CHOOSE WELL: A Quarterly Newsletter from Heartland Spine & Specialty Hospital, Spring 2009

Employee spotlight: Heartland MRI Technician Harley Creek,
Takes Time to Explain the Details

When Heartland outpatients fill out a survey about their treatment, they often mention the great service they got from MRI technologist Harley Creek. They use words like exceptional, considerate, and caring to describe their interaction with Creek.

Creek downplays his personal attention to patients, saying he's part of a team in the Heartland Radiology Department who all share the same goal. "We try to tell the patient up front what will happen," he says. "We try to explain in detail, to take the extra time to makesure they understand."

For many patients, an MRI visit can be unpleasant. And for about 10 percent of all people, going into the MRI tunnel can be terrifying, because they suffer from the very real condition - claustrophobia. Creek says he and his fellow technologists at Heartland have found everyone has a better experience if they know as much as possible about what will happen while they're getting the MRI, what the noise they will hear will mean, and how and when they can contact a technologist during the test.

Creek, who has lived in the Kansas City area since 1991, trained as an X-ray technician before he began working with MRIs. He traveled all over the U.S. for his job, working at a number of health care facilities before coming to Heartland two years ago. He's seen several improvements in MRIs, including faster exam times.

"The operating systems of the computers have gotten much better, and now most of the doctors read the results on the computer instead of having to print them out," he says.

"Heartland not only has advanced technology, but a radiology department that works togetheras a team."

Heartland also has the strongest MRI machine he's used, the 3.0 Tesla magnet, which is the most advanced in the Kansas City region.

Creek wants to make sure his colleagues share the credit for his good evaluations. He works daily with fellow MRI technologist Monte Gant. "Having a great team makes my job easier, especially having great co-workers like Monte," he says.

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