Teresa Tuthill

The Clinical Medical Assisting students in Teresa Tuthill’s class not only practice and master marketable industry skills, but benefit from her career experience as well. Tuthill’s career has been long and successful, and is still evolving since she graduated from the ESBOCES Clinical Nurse Assisting Program as a high school student.

Tuthill always knew the medical field was her calling and immediately gained employment working as a nurse’s aide in a nursing home after graduation before moving on to a hospital. It wasn’t long before she returned to school to advance her career by becoming a medical assistant (MA), which allowed her to provide a higher level of care to patients. Said Tuthill, “I realized I wanted to do more.”

It was a busy time for her. She attended classes at Western Suffolk BOCES from 9 am to 2 pm, worked at a hospital from 3 to 11 pm, and did it all as a newlywed. She became an MA in 2006 and was never without a job as she gradually worked her way up in the field.

During the pandemic, she was managing six urgent care centers for Northwell Health when a car accident forced her to change career paths. “I ended up having double neck surgery and was told I couldn’t medical assist anymore,” she said. Long shifts and the many demands of the job made it impossible.

Tuthill progressed to teaching medical assisting to adults at a small private school before being hired to teach at ESBOCES. She soon realized she loved teaching teenagers, explaining that they look up to her, are interested in all her experiences, and are extremely eager to learn.

“My dream was always to come back to BOCES,” she said. “I thought it would be an amazing experience to come full circle and to stand in front of students and say, ‘I am a BOCES graduate and look where I am. There is so much you can do.’ ”

Click here to read about our Clinical Medical Assisting Program