Tia Shopbell
Dental Assistant Graduate from Pima Medical Institute
My husband and I have six children, and I have been a stay at home mom for the past 10 years. When the pandemic hit, we were concerned it might negatively impact my husband's businesses. Since I had been thinking about going back to school, we decided it was time to train for a career that we could fall back on. Little did I know when I enrolled in Pima Medical Institute's Dental Assistant program that I would be completing my whole program during the pandemic. Since I hadn't been in school in a while it was challenging, but failure wasn't an option. My instructor was so good! We learned so much from her explanations, and when we were finally able to participate in campus labs, our hands-on work came quite naturally.
We live on the Tulalip reservation, and I wanted to complete my externship at our health clinic where I could help my people. There are very few Native American healthcare providers, and this causes a mistrust and disruption in care because of cultural and language differences. I had a wonderful experience, my patients appreciated me, and I ended up with a job.
The day after my externship, everyone was invited to come for COVID vaccinations because a storm had caused power outages and there were concerns the vaccines would go bad. I drove past the clinic, saw the long line of cars, grabbed scrubs and my PPE, and spent the day helping check in patients. We vaccinated more than 750 people in one day, including my over 80-year-old grandmother. That was a pretty special moment for our community.
I'm so appreciative to my instructors at Pima Medical. Everyone was so kind and helpful and cared about each student. I love my new career and my new job.