{"id":11407,"date":"2021-02-17T09:11:52","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T14:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/covid19\/?p=11407"},"modified":"2021-02-17T09:15:38","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T14:15:38","slug":"dine-college-navajo-nation-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/2021\/02\/17\/dine-college-navajo-nation-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Din\u00e9 College (Navajo Nation)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_11408\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11408\" class=\"wp-image-11408 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/17\/dinecollege.jpg\" alt=\"dinecollege\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/17\/dinecollege.jpg 480w, https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/17\/dinecollege-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-11408\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Din\u00e9 College certifies medical assistant students Tempress Luther (l) and Nichole Attakai (r), go trough a practical exercise as part of a class within the program. The CMA program is set to graduate 10 students in 2021.\u200b Photo courtesy Din\u00e9 College<\/p><\/div>\n<h2><strong>Din\u00e9 College on Pace to Graduate First Cohort of CMA Students in Fall 2021<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br \/>\nFEBRUARY 15, 2021<\/p>\n<p><strong>TUBA CITY, Arizona<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 The first cohort of a new medical assistant certificate program at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dinecollege.edu\">Din\u00e9 College<\/a> is on pace to graduate this year \u2013 a major milestone during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>The Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) certificate program \u2014 the first of its kind ever offered on the Navajo Nation \u2014 will graduate 10 students come Fall 2021.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe college is now preparing to put into place the procedures for a second cohort,\u201d Shazia Hakim, Ph.D., a Din\u00e9 College microbiology professor who oversees the program, said. Hakim is part of the CMA student selection and accreditation committees. \u201cSoon we will start taking formal applications followed by a scrutinizing of applicants for admission to the Fall 2021 program,\u201d Hakim noted.<\/p>\n<p>The CMA program is a 37-credit hour set of certificate course offerings only available at Din\u00e9 College\u2019s Tuba City Center. Classes take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday, followed by a 10-week field externship at the Tuba City Regional Healthcare Corporation.<\/p>\n<p>Hakim said future plans call for CMA program offerings at most likely the Tsaile and Shiprock campuses of the college. Din\u00e9 College operates six campuses in Arizona and New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a big need because we have students who applied or inquired from other areas such as Shiprock, Chinle and Pi\u00f1on,\u201d Hakim said. \u201cThis tells us there is interest and it\u2019s&nbsp; a weekend program, so students can still work 40 hours a week during the week.\u201d The CMA program is catered toward working parents, Phyllis Begay, Tuba City Center Director, added.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-responsive  embed-responsive-16by9\"><div class=\"iframe-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"embed-responsive-item\"   title=\"About Din\u00e9 College\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lQp3gD5J6EQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n<p>The program tackles multiple tasking with respect to working in a hospital environment. Students are trained in medical office practice and&nbsp;administration, health care record management and&nbsp;bookkeeping, first aid and CPR,&nbsp;vital signs, basic anatomy and physiology, medical terminology and transcription, point of care testing, drug dispensing and wound dressing, infection control,&nbsp;clinical laboratory testing and patient management.<\/p>\n<p>Hakim said the program is popular and applications continue to roll in, adding that there is a process that consists of being fully admitted into Din\u00e9 College, a 500 word essay, a questionnaire, and candidates to the CMA program must take a basic math entry test. A committee reviews the applicants and does the selections.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hakim, who developed the curriculum for the program, said the major duties of a CMA are with the hospital environment, medical offices and assisted living facilities that demand face-to-face contact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUpon graduation, students will be awarded the CMA certificate and we will try&nbsp;to make sure that our graduates participate in exams offered by&nbsp;external bodies like the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA), to increase their credibility in the market,\u201d Hakim said.<\/p>\n<p>One of the hallmarks of&nbsp;the online&nbsp;program is the commitment&nbsp;to building a robust student experience that centers around community. Hakim said CMA program graduates have a variety of job options available in hospitals, medical offices, laboratories, research and teaching institutes \u2014 or students can further their studies in medical assisting at the associate\u2019s or bachelor\u2019s level at a college or university.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DineCollege\/posts\/3794517800591656<\/p>\n<p>Hakim holds a doctoral degree from the University of Karachi in Pakistan, with multiple certifications in clinical laboratory sciences from Canada and the U.S. Hakim said Tuba City is the largest community by zip code on the Navajo Nation, and the CMA program is in demand around the Navajo Nation due to the lack of certified medical assistants at healthcare facilities.<\/p>\n<p>Phyllis Begay, director at the Tuba City Center, added that there is a lot of potential career growth for a CMA. Currently, the Navajo Nation is experiencing staff shortages in hospitals due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so hospitals are struggling at maintaining their staff, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Added Begay: \u201cIf colleges and universities like Din\u00e9 College can help with training in allied health care fields, we might do better when another health crises hits. Moreover, it can be a win-win situation, because salaries are higher with just a certification and career opportunities are available.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first cohort of a new medical assistant certificate program at Din\u00e9 College is on pace to graduate this year \u2013 a major milestone during COVID-19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[12,8,10,116,85],"class_list":["post-11407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-institutions","category-tribes","tag-arizona","tag-navajo","tag-new-mexico","tag-tribal-colleges","tag-utah"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/17\/dinecollege.jpg","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11407"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11412,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11407\/revisions\/11412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}