Hi Sandi, Thanks for your input, but the Drs around here just ask, "What's a Medical Assistant?" It seems clinics hire Drs and nurses and Physician Assistants and Nursing Assistants, but no MAs. I checked every hospital website where they list all their job titles, regardless of whether or not there are openings, and there were no MA positions in this area. I called MeritCare and Innovis Health and 7 Day Clinics and the VA and even nursing homes. After an exhaustive 6 wk search, I discovered they hire MAs in Minneapolis or Grand Forks, but nothing within an hr's drive of my home. So I called the local college where the program is offered, and asked the Director of Medical Assisting where her graduates found jobs. She said it's a new program, that she hadn't been able to find extern sites yet, but that their program needed another instructor. So that's how I wound up teaching here. I'm very excited to teach something I love, but I'm frustrated for my students. I recently moved from a state where there were pages of MA ads to choose from. I suggested to my Director that we create a skills list and send it to all healthcare facilities in the area, and that we schedule time to sit down and explain to them just what we are capable of and how cost effective we can make them. Hopefully that will help in securing externships and we can move forward from there. -Jeanne