The Ross Medical Education Center campus in Grand Rapids has enjoyed sending externship students to Mel Trotter Ministries for several years. Mel Trotter does amazing work in the community, touching the lives of many that would otherwise be looked over. Students that do their externship with them have a fantastic experience and get the unique opportunity to be a part of a team instead of just an outsider. They are able to work with different doctors and learn more about their trade while getting to serve those in their community.
To find out more, read the interview below with Nancy Bonin and Cindy Smies:
What do you like about Ross graduates?
The team is very well-informed and they provide students that consistently perform at a high level. In our experience in working with the students, they have been very professional. They work well in a team and are very eager to learn.
What is something you like about working with Ross?
They are very proactive, they are professional. Ross seems to understand our needs here and they will contact us with things that we may not have already thought of. They offer support for the future. They ensure that the students are the right match for the clinic that they do externship with as well as letting students know what is available so they have a choice too. They take all the factors into consideration and work hard to put the right student in the right place.
How is the Career Services staff at Ross?
Arranging for the students to come for externship is very well done. It’s a very smooth and easy process, because they are so proactive. They are very professional and detail-oriented.
How would you describe your experience with having externs from Ross?
It’s a blessing to us because it is a give and take relationship. In having students experience our organization, we try to not only aide in their educational experience, but to also show them to opportunities to volunteer. As a non-profit Ministry, the ways that a student, or anyone to get involved are endless! The two way benefit happens when we see the collaboration between colorful personalities of volunteers, students, doctors and patients all mix. Everyone who volunteers at Mel Trotter has a heart to serve our guests and patients, and we love hosting a place where these relationships can grow.
Overall, how would you assess the success rate of Ross graduates?
They have done very well while they are here and have had high placement rates. This is no surprise because of the quality of the students that we get.
What’s the main advantage of hiring a Ross graduate?
Ross works with them from a very basic level – people skills. In addition to the medical experience, Ross teaches them to put their cell phones down and communicate properly. They teach them to be very professional and they are much higher quality than other students we have hosted.
How do you plan to continue to work with Ross in the future?
Currently we are only able to use Dental Assistant externs, but in the future we plan to benefit from using students from the other programs, namely Medical Assistant. The team is so flexible, we look forward to working with them more as we continue to grow.
To learn more about Mel Trotter Ministries, visit their website at http://www.meltrotter.org/home or visit their Facebook page.