Jane Rice. I would like for you to close your eyes and go back in time with me. To a time before most of you were born. The year is 1947 and I am a little girl with brown hair that is braided into pigtails. I am very shy and afraid-for, you see, I am in the second grade and I cannot read. Not one little word. The teacher discovered this and made me sit on a tall metal stool in front of the classroom with a dunce cap on my head. Still to this day, I get very nervous when I have to get up in front of a crowd of people.
My mother taught me to read because back then, there were no special classes for children with learning disabilities. I did not learn "phonetics," but memorized everything. I still have trouble pronouncing words, but I can tell you all you want to know about a medical word.
After the death of two brothers, my father, and the impending death of my mother, I prayed for something else to do, something that would help take away the pain and the hurt. In 1982 my prayers were answered with a most precious gift: Medical Terminology with Human Anatomy, which was first published in September of 1985.
I owe so much to God and my best friend and husband, Charles Larry Rice. Larry helps me in all that I do. We have a lovely adopted daughter, Melissa, who came into our lives 34 years ago when she was 3 weeks old. She has blessed us with a son-in-law, Doug, and five precious grandchildren: Zachary, Benjamin, Jacob, Mary Katherine, and Elizabeth Ann.
Although I am now retired, I had a wonderful teaching career. Because of my childhood experiences I became a caring and devoted teacher. As Medical Assisting Program Director at Coosa Valley Technical Institute, I developed the original curriculum for the medical assisting program and taught my favorite subject, medical terminology, for 29 years. I am grateful to my many wonderful students who taught me so much and touched my life with their unique qualities.
Jane Rice, RN, CMA-C