One Year on the RACC

By Bette Drescher, CRA

It seems like yesterday that I wrote my first Link article as a newly elected commissioner. Instead, “yesterday” has become nearly a year and I am now officially part of the “old guard,” with the addition of two new commissioners selected by you in December: Brenda DeBastiani, CRA, FAHRA and Christopher Snyder, CRA. The RACC was excited to welcome both of them to their first official meeting earlier this year. It is already apparent that their energy and enthusiasm for the work ahead is going to add new depth and dimension to our team.

I have spent most of my time over the past year being oriented to a new skillset as a member of the RACC. Via monthly RACC meetings and the leadership of Rick Perez, Jacqui Rose, Bruce Hammond, Mark Steffen, Kimlyn Queen, and Sheryl Jackson (Public Commissioner), I have been welcomed and oriented to the team. Thanks to the kind and generous Kathryn Keeler, who has answered my questions and provided historical background, I am feeling more confident in my ability to contribute to the success of this great group. I was asked to serve as a member of the RACC Marketing Committee and am excited to be a part of making recommendations for a new CRA marketing strategy in 2015.

In August, at the Annual Meeting in Washington DC, I was thrilled to meet Jacqui, Bruce, Kimlyn, and Rick in person. Working alongside them at the booth, I was also able to spend time with many of you who stopped by to ask questions or just to chat. This was both tremendously rewarding and educational for me as I heard your success stories and answered questions. I stepped in to cover for Mark Steffen in leading the “ice breaker” CRA Bingo at the CRA reception. It was there that I met more of you and enjoyed being a part of your passion and competitive spirit.

In the fall, I worked with Jacqui and Russ Cain on the RACC Nominations Committee. I know that they both would agree with me that it was difficult to choose the candidates to put forth to you for selection, as the slate of nominees was outstanding. As recapped above, we have two new RACC members that are the outcome of our efforts.

Professionally, this has been a challenging year. As others in our industry have experienced, my organization was faced with a management restructure that resulted in the loss of many long term colleagues. I was selected for a leadership position and after serving as interim director for 5 months while awaiting the outcome of the interview process, I have been chosen as permanent director of radiology services. I am thrilled to have been awarded this position after having worked my way up from technologist, to supervisor, to manager, and now director. I believe that my CRA credential has been a factor in my success, providing both personal education and advancement and demonstrating these abilities to those who interviewed and selected me.

I hope many of you plan to attend the Spring Conference in Orlando to take advantage of educational and networking opportunities, including the CRA Exam Workshop for those of you preparing to take the exam.

I also want to share with you that the RACC Marketing Team has been working on a fresh and exciting marketing campaign with a new theme – “You Have What It Takes” – intended to offer up more relevant tools to help articulate the value of obtaining the CRA. These new ads will also include up to date testimonials and quotes from our CRAs as to how the CRA credential has positively impacted your career.

In closing, I want to thank you again for entrusting me to represent you – this first year has been an honor, and I look forward to everything yet to come.

Better Drescher, CRA is the director of radiology services at Group Health-Bellevue Medical Center in Bellevue, WA. She can be reached at drescher.bette@ghc.org.