Secretaries wear many hats to help customers, but also to help out in operations around the office. April 20 is Administrative Professionals Day, a day to celebrate all the effort and work that they do in supporting the office.

THE EQUITY spoke to Joanne Romain, owner and manager of Lotus Medical Clinic who highlighted that . . .

her staff of secretaries are the backbone of her clinic and that without her team, the reputation of the clinic would not be where it is today. “I really appreciate their dedication they go above and beyond what’s required, I’m really proud of my team,” she said.

Medical secretary and office manager, Krista Brown said her day-to-day entails registering patients for their appointments, booking and confirming appointments, but also admin work such as sending requisitions, referrals, prescriptions, scanning and sending results, reports and medication renewals to the doctors. “Being the liaison between patients and doctors whether it be a question from the patient or a message to report from the doctors,” she said.

Being able to speak both languages and being an active listener has helped her in her job. Helping people at the clinic and having empathy for the people she is serving is one of the important aspects of her job, she said.

When asked what is the most fulfilling aspect of her job, Brown said, “Knowing that you are being as accommodating as possible and the appreciation that some of our patients have for us given the presented situation.”

Being at her job for so many years, there is still something new, there’s never a boring day. “The fact that even after six years in this job your day is never the same twice and you’re learning something new every day.”

A native of the Pontiac, Brown loves working in her community and seeing all the familiar faces and voices that come across her desk. “Our team of office staff and medical professionals, that I am lucky enough to work with every day, we all work very well together. A well-oiled machine.”

One of the most challenging aspects of her job is people forgetting that secretaries are also human she said, and can only do so much. She pointed out that covid changed and slowed down an already slow process of referrals and specialists. “As much as you wish you could speed things along or have a magical ability to create openings in your doctors schedule, unfortunately it’s not a talent we possess. We’re good but some things we have yet to master.”

At the end of the day, secretaries are doing their best to link patients with doctors, and Brown notes that being kind goes a long way and that they are just doing their best. “We’re still humans on this side of the phone, and little compassion from the other side goes a long way,” she said.

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