News | Health Education and Human Sciences | AlumniJune 28, 2023

Exclusive New Career Beckoned to UAFS Grad

Written By: Judith Hansen

Part of what Hannah Cervantes likes about her new career is its exclusivity.

“It’s a part of the medical field that not very many people get to see,” she said. “Surgery is a very restricted area. It’s not a field that a lot of people can see into unless you’re in it.”

Cervantes is a May 2023 graduate of the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith’s surgical technology program and a newly employed surgical tech at Baptist Hospital.

She also likes the fast pace of the day in surgery.

“The atmosphere is a really quick, on-your-feet atmosphere. It’s interesting to me. As a surgical tech I am going to be spending my whole day in surgery; it’s a perfect fit for me.”

Cervantes didn’t find her perfect fit immediately after high school graduation. She spent two years at the University of Central Arkansas before returning home to Van Buren.

“I knew I wanted to go to UAFS,” she said. “I knew I wanted to go into the medical field. UAFS has so many options, but I wanted to go into surgery.

“I like to see how things work out, to be next to the surgeons and see how they do the surgery.”

In her new job, Cervantes expects to get a “taste” of different fields of surgery, but she has a special interest in orthopedics. “That’s where I’m hoping to specialize after I get some orientation time.”

Surgical techs set up the operating room with the correct instrumentation, like scalpels and retractors. But the job doesn’t end there, Cervantes said.

“We help the surgeons. We are inside, retracting and helping him do whatever he needs to make the surgery go smoother. We’re not just in there cleaning up after him; we are hands in doing whatever he or she needs to get the surgery done.”

Cervantes said the main thing she liked about the surgical tech program at UAFS was “building relationships with my classmates. We were all going through the same things, all the tests, all the homework, all the stress.” 

She appreciates the surgeons she worked with.

“I really liked working with all the surgeons in our area, in our community. A lot of them are just helpful in bringing up the next generation of scrub techs who will be working in this area.”

Cervantes wants students considering the field to “research surgical technology and what the profession entails. A lot of miscommunication on what we exactly do as surgical technologists (happens). … We do so much more than people say. It really is a great profession, and the fact that we get to work next to surgeons that are highly ranked in our state is incredible.”

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