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LaQuinda Bufford knew as a 12-year-old that she wanted to someday treat patients at Children’s Wisconsin, where her mother worked as an administrative assistant. During a visit to the hospital with her mother, she interacted with a few patients, which sparked her interest. 

Years later, she applied for multiple jobs at Children’s and landed one in 2017 as a front desk secretary. 

She loved her job but wanted to get into a patient-facing role. She was an ideal candidate for the new medical assistant (MA) program Children’s started with С����. The hospital paid for current employees to attend the program and then become an MA with Children’s after graduation. 

Bufford started at Herzing in September 2019 and was an MA at a Children’s outpatient clinic site by the end of 2020. 

“It is wonderful that Children’s allows their employees a chance to grow within the company,” she said. 

Medical assistants are in high demand nationwide, not just at Children’s. The aging baby boomer population has increased the need for medical services, and MAs help physicians by performing administrative and clinical tasks. 

That’s why the employment of MAs is expected to increase by 15% by the end of the decade, according to the . 

The hospital decided to start a “Grow Our Own” program specifically for current employees as a workforce development opportunity. Executives talked with multiple academic institutions and decided to work with Herzing, which is based in nearby Menomonee Falls and has two campuses within short driving distance of employees’ homes – Brookfield, in suburban Milwaukee, and Kenosha, near the Wisconsin-Illinois border.

One of the most attractive aspects of the Herzing partnership was flexibility, including online classes. 

“A lot of employees need to continue to work,” Okoro said, and Herzing’s online platform allowed students to take classes when they were at home. 

Another important element was Herzing’s willingness to let students in the program have a paid externship at Children’s, instead of the unpaid fieldwork that is common in the industry. This allowed students to continue to draw a paycheck even though they weren’t working at their typical jobs. 

“That became a bonus because we were hoping to keep the staff whole during the education process,” she said. “They could continue working, benefits remain the same, and they’re not on reduced hours because of the clinical experience.” 

Herzing also agreed to have Children’s staff serve as proctors when the MA students were testing their skills in a lab environment. That allowed current MAs at Children’s to teach the nuances of working as an MA at the hospital. 

“Herzing was very much willing to partner with us and be flexible related to everything we asked,” she said.