Lisa Walker works every day on the front line of healthcare as a certified occupational therapy assistant in Dunkirk, New York. Though rewarding, it’s a daily grind that doesn’t usually lend itself to big-picture perspective of the healthcare industry.
“As a healthcare professional, we focus so much as doctors, nurses and therapists on caring for patients and keeping our facilities running smoothly,” Walker said.
She earned her Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Management (BHMC) from Bellevue University in 2022 and appreciated the expanded view of healthcare that the program offered.
“I really enjoyed learning about the ‘behind the scenes’ of healthcare. There are many professions that keep the business side running so we can do our jobs, and the steps they take every day to make that happen was very interesting to learn about,” Walker said.
The BHMC program places an emphasis on project-based learning that applies what students learn to real-world scenarios. Because of that, Walker believes she’s prepared to advance her career in a management role.
“It really prepared me and my classmates for our careers because we were able to put a lot of the techniques and information we learned into practice with our assignments. For example, we had to do research on local companies to learn how to implement and interpret data on our own,” she said. “I’m excited for what comes next.”