Health Services: Med-Tech
Health Services
Med-Tech: Ernest Pasion
Besides doctors and nurses, who work at the hospitals? Did you know that med-techs can be fascinating? Ernest Pasion didn't even know such a profession existed when he started his journey beyond high school.
Just Doctors And Nurses
Ever since Ernest was five, he always wanted to be a doctor. Even with a mom who's a nurse (his dad is a Deputy County Clerk for Kauai), he had this wrong idea for a long time, that there were only doctors and nurses working at the hospitals. He thought the doctors did everything in the lab. How wrong could he be! And it wasn't until he met his teacher at Kauai Community College, Mr. Brian Yamamoto, that he found out about a career called med-tech (medical technologist).
New World!
Did that open a new world for Ernest! Med-techs work in all areas of a medical lab, including the handling of blood, any type of body fluids, using microscopes and other equipment to help doctors diagnose whether there are any abnormalities. In scientific terms, that would be hematology, chemistry, blood banking, microbiology, etc. Ernest explains, "The job is hands-on. You work with things that you'd never think you would, like 'shee-shee' (aka pee). It's the kind of profession which has you in the background — but it feels good going home and knowing that you're helping people."
From Kauai To Honolulu
Ernest moved to Honolulu when he was 21. Prior to that, he'd been living in Kauai since the age of 14, graduating from Waimea High School — which, according to the school's website, has the distinction of being "the westernmost high school in the United States." Eager to get his prerequisites for his pre-med, he started out by attending Kauai Community College (KCC). Mr. Yamamoto, his "micro-teacher" said to Ernest, "You're looking for a major to declare when you go to UH? Well, if you want to be a doctor, medical technology is the best way to go. My wife's one. You work in the lab, you work directly with doctors and nurses to help diagnose from patient samples what could be wrong with people." Ernest had never even heard of that in high school, and he felt it sounded interesting.
Pre-Med-Tech Major
After three years at KCC, he transferred to Honolulu at age 21. Enrolling at UH for his pre-med-tech major, he got his prerequisites and entered the program in 2001. He recalls, "As I went through the classes, I found out that I liked this more than becoming a doctor, so I stuck with it instead of going to med school. It changed my mind. I changed course from becoming a doctor, to entering this field that I had no clue about as a kid."
Maybe I'm Not Cut Out To Do This
Ernest had particular difficulty in one class: anatomy, where you learn about the body parts, the processes of the body (i.e., if something goes wrong, it could affect your other body parts), and so on. In fact, it became so difficult that at one point, he thought, "Maybe I'm not cut out to do this."
When he sought help however, he found it! "One of my teachers who was the head of the med-tech department, Pat Taylor (who recently retired), told me to just keep at it. I also received tutoring support — they listen to your problems. With all the help from the med-tech program and the teachers at UH — not to mention my friends and family who were there for me — I managed to pull through."
On The Job
Ernest has been a med-tech for roughly 18 months now. He's 99.9% satisfied with his job. "Knowing that you're helping somebody gives me immense satisfaction...Even if I'm not helping them directly like a doctor, without the lab and medical technologists, doctors can't diagnose patients at all because they need the lab tests. So knowing that I'm helping people makes me feel good."
New Med-Tech On The Block
He continues, "Being a new tech on the block, there are lots of things I haven't seen yet…In the past year, I've seen rare cancers. School prepared me, but once you see it…it's like, incredible! We do have some interaction with patients, since some of us actually go and draw the blood ourselves. We have to know how the machines work and how the results reflect the health conditions. You have to be detailed and precise, especially in blood banking, because if you issue the wrong blood type unit to the patient, it might cause harm to them."
Advice to Teens
His advice to teens: "Just stick with school, and even though you might not know what you want to do in life now, you can take classes here and there in college. Whatever classes you do like, try see what kind of professions you can go into, based on your favorite classes. I didn't even know anything about the guys behind the scenes helping people get better!"
So there you have it! You never know how new doors can open and send you on a wonderful life journey toward a great career!