It may have taken Crystal Green a while to get here, but UTMB was always her destination.
“My mom and my granny both retired from UTMB,” Green said. “It’s funny, you know. ‘UTMB is in your blood,’ as my mom always says. She always wanted me to come here.”
A Galveston native, Crystal works in the Pediatric and Primary Care Clinic in League City as a medical assistant and is considering nursing school next.
Her last job was in a podiatry practice. This position keeps her much busier.
“I like it because I’m a people person,” Green said. “It’s been great meeting a lot of new people with different backgrounds—young and old. So, I think that part is great.”
The most challenging change is the wide variety of diagnoses the clinic sees.
“We deal with a lot of mental health patients,” Green said. “I’ve had to adapt … to be more open and sensitive. I’ve always been a people person, but you have to adapt to be more emotional and understanding.”
Empathy is something that drives her to take care of patients.
“I’ve always been sick growing up,” Green said. “I was always in and out of the doctor, and I think that me going through that and how I was feeling just really made me want to try and help other people, to make them feel better.”
Nursing Supervisor Stacy Froebel said Green brightens up the clinic.
“Crystal has only been with us a short time and has already impressed us with her great attitude and outstanding customer service,” Froebel said. “Her smile is contagious, and she’s a true team player.”
Green says she’s just doing what she loves.
“I just like seeing people smiling and happy and getting to also make great new friends,” Green said. “You know, I've probably made friends with everybody in the building.”
After graduating from Galveston’s Ball High School, Green spent several years studying biology at the University of North Texas. Then she moved home to Galveston, became a mother to her now 10-year-old son and obtained her medical assistant training through Altierus Career College.
These days she fills her free time by enjoying Legos, Xbox and Tik Tok with her son, being a dance mom to her stepdaughter and attending events with her husband for his job at Coca-Cola.
Her other true love is singing. She’s part of the church choir, but that’s not the only outlet for her passion for music.
“I sing in the bathroom, the shower—everywhere,” she said. “I’m having whole concerts!”