Permanent link for It's Never Too Late To Reinvent Yourself on August 18, 2020

 

Cari Bellicini is an Allied Health Science Pre-PA emphasis adult student at Grand Valley State University Traverse City Regional Center and currently finishing her practicum at the Heart Clinic as the Heart Failure Clinical Coordinator/Medical Assistant. 

Cari is no stranger to perseverance and drive when life sends you curve balls. She decided to go back to school to reinvent herself and her career after some much-needed acts of kindness and encouragement.

2013 presented an extremely tough year as the economy started a downturn and her ten-year career as a registered polysomnographic sleep technologist was, all in 1 day no longer; she received the news of being laid off in February of 2013.

The same night Cari was laid off the most serendipitous moment happened that changed the course of her future.  In tears and uncertainty, she got into the elevator to leave work for the last time. One of the cardiologists, on the floor below, had intended on taking the elevated down to the parking lot, instead he accidentally walked into the elevator ascending to where Cari stood to leave work for the last time. When Cari boarded the elevator, he noticed she was crying so inquired as to what was wrong. Cari explained that she had just been laid off. 

The very next morning, Cari received a call from Human Resources,  Dr. Miranda had reached out to them to ask that she apply for his medical assistant (MA) position. As his current MA had just put in her 1 month resignation. She applied for the position, and was working within a week of being laid off. Being someone that goes above and beyond, led Cari to consider going back to school. As an MA she had reached the most advanced availability to an MA and wanted to branch out to be able to help patients more directly. 

With Dr. Miranda’s encouragement, Cari made the decision to go back to school for her Allied Health Science Degree with a Pre-Physicians Assistant Studies emphasis through GVSU’s Traverse City Regional Center.  GVSU was an easy choice with it being close to home for Cari and allowing her to continue to work full-time. 

Cari is currently finishing a practicum through the Heart Failure Clinic. Even with the drastic changes made by COVID-19, Cari was able to stay on course for graduating this August! The practicum experience allowed her to work with the Heart Failure Clinic team to improve a process to effectively communicate with patients 7-10 days after discharge.

Cari’s new process involves building a team and timeline around these patients to communicate with all home health nurses and telehealth nurses checking vitals as well as educating the patient for lifestyle changes. This includes information to better understand food labels for more healthy options during this major change in their lives. This process has already been implemented and has been successful thus far

During the conversation, Cari stated, “I owe a lot of where I am today to Dr. Miranda. He put a lot of faith in me and I am very thankful for that. It hasn’t been easy, but perseverance allows you to get through it all. The sweet doesn’t taste as sweet until you taste the bitter. Don’t ever give up on what you are passionate about”

Cari also wanted to thank the many others that encouraged her to keep going through all the ups and downs. A special thanks to Jackie Abeyta, GVSU Traverse City Regional Advisor. She has not only been my advisor, but also my semi-counselor and cheerleader through this all. I also want to give a special thanks to Management at Michigan Heart and Vascular Specialists management, I would like to specifically name Sarah Petrowski: Operations Manager at Michigan Heart and Vascular Specialists, and Marla Clark , DNP, RN: Senior Director, Heart & Vascular Services, McLaren Northern Michigan. I was able to continue my education and drive to Traverse City 3 days a week from Petoskey while continuing to work full time.”

She is looking forward to completing her practicum and graduating with her bachelors degree this August. Her next goal is to pass the GRE and get into the Physicians Assistant Studies program next summer. 

Learn how you too can reinvent your career path. Schedule a no meeting with advisor, Jackie Abeyta to explore your passion and options.  

Posted on Permanent link for It's Never Too Late To Reinvent Yourself on August 18, 2020.