Then off to Davis North Hospital in Layton where two first-year and two second-year students are stationed. while training students see many career options Nuclear Medicine Jane Ward said that although the “Checking students in all the different hospitals is more difficult than placing them all in one," Professor Harrison said as we drove along. “But we feel it is important for the students to see many career options and get many different experiences.” Students are getting experience on several special pieces of radiographic equipment at Davis North. The two we will look at today are the C-arm portable fluoroscopic unit that can be used in the emergency room or while actual surgery is going on, and the diasonic digital radiography system, used to take x-rays of blood vessels. WSC student Sharri Soelberg met us at the door and was anxious to show us into the operating room where the C-arm unit had just been set up to aid during surgery -- but not until we were clad in appropriate sterile attire. (see picture on cover) Sharri is just one of the 24 students now completing her degree and ready to take state board examinations. in people because of its association with atomic warfare, a person receiving nuclear diagnostic procedures gets less radiation than from an x-ray. WSC student Tena Severs explained the difference between nuclear medicine and x-ray. “X-ray produces the radiation as it takes the picture, but in nuclear medicine, the radiation is put into your body and the detector just picks up where the radiation is and what is going on inside you," she said. Ms. Ward continued that the nuclear radiation can be either swallowed, injected into the veins or inhaled (xenon gas). “These procedures not only show the anatomical structure as seen in normal x-rays, but they also show the function,” she added. Small nuclear medicine detectors are found in most hospitals, but the most sophisticated equipment in the state is found at LDS Hospital, where WSC students will get their internship training, Ms. Ward said. Stu dents do not learn to operate cat-scan equipment, but they learn about many career options which require advanced training. Nancy Hartog (left) discusses procedures with student Tena Severs at McKay-Dee Hospital. Radiation Therapy Sometimes called cobalt, radiotherapy, x-ray therapy, or irradication; radiation therapy is the use of high energy rays in an attempt to stop cancer cells from growing and multiplying. A registered radiation therapy technologist is the “pharmacist” that receives the prescription of treatment from the radiotherapist (M.D. with specialty in radiotherapy), plans the treatment calculations, sets up the treatment field on the patient, and actually delivers the radiation to the patient. “Radiation therapy technologists need to be sensitive to the patients as well as technically competent,” said WSC instructor George Pales. “They have to treat the total person, not just the area with the cancer. Part of our training is to teach these sensitivities to the students,” he continued. one in four Americans will have cancer f the radiation treatments as well as” getting a greater quality of life. Clinical instructor, Harriet St. Laurent at St. Benedict's Hospitalig presently working with two students. She said the use of radiation therapy is expanding all ~ over the world. “In Europe, breast cancer is almost always treated will radiation therapy instead of surgery: The results are exactly equal,” she said, “comparing mastectomy to © radiation." Ms. St. Laurent explained that ~ radiation damages all cells withinils reach -- cancerous and normal. “The equipment can't distinguish between good and bad tissue," she said. "Bit the cancer cells are unhealthy, and are dividing so much faster than the normal cells, they are more | susceptible to radiation." . She said the treatments are spread out over days and weeks to allow” the non-cancerous cells to return to normal and regenerate themselves. “Rest between treatments is . essential," Ms. St. Laurent added. WSC student George Anna Leseberg, who was formerly an x-ray technician, described the different machines which adminis the radiation. Besides working wit the 6 MEV linear accelerator at St” Ben's, which produces high energy x-rays that travel at the speed of © light (186,000 mi./sec.}, and also the | Radiography student Richard Taylor prepares a patient on the fluroscopy machine which targets the organ to be x-rayed. Students work with the latest techniques on the most up-todate equipment in the hospitals. Page-4 Pales said that one in four Americans will be stricken with some form of cancer in their lifetime, and even though some people think that working with these cancer patients might be depressing, he calls radiation therapy “one of the most enthusiastic programs I have ever seen.” “The greatest misconception of radiation therapy is that everybody dies of cancer,” Pales said. “But, many of the patients you treat are going to be cured. In fact," he continued, “90 to 95 percent of stage one or two patients with larynx cancer can be cured." He said that years can be added to the lives of cancer patients through superficial unit which is used to ~ treat cancers near the surface of the pul rad skin, WSC students also spend time at the Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, and in Salt Lake Cityat IB Hospital for electron beam experience, and at the Leland © i Cowan Center on Cobalt 60. 7 not cor to: "This is not just the college's program,” Pales explained. He said WSC is working closely with the7 hospitals to train their future employees. “Not only does this program insure, down the road, that we have quality technicians available, Ms. St. Laurent said, “it keeps employees like myself constantly working to keep current in the st of the art.” wil es Pas photo by Jeannie Young URS Fae ee. Ee word “nuclear" strikes a note of fear