Brooke Reinholtz

3/27/2015
Rouse Seminar
Mentoring Paper
Through my Rouse Mentor Liaison, Kerry Murrill, I was able to contact and set up two
great mentoring experiences. My first experience was with Carrol Hospital where I shadowed an
entire Radiology department. The second was with a woman named Karen Keenan from Patient
First, who was able to tell me specifically about becoming a Radiology Technologist.
I was set at first to shadow in the month of December but with inclement weather we had
to reschedule for January 22 of this year. Sharron Noel works at the hospital in Carrol County
and was in charge of shadows and putting them in their respective career interests. I was placed
as a shadow for the Radiology department in the Carrol County Hospital Center and was able to
completely look over four out of the five fields available there. First I was taken to the X-ray
part of the department where Jill Marwine was in charge of showing me around and taking me to
each department. In the X-ray area, I was able to shadow Michelle who showed me how they
did barium tests to look for blockage in the small intestine to how they worked with patients to
get the proper x-rays. From there I was taken to Nuclear where I was shown images from stress
tests and learned that they check for the function of an organ rather than what was wrong with it.
For example, they were doing a stress test on a mans heart to see if the ventricles were able to
pump blood properly or if there were problems with the muscle. As well as a death study of a
woman who was in a coma and they needed to figure out if she was able to come out of her coma
or if she was no longer responsive to anything. From there I went to MRI and watched as they

scanned the brain of a man and were able to splice the images on their computer to make an
image that showed the part that needed to be studied. Lastly I went to Ultra sound and shadowed
a woman who used the technology to look for blood clots in a mans leg before he went into
surgery.
From my shadowing at the hospital, I was able to realize how important that it is for the
Radiology Technologists to be the eyes of the doctors. Without this career, every diagnosis
would be a guess and check game. Using the technology gives people a chance to narrow down
all the options and assist in diagnosing the problem for the patients.
The second experience was only for an hour with a Radiologist from patient first near the
college. Mrs. Keenan was a wonderful look into actually working in the field in a setting other
than a hospital. The meeting was at Mad City Coffee, which is across the street from the Patient
First, with Aaron, Mrs. Murrill, and I. It was a great time to ask specific questions about the
career such as education and whats best to start off in the career. She was able to tell me about
this being her second career and she went to school for four years, two of which were prerequisites and the last two were the program. She was able to speak about her experience in
working for Patient First versus working in a hospital. It was amazing to speak about the career
with someone who is also very adamant about helping people.
After going through this process, I feel that I am fully capable of being successful in this
career. It brings together all my traits perfectly and allows me to help others without having to
speak to several people at a time. The field is making me excited to continue my education
knowing that there is a solid outcome in the end and that Im not longer floundering for a spot
where I think I could fit in. The future for me is still far away but its nothing that I cant
handle and I cant wait to keep going into the world with confidence.