Interview a Health Professional Write-Up
The health professional that I interviewed was my old Dental Careers teacher from high school, Mrs. Virginia Medlin, she is a Registered Dental Hygienist and she currently works at Norfolk Technical Center teaching for Dental Careers. She has a Bachelor’s of Science in Dental Hygiene, Certification from the Department of Education for Secondary Science, and a Certification in administering local anesthesia.
Interview Time!
What inspired you to get into that field?
“Curiosity. When I was younger, my mom would always take me to the dentist every 6 months for a cleaning. I couldn’t touch all the different tools and button when I was younger, but I always wondered what they did. I’ve always enjoyed science, and health, in general, but the long hours of sitting in a dental chair just brought my curiosity up. My mother was a teacher and my grandmother was a nurse so it brought me on both sides of the spectrum, education and medicine.
What was her path to her current job?
“Old Dominion University Dental Hygiene. I went straight from high school to ODU for Dental Hygiene. My backup plan was being a mortician, if dental didn’t work out, I was going to be a mortician because you never run out of spots for those. Everyone dies, and you need someone to handle the bodies. As far as dental, I would go and shadow jobs and go for internships until an office finally hired me with the certifications I had received, and from then on, I never looked back. Later, after having children, I had strayed away from the major “dental field” and began teaching students who were interested in becoming dental assistants and helping them receive their proper certifications. I was always around education younger so that is what made me get a certification in secondary education. I still continue to help offices that need someone to fill in, or go and just be extra help every month on top of seeing patients in Norfolk Technical Center.”
Her favorite (or most rewarding) aspect about the job?
“My most rewarding aspect about the job is seeing student success. I love to have students come back and thanking me and see them doing what they love, what they worked hard for. Also, telling everyone that they can do whatever they put their mind to and don’t let anyone tell them that they can’t.”
What is the most surprising aspect of their career?
“The most surprising aspect of my career would be the students. The type of students I meet and the number of people I meet.”
What is the most challenging aspect of their career?
“The most challenging thing would be waking up early mornings, I’m not a morning person so getting up in the morning to come teach is pretty challenging. When I worked as a full-time hygienist, we would only have to work 3 ½ days, up to 5 days and have 3-day weekends, so it was a huge change even though now I get summers off of teaching, the hours are still better in the dental field.”
Advice she would give to someone getting into the health field?
“Some advice that I would give someone is to not play around your first year or second year and keep your grades up. Once you have a plan, stick to it and don’t change it. Get in and get out, because it slows you down if you play around. Always keep a backup plan.”
Something that I took away from this interview:
It’s very easy to get side tracked or get stirred away from your major goal but you must realize how much work and money that you are putting into your dreams and you don’t want to have it all wasted. Another thing I took from this interview is that having a backup plan is good, but try to make your initial goal your priority.
