A simple phone call from a friend led me to embark on a lifetime of unexpected challenges and experiences.  These challenges started when I was an inexperienced receptionist in a medical clinic for a group of internists and overcoming the hurdles that I was faced with at the time. How does one answer the telephone, how do you make an appointment for a patient, how do you set up patients for testing, how do you maintain equilibrium among the physicians in your charge?  All of this suddenly threw me into a world totally foreign to me. Foreign true, but so very interesting and full of question marks that continued to get bigger and bigger.  Could I deal with the gauntlet that was thrown to me?  Would I be able to rise to the challenge of this career in the medical field and give it the respect that it deserved?  Once I got the taste of what this career was all about, I decided that it was definitely where my niche was.  I finally found what I was suited for in this life of mine after various other types of jobs from working in a canning factory to bottling sodas.

I credit a radiologist from Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas, for getting my feet wet in the field of medical transcription.  I was working as a clerk in the emergency department of a local Texas hospital when she asked me if I knew how to type x-rays.  My reply to her was a definite "No" to which she replied, "Then I will teach you" and teach me she did. She took the patience to show me what needed to be done, got me the necessary tools with which to do my job and I was on my way.  I was skeptical at first with this new "thing" that I was doing.  The only ground work I had by this time was a basic six-week course in anatomy and physiology taught as an evening class at a local high school. This newfound experience that I was enjoying took me to a few doctor's offices where I worked as a receptionist until I returned to the field of medical transcription when I was hired by a hospital in their medical transcription department.  I began my first day as a very scared new employee doing something that I was not totally sure that I could do, let alone do well.  I was placed in the care of a very sweet, patient co-worker who took me under her wing and nursed me through my first day.  My first and only report that day was from an Indian psychiatrist with an accent that was nothing like I had ever heard before.  I struggled, and I do mean struggled, the whole day with this one report.  After eight long tedious hours of wading through this report, I managed to finish it.  I do not recall the accuracy level on this report, but I guarantee it was probably not 98%.  Nevertheless, I was retained as a medical transcriptionist for the next 18 years.  During this time, I became a certified medical transcriptionist, a factor that meant nothing to my employer but which meant a mountain of an accomplishment to me.  I had struggled through those years and worked hard tohis.  I became a member of AAMT in 1979 as well as becoming an active member of the Fort Worth Chapter of AAMT serving two terms as its president.

It was during my tenure as a transcriptionist that I foresaw that this career had so many different aspects to it that it was definitely up to the individual to decide if he wanted to sit on his/her haunches or get out there and do something for the industry.  Actually, I was contemplating retiring and doing MT work on a part-time basis since I already had a setup in my home for this.  Then I was asked to meet with the director of community services of a local junior college regarding teaching medical transcription.  I had done it for co-workers in the hospital but did not consider doing it as an outside job teaching medical transcription to novices.  With the closure of the SAC base rendering thousands of people unemployed, the government set aside funds for the re-education of most of their people who opted for further education to change professions.  After discussing the qualifications including the fact that I had a CMT certification, along with the pros and cons I was hired.  This was the first of many teaching positions related to medical transcription.