Sadie Saline, Riley Bernhardt, and Allyson Mayville have experienced all of their educational milestones as a trio. And in their final semester in high school this spring, the three childhood best friends continued that tradition. They’re the first Sitka High School students to intern at SEARHC’s Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital since before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
All three were approached by the Career and Technical Education program’s coordinator last fall when he learned they shared an interest in radiology. Mayville was inspired by her own experiences in hospital imaging departments after suffering injuries as a kid.
“When you’re a little kid and you go in to get your bones X-rayed, it can be very daunting and scary,” says Mayville. “So I remember how comfortable they made me. And I thought that it would be nice to be able to make patients feel that level of comfort in some scary instances.”
Starting in February, the group would visit the hospital twice a week. Bernhardt says that no two days were alike.
“We walk in the doors, and then in their kind of break room/work room, there’s a screen that says what scan is going on, or if there’s a tech that’s about to do a scan, then they’re like, ‘You can go watch an X-ray, or you can go watch an MRI, or an ultrasound, unless if there’s multiple going on,” says Mayville. “And then often they would ask me which one I’d rather go to, and then I would follow the tech down to whatever room they’re at, and watch them do their thing.”
Like Mayville, Bernhardt’s personal health journey inspired her to help others through medicine. Last year, after struggling with knee issues for several years, she was diagnosed with rare birth defects in her knees. Bernhardt says it was interesting to now be on the other side of the care that she has received.
“One that was more interesting for me was the knee MRI, just because I’ve had so many. So it was cool to see the behind the scenes of everything,” says Bernhardt. “We haven’t gone to school yet for it, so some of it isn’t very clear. So [the technicians wil] point out what they can see in the findings, and then they’ll show us the electronics behind it and everything. So it’s been really awesome.”
While their schedules at the hospital never overlapped, Saline says that their close friendship helped them get the most out of their internship.
“If I saw a cool scan or something, then we of course had a little group chat and just share what we saw and how the tech responded [to] everything,” says Saline. “I think it just makes our learning [occur] on a deeper level, because we’re all connected through one way or another from the [radiology] techs, and it’s just special for our friendship to all experience that and have the same eagerness to learn about this specific topic.”
While they gained invaluable professional experience and medical school insights from radiology technicians, Mayville also developed a greater appreciation for the soft skills the job requires.
“These techs, or really anyone like a doctor or dentist, they want that relationship with you. They want you to feel comfortable and for you to trust them and everything. And they want to know [how to help you],” says Mayville. “So you’re not just burdening them always, which is sometimes how I felt like. ‘These people are busy. They don’t want to hear about it.’ But they actually do. They do want the connections, and they do want to make you feel comfortable.”
Bernhardt says the camaraderie the technicians demonstrated was not limited to their patients, but also to her and the rest of the radiology team.
“I don’t think there was a time that I wasn’t laughing while I was learning,” says Bernhardt. “There was definitely moments that were serious [when] we were with patients or something, but if I wasn’t with a patient or something, I was definitely laughing with someone.”
They say the semester solidified their interest in radiology in the future. As the recent grads prepare for their next educational milestones, the first one where they’re going their separate ways, the girls are grateful for the exposure to what makes an effective healthcare professional.
