Since my junior year in high school (1973-74) at the Interlochen Arts Academy, I knew that professionally I wanted nothing other than to teach choral music at the college level. I put in the requisite training - a Bachelor of Arts degree (1979) in music history and literature from St. Olaf College (which was excellent preparation for graduate school), a Master of Music degree (1982) in choral conducting from the University of Michigan, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree (1988) in choral conducting from Michigan State University, and then I secured a teaching position at Michigan's Olivet College, and was doing precisely what I had wanted to for decades. But my severe 1993 automobile accident, with my consequent inability to speak or sing, ended that.
After mostly floudering around during the 14-plus years since my accident, a couple of years ago I became aware of what seemed like a good possibility for me. Medical transcriptionists take audio recordings of physicians and turn them into written reports which become part of the patient's permanent record. In our increasingly medically oriented society, and with my good ear and good verbal and keyboard skills, this seemed right up my alley. So I've been training (self-paced) for this through At-Home Professions. I've been delayed beyond what I had expected, and am now trying to finish the training ASAP. I have to wonder if, at age 50, this isn't a foolish and quixotic venture - but I'm too young to sit and do nothing!
About Me
- AB
- My life has undergone a quantum leap of changes in the past three decades. I used to be a choral music professor at a small college in southern Michigan, but in 1993 incurred a closed-head Traumatic Brain Injury in a severe automobile accident that left me comatose for two months, hospitalized for six, and ultimately unable to communicate vocally, either by speech or song. Though I have regained a very modest amount of these abilities, it's not much. My most rewarding roles are those of husband, father, and grandfather. Also, though I was formerly an accomplished pianist, not playing from 1993-2016 robbed me of nearly all those abilities -- I am currently engaged in daily practice to see what I can regain.
2 comments:
$40-70K/year ain't bad. And it would be the perfect profession for you. I just hope you're familiar with A&P terminology. Docs are the worst at dictation so there will be that to contend with in addition to some very hard-to-understand accents.
If I hadn't worked for my husband, I think I would have been a heckuva transcriptionist. The pay sure would have been a lot better than the $8/hr my husband was paying me!!!!
Way to go, Allen. I have a fried who has supported her family for years doing medical transcription work from home. She works nights in order to make the online records available ASAP.
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