Bridgett Pruitt, CMA Answers Her Calling

For many years Bridgett Pruitt, CMA, worked as the Front Desk Assistant for AdventHealth Medical Group Family Medicine at Hendersonville. She was good at her job, and attentive to the patients coming through the door. But in her heart, she longed to start caring for patients in a different way. She had a passion for people and a desire to continue on with her education. She knew she had a calling to care, but she never felt confident enough to take that next step in her career.

One day, Laura Chambers, MSN, RN, the clinical educator for physician enterprise, came to the office to do continuing education with the Certified Medical Assistants. Bridgett couldn’t help but listen and watch what they were doing. She felt drawn to learn more about what they were doing and how she could be a part of it.

“I saw that Bridgett was just very interested in what we were doing,” Laura remembers. “I then began to talk to her, and she shared with me her passion for wanting to help people more. With that curiosity and spark for learning, and also the passion she had for people, I knew that she would be a great fit to be a CMA.”

Laura encouraged Bridgett to apply for the AdventHealth Certified Medical Assistant Paid Training and Job Placement program, also known as the CMA cohort. With this program, AdventHealth makes it easy for team members to continue on in their education, while getting paid to do it.

This "learn while you earn" class is a 6-week intensive course taught in partnership with Blue Ridge Community College. After the 6-weeks of classroom training, students are then assigned preceptors within AdventHealth offices and clinics. They get on-the-job training, and after completing their certification exam, they officially start their career with a CMA position at AdventHealth.

“I’d always been interested in doing it, but I’d always talked myself out of it,” Bridget explains. “Before Laura left, she said ‘I would love to have you in the next CMA cohort.’ And the more I thought about it and prayed, everything kind of fell into place. I wasn’t scared to do it this time. I had peace about it. And Laura was with me the whole time helping me.”

Bridgett started the CMA cohort training program in January 2024. The class was intensive and challenging, but Bridgett felt supported the whole way through. She was particularly thankful for the financial assistance AdventHealth offered for her continuing education. Bridgett explains that AdventHealth's commitment to support her career pathing allowed her to turn her dream of helping people into a reality.

“So many people can’t take a break from getting a paycheck to pursue a health care career,” Laura explains. “It’s a great opportunity that AdventHealth gives to these students to pay them while they’re going to school. And it’s an amazing opportunity to launch your career in health care and really get your foot in the door at AdventHealth and grow.”

Bridgett is now back to work at AdventHealth Medical Group Family Medicine at Hendersonville and thriving in her new role as a Certified Medical Assistant. She is grateful for the support she received from her coworkers, patients and the continued encouragement from the leadership at AdventHealth.

“She did absolutely amazing,” Laura exclaims. “She excelled. It was awesome to see her grow like that, and for her to see that she really could do it.”

“It just feels great to be in an organization that really cares,” Bridgett shares. “They just keep encouraging you to go on. Like I said, I didn’t have very much confidence in myself, and that's why I talked myself out of it. But just having other people that thought differently and pushed me. That was just amazing. How they put their confidence in me. That I could do it.”