A Late-Career Shift with Lasting Impact

From Field Technician to Caregiver: Embracing a New Calling

It had been three years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Jose Atocha was still out of work. Having spent years as a field technician for a large telecommunications company, Atocha was nearing 65 and decided it might be time to retire.

But then fate intervened.

“My wife is a nurse and sometimes I had to go with her on patient visits,” he said. “I realized I kind of liked it, and that made me more interested in doing it myself.”

At his wife’s insistence, Atocha decided to give clinical work a shot. He completed a short certificate program, but when he found that most of the jobs available required either a clinical degree or experience, he was back at square one.

Beth Israel Lahey Health (BILH) Primary Care’s Clinical Assistant Program was different. Designed for those without the requisite degree or experience, it was perfect for someone in Atocha’s shoes. At the tail end of his career and looking to make a change, what drove him most was his desire to make a positive impact on other people’s lives. So, he enrolled.

“I was almost 65 and was about to retire,” he said, “but I wanted to give a little back to the community for everything it had given to me. I decided that this was a way to give back.”

A New Path and a Renewed Sense of Purpose

The Clinical Assistant Program was demanding; it included hours of coursework and practical sessions every week, as well as homework assignments. But it was also gratifying. Atocha valued the diversity of his fellow students and found patient interactions deeply educational.

He quickly learned, above all other lessons, that the skill he most needed in a clinical setting was empathy.

“My teacher talked about that almost every day,” he said. “Patients are feeling down, they’re feeling sick, and there’s probably a lot of things they want to do at home but can’t because of how they’re feeling.”

On the surface, it might not seem like a background as a technician would prepare someone for the demands of patient care. But when his teacher challenged him to bring empathy to his patient interactions, Atocha found he could lean on a wealth of customer service experience that made him well-equipped to thrive in his new role.

As a technician, he remembered many times showing up to customers’ homes when it wasn’t a good time, and it was up to him to manage what could be testy interactions. It taught him how to maintain his composure even when others were upset and to offer assistance even when they didn’t seem to want it – qualities that are often in high demand in clinical settings.

Still, some things don’t translate, and Atocha, now a medical assistant at BILH Primary Care Winchester, recognizes there’s something about being there for patients in their most difficult moments that goes deeper than customer service. And that’s what has made this second act of his career so rewarding.

“When patients come to us, they’re usually feeling pretty bad,” he said. “But seeing their attitude change after I talk to them, there’s a moment there when you feel like you’ve done your part.”