As a child, Miheret Baka was interested in nursing, but Ethiopia’s communist government didn’t allow her to choose her future career. Instead, the Ministry of Education picked a career path and sent Baka to study statistics at Addis Ababa University, where she graduated in 1992.
“I was very sad, but I thought something was better than nothing,” said Baka.
In the meantime, she met and married an Ethiopian man who was working for the USDA, and they started a family. Contemplating their kids’ future under the centrally run government, the young couple decided to immigrate to the United States. Baka wanted their children to have the freedom to pursue their dreams in a less controlling country.
In 1996, Baka was chosen for the U.S. Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, an annual lottery that awards more than 50,000 visas to people from countries with low immigration rates. Her sponsor, who lived in Federal Way, Washington, helped with the process and supported their transition. So Baka and her husband decided to settle here.
With the freedom to choose her career, Baka entered health care in 1999 and became a certified nursing assistant doing hands-on care in both the inpatient and outpatient setting.
In 2006, she began working at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, now Fred Hutch Cancer Center.
"I'm a positive person, and I like working with all the people,” Baka said, smiling as a patient passed by in the clinic lobby. “They call me Mama Miheret.”
The clinical environment was a good fit for Baka. Her manager, recognizing talent, encouraged Baka to apply to a new program. In 2018, Baka became the first internal candidate to apply for the Medical Assistant – Certified Apprenticeship program at Fred Hutch’s South Lake Union clinic.
The year-long program, worth 56 college credit hours, is rigorous. Applicants need to be full-time employees, and they receive 2,000 hours of hands-on clinical training with the support and guidance of a certified medical assistant coach. Upon completion of their training, medical assistants serve as the backbone of the outpatient care settings, handling both administrative and clinical tasks such as phlebotomy, COVID-19 swabs, dressing changes and giving injections under the supervision of a registered nurse.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Baka made a smart career choice. Medical assistant jobs are projected to grow 15% over the next 10 years, outpacing the job market by 11%. An aging population requiring more medical care is driving most of the demand.
Baka admits the job can be difficult.
“It breaks my heart when a patient dies,” she said, her voice softening, barely audible.
But her mood brightens when she recalls how joyful her work can be. Leaning forward, she asks, “Can I show you something?”
Retrieving a cellphone from her pocket, Baka scrolls past hundreds of thumbnails, eventually stopping on one recently sent to her by a former patient. Fingers excitedly tap the screen, and a photo enlarges. Baka holds the phone out to proudly display a high school graduation photo in which a handsome young man sits next to a Pacific Northwest river.
“I met him when his mom was here for treatment,” she said. “He was so little back then and look at him now. I played a part in him growing up with a mother, and that makes me happy.”
About our Heart of the Hutch series
We have been profiling people who illustrate the culture and spirit of Fred Hutch with the Heart of the Hutch series. This edition focuses on our outstanding clinicians, administration employees and patient-facing staff.
This series highlights just a few of the thousands of people within the Fred Hutch community who are the Heart of the Hutch.
Robert Hood, senior multimedia editor at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, is a longtime photojournalist who grew up in newspapers and most recently worked at NBC News Digital and msnbc.com, directing multimedia operations. Reach him at rbhood@fredhutch.org.
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