Renee Lacy’s path into health care started long before she became an assistant professor at John A. Logan College.

Lacy, who teaches in JALC’s Medical Assistant program, uses her clinical background to help prepare students for work in doctors’ offices, clinics and other health care settings.

Her interest in the field began early. Her mother worked in a doctor’s office while Lacy was growing up, and several of her family members also worked in health care.

“It just kind of made sense to me,” Lacy said.

Lacy started working as a certified nursing assistant while she was still in high school. From there, she continued building her experience in the medical field.

“I started when I was in high school as a CNA, then it just kind of developed from there,” Lacy said. “I just stair-stepped up.”

Lacy eventually earned a bachelor’s degree in health care management and tried working in administration. She said she quickly realized that was not the role she wanted in health care.

Then she saw the teaching position at JALC.

“I thought, ‘You know what, I think I could do that. I think that would be a fun job for me,’” Lacy said. “I applied for it, and here I am, three years later, still going strong.”

Lacy still works in a doctor’s office one day a week. She said staying active in the field helps her bring current, practical knowledge back to her students.

“I feel it’s very important that I’m not only teaching it, but that I’m still in the field,” Lacy said. “I can bring anything new to my students and say, I’m not just teaching you this, I’m still actually performing the duties as well.”

She said balancing teaching and clinical work gives her a change of pace.

“It’s kind of fun to not have that monotony of doing the same thing every day and kind of change things up,” Lacy said.

For Lacy, one of the best parts of teaching is watching students gain confidence and discover their own interest in health care.

“I love getting to spend time with the students and be able to see when something clicks or when they find their passion in the medical field,” Lacy said.

She said she also enjoys hearing students talk about their clinical rotations and the real-life experiences they are having in health care facilities.

JALC’s Medical Assistant program is a two-semester program. Lacy said the first semester focuses more on administrative work, billing and coding. The second semester becomes more hands-on and fast-paced as students build clinical skills and work in health care facilities throughout Southern Illinois.

“They get to go out into health care facilities throughout Southern Illinois and actually put that experience hands-on,” Lacy said. “Whatever they learned in the classroom, they get to actually do.”

Lacy said students interested in the program should have compassion and a desire to help people.

“If that’s something you enjoy, and you love helping people, and you just have that knack for talking to people and being interactive with them, then I think medical is a great place for you to be,” Lacy said.

Dakotah Santos, one of Lacy’s students, said Lacy helps students feel more comfortable in the program.

“She’s more than a teacher,” Santos said. “She makes you feel more comfortable, more situated.”

For students who struggle in the program, Lacy’s advice is simple: ask questions.

“There is never, what everybody says, ‘Oh, I know this is a dumb question.’ Absolutely not,” Lacy said. “Especially in health care, because everybody has differing opinions on things. There’s a reason they call it practicing medicine, because we are learning new things every day.”

Lacy said students should speak up when they need help, whether the issue is personal or connected to class.

“If there is something you don’t understand or there is something you are struggling with, the best thing to do is to ask questions so we can work through it,” Lacy said. “We can talk. We can get you the right resources to help in that situation. You don’t know until you ask.”