Part of Something Great

By Steve Davis, RT(R), CRA

I would like to start by saying thank you to the AHRA Education Foundation for the generous scholarship to the Annual Meeting this year in Washington DC. I am honored to have been chosen. Having the opportunity to participate in the AHRA Annual Meeting is one of great personal benefit and professional growth. I look forward to seeing friends and mentors again.

As a young director I became involved with AHRA and gained tremendous knowledge from my fellow members through the forum, and the publications Link and Radiology Management. It took seven years before I was able to attend my first Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado in 2008. At the very first session I met people that I had known only from an email or post online. It was wonderful putting faces with names. Many of the sessions were taught by fellow members, and they provided great insight. I really felt as if I was part of something great. Every session was exciting and interesting, and it was difficult choosing between the options as I did not want to miss anything. It is one of the few meetings I have attended where everyone is engaged and no heads nod in boredom induced sleep. Denver was a great location for the meeting and while I have only had the opportunity to attend four meetings I think it was my favorite. It is where I first met Ed Cronin, Ed Yoder, and Gina Winters, among so many others that have become friends through the years.

Each year I meet more great imaging leaders and marvelous people. It is wonderful to know we are part of an organization that fosters growth and camaraderie in a way that few others do. This industry is changing so rapidly that it is a blessing to have the opportunity to vet questions to peers that have been there and done that or have a level of expertise in a specific subject matter. It is with deep appreciation for AHRA, the Education Foundation, the RACC, and the fellow members I call friends that I look forward to visiting Washington DC this year. See you soon!

What was the first Annual Meeting you ever attended? Send your story to Kerri Hart-Morris (khartmorris@ahraonline.org), and it could be published here too!

Steve Davis, RT(R), CRA is the director of radiology at Clarendon Memorial Hospital in Manning, SC. He can be reached at sdavis@clarendonhealth.com.