What a Difference a Year Makes!

By Kimberly Harrell, RT(R)(MR), CRA, CMPE         

Last February, Kaiser Permanente hosted our Local Area AHRA meeting in the Pacific Northwest. It had been quite some time since our last local meeting. We had the honor of Ed Cronin our past CEO, attending and discussing the benefits of AHRA membership. Our sponsor, Hitachi, provided breakfast, beverages and lunch. A donated gift basket from South Sound Radiology offered us the ability to raise funds in a raffle. The proceeds went to our AHRA Education Foundation. The speakers were excellent, and our local imaging community received five free CE credits. Personally, I was thrilled because it was a great opportunity to present my upcoming 2018 AHRA Annual Meeting presentation “That was easy.”

On July 22, 2018 I had the honor to present at our annual meeting in Orlando. My presentation, “That was easy” outlined my team’s journey to patient satisfaction. My practice run at the local meeting allowed me the opportunity to work out the kinks for the annual meeting. It was very rewarding when I read the review of my presentation in Convention Daily written, by Pam Colburn. That article and the positive feedback I received was encouraging. Checked that off my bucket list (on my birthday)!

In March of last year, my assistant manager Patrick Hibbert joined my team. Patrick was very accomplished on many levels. I encouraged him within his first few months to join the AHRA. Once he became a member, I then challenged him to study and take the CRA exam. He loves to learn and hunkered down to study with a goal to take the test in November of that year. A lofty and worthy goal that Patrick ultimately, achieved. A new CRA is born!

In the fall, I submitted a presentation to the 2019 Annual Meeting Design Team for this year’s annual meeting in Denver. In January, I learned that my topic was approved. At this year’s Pacific Northwest’s local meeting I had the opportunity to present my topic “MRI Magic.”

I have had an amazing year of experiences as an AHRA member that have provided both personal and professional growth. See you in Denver!

Kimberly Harrell, RT(R)(MR), CRA, CMPE is the ancillary services manager of imaging at Kaiser Permanente in Tacoma, WA. She can be reached at Harrell.k@ghc.org.