Spring Break Steers X-Ray Tech Toward A Career She Loves

 

Spring break would seem a highly unlikely juncture from which to launch a career. However, on a plane returning from Cancun, Mexico, Jackie O’Rourke’s future was confirmed and clarified.

O’Rourke, who was months away from gaining an associate’s degree in general radiography, struck up a conversation with the woman next to her on the plane who happened to work in radiology.

“I admitted to her my interest in medicine and imaging therapy, but I didn’t know what to specialize in, where to go from here,” O’Rourke said. “She simply said, ‘Go into radiation oncology therapy. You’ll never regret it.’”

For Jackie O'Rourke, a career in radiology has offered many rewarding, and very diverse, opportunities. "Radiology is the one field that is impossible to get burned out on,” she said. “That’s the beautiful thing about radiology. There are so many branches off the main trunk, so to speak. With the advances in medicine and technology, there is going to be more and more specialized areas."

O’Rourke heeded the advice. Before she graduated from community college, O’Rourke completed a clinical hospital rotation in radiation therapy. She transferred to a four-year college to earn a bachelor’s degree in radiation therapy and spent 10 years as a radiation oncology therapist. O’Rourke said this experience changed her life.

“I learned so much about cancer and the disease process,” said O’Rourke, who now works as a c omputed tomography imaging technician at SSM St. Joseph Hospital West in Lake Saint Louis. “I learned cancer is not the automatic death sentence that a lot of people think it is.”

O’Rourke remembers patients who were given six months to live but came back three years later to visit and show off new grandchildren.

“Talk about job satisfaction!” O’Rourke said. “It enlightened my life because I learned to appreciate every day.”

Another trip outside the United States altered O’Rourke’s career. Her husband was transferred to Europe, where medical care is very different. It was difficult for O’Rourke to use her radiology education and experience there, so she began working in marketing. After returning to America, O’Rourke continued working in the medical marketing field, but she didn’t enjoy the fulfillment she once did.

“I wasn’t where I wanted to be,” O’Rourke said. “I felt this great need to give something back, to help people again. I missed the hospital environment. I enjoyed the interaction between medical personnel, and I loved the excitement and action.”

At the time, the only radiology position available was in a different aspect of radiology — a C.T. imaging technician at SSM St. Joseph Hospital West.

“I absolutely love it,” O’Rourke said. “There has not been one day that I’ve not looked forward to coming to work.”

However, O’Rourke said there are challenges to a radiology career. Working as a radiation therapist, you see patients five times a week for six weeks while they receive treatment. You get to know a lot about the people, their families and their lives. When the therapy is not effective in treating the cancer, it’s like losing a close friend.

For O’Rourke, the rewards of a radiology career outweigh the shortcomings.

"In my opinion, radiology is the one field that is impossible to get burned out on,” she said. “That’s the beautiful thing about radiology. There are so many branches off the main trunk, so to speak. With the advances in medicine and technology, there is going to be more and more specialized areas. PET (positron emission tomography) imaging, for example, is going to be the next big thing.”

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