Submitted by Mason General Hospital & Family of Clinics
Yajaira Sterioti, certified medical assistant at Mountain View Women’s Health, embodies everything Mason General Hospital & Family of Clinics (MGH&FC) stands for in patient, staff and community relations, with highly valued clinical and people skills that got her selected as MGH&FC’s July Employee of the Month.
Yajaira began working for MGH&FC in 2014, after doing a three-month externship at Mountain View Women’s Health (MVWH). “I chose to stay here because I really enjoyed the staff I worked with during my externship,” Yajaira said. She applied directly to MGH&FC after obtaining her Associate’s degree in Applied Science and completing a Medical Assistant program at South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) in Olympia in 2014.
“Yajaira consistently steps up to do more than what is expected in her work and in the community,” said her nominator. “Her Spanish interpretation skills have provided great support for our non-English speaking patients, particularly in understanding and filling out paperwork.”
Yajaira encourages patients and staff alike to be active in staying healthy, and she exemplifies this by organizing and participating in team walks and group exercise. She also volunteers her time twice a year to help with mammography in MGH&FC’s Women’s Health Event, and registering patients in OBP’s back-to-school vaccination programs.
Born in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, Yajaira’s family moved when she was a baby to the United States where she grew up in Los Angeles. At age 17 she joined the US Navy where she worked as a builder and got to travel to many places all over the world. It was there that she met Joseph, a Navy steelworker with whom she married and had a son while they were stationed in California. In 2011 they moved to Washington state where Yajaira decided to pursue training in the Medical Assistant Program at SPSCC.
Yajaira and her husband have an twelve-year-old son named Ryan, and a two-year-old daughter named Jo. When she is not busy with the patients at MVWH, Yajaira enjoys family time, and taking her children to swim at the YMCA. On her own, Yajaira stays active running 5K, 10K and half marathons, and she captained last year’s ‘Virtual Wellness Walk’ with MGH&FC staff.
MGH&FC is approved by the Joint Commission and is a licensed and accredited acute care hospital with a level four emergency trauma designation. MGH&FC now offers Virtual Care ‒ 24/7. For more information on Virtual Care or to find a health care provider, go to www.MasonGeneral.com.
