Medical assistant joins frontline after losing mother to COVID-19

Dominique Jouacin did not imagine ever going into the healthcare field. Nevertheless, she spent her first year as a medical assistant at an outdoor testing site for Crystal Run Healthcare during a global pandemic. Two years later, in a different country and career, Dominique has found her place by helping her new community when they needed her most.

“My mother always wanted me to become a doctor,” said Dominique, a Haitian native and Orange County resident. “But I always saw myself as a businesswoman, so I earned my bachelor's in business administration and made a space for myself at the United Nations in Haiti.”

At the United Nations, Dominique worked her way up through leadership and outreach positions for 10 years, including during the 2010 earthquake. While her mother was safe from the tragedy, working in a nursing home facility in the U.S., her family on the island was heavily impacted by the disaster.

Through her experience working with the United Nations helping Haiti build back from the earthquake, Dominique forged the resilience and compassion needed for when the COVID-19 pandemic spread a decade later.

At the outbreak of the coronavirus, Dominique’s mother was a frontline worker caring for some of the most vulnerable people. During phone calls home to Haiti, she expressed to Dominique how important healthcare work was, especially amid the pandemic. When she contracted the virus herself, Dominique and the rest of their family members in Haiti were unable to enter the U.S. to be with her due to travel restrictions.

After her mother’s passing, Dominique realized how badly the medical community needed help. She decided to move to New York to live with her sister and niece. Dominique studied English and obtained a medical assistant certification through a local college program. When she completed her training she was referred by an instructor to Crystal Run Healthcare, where she was offered a position to work in the COVID-19 testing tents on the frontlines.

“I was testing hundreds of patients in the morning, taking my break, then testing another hundred more until my shift was done.” Dominique said. “It was difficult at first because I wasn’t used to the cold weather and I was still improving my English.”

Dominique spent her entire shift outside, no matter the weather, to ensure that everyone who needed testing had access to it. What got her through these long, and sometimes lonely shifts, was connecting with the patients that came to the tent.

“It was important to me to always try to be kind and to have compassion for everyone,” she said. “No one knows what people are going through in their day-to-day life so it is important to me that I was kind to every patient that I saw. I always asked how they were doing, how their day was going. I tried to give them a positive experience for at least one part of their day.” She credits her mother for her kindness, her father for her humor, and her life experiences to her resilience in getting her to where she is today.

Now, Dominique sees patients in a more formal environment inside Crystal Run Healthcare’s Urgent Care in Rock Hill, New York. She works with a team of compassionate medical assistants, nurses, and other health care providers administering COVID-19 testing, completing patient intakes, performing EKGs, and obtaining blood work, as well as assisting with minor injuries alongside many other tasks.

“I’m still not going to become a doctor,” Dominique said, “But I am taking the time to further my education in the healthcare field so I can help patients just as my mother did.”

Crystal Run Healthcare’s four urgent care centers provide patients with care options for many of life's unexpected twists and turns — like high fevers, common sprains or sore throats — that occur without warning. Crystal Run Urgent Care’s unique, one-stop model of walk-in medical care sets its urgent care centers apart by ensuring each location offers an extensive range of treatment services and comprehensive imaging tests like CT scans, MRIs, x-rays and ultrasounds, in addition to an on-site, full-service lab for bloodwork and testing.

For medical concerns that are non-life threatening, such as cuts that need stitches, broken bones of the wrist, hand, ankle or foot, or painful urination, Crystal Run offers four convenient urgent care locations providing immediate, walk-in medical care 7 days a week, 365 days a year. An urgent care visit at Crystal Run Healthcare provides patients with access to primary and specialty care, including pediatrics, orthopedics, cardiology, and over 50 specialties with board-certified providers. Patients are connected to a premier, multi-specialty group medical practice, with access referrals to experts for specialized or follow-up care.