By Tippi Rasp
In the spring of 2001, Stephanie DeClerck was a newly single mom in the midst of major life changes. Only her second mammogram ever revealed not only cancer, but also the realization that her life would never be the same.
Three months after she learned she had breast cancer, she had a mastectomy and began the reconstruction process. She never had to take radiation or chemotherapy and her lymph nodes all were negative for the microscopically invasive cancer.
She credits the positive outcome to the mammogram.
By late summer of 2002, another change was about to occur. The marketing field for which DeClerck is trained, was volatile at best, locally, she said. She needed a change in profession and her doctor, Laura Miller, suggested she try something in the medical profession.
“I hadn’t really ever thought about it,” DeClerck said. “I never did really well with medical stuff. I start IVs now on a regular basis.”
DeClerck graduated from the 24-month radiography program at Autry Technology Center in September 2004 and got a job almost immediately at the hospital in Perry. She works four days a week and is on call one day a week. She credits the program for preparing her for the work force.
“It’s very intense,” DeClerck said.
The acceptance process is lengthy and includes a placement test, resume, references and interview. She had just two weeks from the time she decided to apply to enter the program until it was beginning. Each class includes nine students who are chosen from a pool of 30-40 prospective students.
“There are so many different modalities in radiography,” she said.
And, instructors must be doing something right, because they have a 100 percent pass rate for the national radiography registry.
“This program is wonderful. Having been through it, I felt very prepared,” DeClerck said.
The academic challenge was difficult. She had to learn how to study again, but she said it felt good to challenge herself mentally.
“I can actually help the kids with math homework now,” DeClerck said.
DeClerck said she loves working at Perry because she gets to work on each area of radiography. She currently is working on getting licensed in CT.
Sharon Johnson, the program’s director, and Danny Gray, the clinical coordinator and instructor, help educate the nine students at two hospitals and the Northwest Orthopedic Clinic.
“We couldn’t do this without the three clinical sites,” Johnson said. “We have to have those for our students.”
Students use the clinical sites for practice on equipment. They have some equipment at Autry but it is used solely for practice in positioning patients.
The instructors also have publications available and use networking to assist students with job placement. Johnson said most of the students typically have jobs already before graduation.
Because of what she’s been through, DeClerck feels almost like it’s a mission to tell other women about the importance of mammography.
“Mammography is wonderful,” DeClerck said, adding that self-checks, clinical exams and mammograms all are important in early detection. “Every patient is always nervous about it. People dread coming in for a mammogram. But it saved my life.”
Now she will celebrate this year what she considers a “big milestone:” The five-year anniversary of the detection and treatment.
“I can pretty much do anything I set my mind to,” DeClerck said.
