With October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, quickly approaching it\u2019s good to know that Eastern Plumas Health Care upgraded nearly two years ago to state of the art digital mammography. It\u2019s the Superwoman of mammography\u2014faster, easier, more comfortable, offers less radiation (here the Superwoman analogy breaks down), and diagnosis is faster and more accurate.
\nMischele Dillon and Meredith Eaton lead a dynamic team in the Radiology Department, and they are excited about the possibilities of digital mammography and the gold standard imaging offered at EPHC in general. Dillon is Radiology Supervisor at EPHC, and Eaton is Lead Mammography Technologist. Both have been at the hospital for a relatively short time\u2014two and one year respectively\u2014but they have much experience in large hospital Radiology Departments, and they are both committed to making EPHC\u2019s Radiology Department every bit as good as what patients would experience in large city hospitals, if not better.
\nEaton came from Reno, and is enjoying working at a small hospital. She said she loves the collaborative attitude she finds at EPHC. In a large hospital, she noted, everything is very compartmentalized, and if help is needed outside a staff member\u2019s area, the attitude is, \u201cIt\u2019s not my job.\u201d She is proud of the fact that EPHC\u2019s imaging equipment is \u201cstate of the art\u2014better than the equipment in the hospital I worked at.\u201d
\nFurther, though Eaton was a diagnostic x-ray technician in Reno, when she came to EPHC, she trained for her certification in Mammography. In addition, she cross trained in CT scanning. That on the job training in two new areas has offered her \u201ca huge growth opportunity,\u201d Eaton said. Since taking over as Lead Mammographer, Eaton has created changes in the department that streamlined processes while making patient appointments more personal. Since she has worked in the Radiology field for quite awhile, she\u2019s at ease with processes and can focus on making her patients feel comfortable and cared for.
\nEaton walks each patient through the process, telling her what is happening at each step and what she will feel. In addition, she asks each one to let her know if she\u2019s feeling uncomfortable. When Eaton came into the department, patients were identified only by patient number, she said. Eaton wrote their names in on all the paperwork, and she has a great memory for her patients, so that she can easily recall their information if they phone in, or when they make a return visit.
\nFurther, she\u2019s made things run more efficiently. Previously, paperwork was faxed overnight. Now, Eaton submits it electronically before she leaves for the evening, so Northstar Imaging, the group that reads the digital mammograms, has the accompanying patient information immediately.
\nPrior to becoming Radiology Supervisor, Dillon also worked in much larger hospitals in the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. \u201cAs a whim,\u201d she said, she came up here two days a week as a traveler, working as emergency staff relief. But, when a full time position opened up, Lab Dept. Manager, Bill Carlson, recruited Dillon. That was back in January, and by July, Dillon took over the Radiology Supervisor duties. Dillon couldn\u2019t be more enthusiastic about her position at EPHC. \u201cI love the staff and the community. I relocated here from Sacramento. I have no reason to go anywhere else.\u201d Dillon appreciates the mature staff she has now. \u201cWe\u2019re a team. Coming from a big community–it\u2019s like pulling teeth to get someone to help. Here, I have the entire hospital willing to help. And, it\u2019s all genuine.\u201d
\nIn addition, Dillon feels that because her staff has experience in larger hospitals and communities, they\u2019ve made a conscious choice to work at EPHC. \u201cThey realize how good this is, and we can build a strong team here. They feel about the city, \u2018Been there, done that.\u2019\u201d Further, with the added experience of a more mature staff, Dillon reported, \u201cWe have a great combination of skills coming together [in the Radiology Dept.]. Because they have a lot of experience, we\u2019re able to cross train them, which builds a much stronger team.\u201d
\nDillon and Eaton are both out of the box thinkers who are continually devising better ways to do things in the department. They make notes on how they can make procedures more efficient and patient friendly. They compare notes and come up with the best plan. \u201cWe do work well together\u2026thank God!\u201d said Eaton.
\nDillon said she, Eaton, and Darlene Aikey, Ultrasound Technologist, really enjoyed the recent Health Fair at PSREC\u2019s Annual Meeting and the ability to talk to community members about the benefits of digital mammography and EPHC\u2019s other top quality imaging services. \u201cYou can look forward to seeing us at many more community events,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, quickly approaching it\u2019s good to know that Eastern Plumas Health Care upgraded nearly two years ago to state of the art digital mammography. It\u2019s the Superwoman of mammography\u2014faster, easier, more comfortable, offers less radiation (here the Superwoman analogy breaks down), and diagnosis is faster and more accurate. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}