t go to an actual facility to work

with real people they set up a small room with mannequins who where playing the role of

patients. For the clinicals that had to be done with a real human being she made us practice with

our classmates.

Alavarez 2
Xochilt Alvarez

Lisa Roberson

CRN #20461

May 13, 2021

Mrs. Gaines and Mrs. Brazil where very helpful throughout the whole clinicals, they both

made sure that we knew what we were doing. They both made us practice over and over again

until we were all confident in each one of the exercises. Also, since the clinicals where also done

during the pandemic, Houston Community College made sure that their students where safe and

provided safety equipment and made sure everything was sanitized, as well as keeping the

campus clean and limiting the amount of people in each class. I overall loved the experience of

taking Certified Nursing Assistant classes online and I enjoyed doing my clinicals with our

professors.

My other experience and the most recent one is taking Medical Coding class, this by far

was the hardest one I had to do. The course started back in March, during that time I also found

out I was pregnant with my fourth child. Not only was it hard, but to top it off I was dealing with

hyperemesis gravidarum. This made everything so much worse because I could not keep

anything down my stomach and I had no energy to do anything. Dealing with that did not stop

me from attending classes and making sure I was understanding my classes. I forced my self and

made my self stronger in order to pay attention and pass my classes. The first two classes where

not hard, but the third one which was dealing with HCPCS was really a hard one. Even though it

was a difficult class for me, my professor Mrs. Barnes Williams was always there to answer our

questions and help us to the best of her ability.

Overall, I can really say that even though I’ve only had a few experiences with the

healthcare industry, they have all not been so bad at all. I loved taking and completing my

Alavarez 3
Xochilt Alvarez

Lisa Roberson

CRN #20461

May 13, 2021

courses and everything thought me that no matter what you can always accomplish your dreams.

With hard work and of course having passion for what you do, everything is possible. There will

always be obstacles throughout the way but it is always up to you to make sure whether you want

to pass those obstacles or decide to just stop and not accomplish your dreams. I believe that

nothing in this world is easy, and that we all have to work hard for what we want in life. At the

end of the day, we are the only ones in charge of our life and decisions, make the best out of it.

Alavarez 4