Page 117 - 50th Alumni Success Stories Book

Tia Shopbell My husband and I have six children and I have been
a stay-at-home mom for the past 10 years. When the
Dental Assistant Program pandemic hit, we were concerned it might negatively
Seattle Campus impact my husband’s businesses. Since I had been
thinking about going back to school, we decided it was
Graduated 2021 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.

Everyone at Pima Medical was so

kind and helpful and cared about

each student. I love my new career

and my new job.

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.

During COVID-19 vaccinations at our clinic, there was a
power outage. I drove past our 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.

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