Who Are Our Radiation Therapists?
The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is known as a place where individuals impacted by cancer come to get healthy. Patients from across the United States and around the globe come here to receive treatment for various forms of cancer. They put their trust in us and we should all take great pride in the knowledge that we’re saving people’s lives.
Providing these patients with high-quality, compassionate care is a great responsibility for our health care professionals. This is true for everyone who works at TMC. For me, I have a special bond with the personnel who administer radiation treatments. As a radiation therapist who has worked side-by-side with these dedicated and selfless health care professionals for many years now, I believe it’s important for our peers, patients and city’s residents to know who radiation therapists are and what they do every day.
When patients arrive at TMC’s cancer treatment facilities, it’s natural for them to be unsure about what to expect and looking for answers. They’re embarking on a journey that they never thought they’d take, and it’s part of the radiation therapy team’s job to make sure they have the information they need to successfully complete their treatment plan. Radiation therapists have an incredibly important role in that process.
We’re highly skilled medical specialists educated in physics, radiation safety, patient anatomy and patient care. We may treat our patients as often as three to five days a week for as many as seven straight weeks, and we’re the individuals who deliver the targeted doses of radiation to the patient’s body to treat the cancer.
Since we spend so much time with patients, we often form an emotional bond with them. We get to know them on a personal level, and they get to know us as well. We’re committed to making sure they receive the best care and experience possible, and we do our best to help them stay strong during very difficult times. We relish our role in providing “high-tech/high-touch” quality patient care.
TMC and the entire Houston area are home to hundreds of registered radiation therapists. They have a tremendous impact on lives throughout the country, and we should be incredibly proud of them.
To recognize the radiation therapists in Houston, throughout Texas and in the entire country, the American Society of Radiologic Technologists sponsors National Radiologic Technology Week every year. The week, which takes place Nov. 2-8 this year, celebrates the discovery of the x-ray by German physicist William Conrad Roentgen on Nov. 8, 1895. It also honors the vital role radiation therapists and medical imaging professionals play on the health care team. It’s our week to let patients and the public know that they can be confident knowing that they’re being cared for by highly qualified and educated radiation therapy and medical imaging professionals.
If you meet a radiation therapist, please thank them for their tireless efforts in making sure patients who come to TMC receive the best care possible. They’ll appreciate the fact that you know they’re big part of our reputation as a place where people come to heal.
