Change Continues to Be…A Very Good Thing!

By Bette Drescher, CRA

Over the past few years, I have submitted two Link articles related to change.  “Change” is defined as: becoming different, to become something else and is synonymous with transform, adapt, modify and rebuild.

Just yesterday, I chaired my last Radiology Administration Certification Commission (RACC) meeting as my 2-year tenure as Chair and my 4-year tenure on the RACC is up at the end of this month. My time serving on the RACC has been personally and professionally rewarding and a role that I will miss tremendously. It was a bittersweet meeting, and I doubt that any of my fellow RACC members missed the catch in my voice as I thanked them for all they have done to further the CRA credential. Kudos to David Partridge, Curt Bush, Cindy Winter, Wanda Coker and Sandy Phillips for being a dedicated team and forever friends. Thanks also to CRA Coordinator Jillian Nanof and AHRA Deputy Executive Director Jay Mazurowski who have been a tremendous support to us. On the call we welcomed those who will be joining the RACC in 2019, whom of which will be announced shortly in the 2019 RACC Elections results. We also welcomed Dan Kelsey who has become the new AHRA CEO following Ed Cronin’s retirement.  Happy Retirement to Ed!

To add even more change to my life, I too made the decision to retire effective March 1, 2019. This was another bittersweet moment in a long and fruitful career which culminated in my current position as Director of Imaging for Kaiser Permanente Washington. Retirement will bring travel, gardening, hiking and skiing with no laptops, cell phones or meeting agendas in sight!

Although I hate to admit it, this year marks my 42^nd year of full-time employment, most of which was spent in imaging. I started as a technologist during a time when lymphangiography was performed with methylene blue dye, we put patients through pneumo-encephalograms, xerox plates were used to do mammography, and we called MRI NMR or Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. We mixed barium from 50 gallon drums of powdered barium, and took x-rays of each other and our pets (because we could!). Fast forward 40 years and we are now entering into the world of AI, and who knows where that will take us.

My years working with AHRA colleagues have been a highlight in my career; sharing experiences, stories, and learning from one another. What a relief it has been to comb the Forum for answers to questions without even having to ask. Our community is all about sharing their best (and worst) freely which serves to advance all of us.

Change IS a good thing. Embrace and rejoice in it. Be well, be happy, be strong and most of all, BE AHRA!  I’ll see you in Denver!

Bette Drescher, CRA is the chair of the Radiology Administration Certification Commission (RACC). She is the director – radiology services line at Kaiser Permanente-Bellevue Medical Center in Bellevue, WA and can be reached at drescher.bette@ghc.org.