High-Tech Testing and High-Touch Care at Washington Health

A cancer patient was so relieved that her cancer hadn’t spread that she created an AI song to thank the technologist whose test revealed the good news.

“It brought tears to my eyes,” recalls Dusty Finn, Washington Health’s lead certified nuclear medicine technologist. The song, created on an AI app, included funny and poignant features about his southern upbringing that the patient had learned about Finn over the years. “It makes me tear up now, even thinking about it. Just the fact that someone would do that for me.”

The laid-back Finn had worked with this woman throughout her cancer journey, doing her scans on the health system’s positron emission tomography (PET) scanner every few months. PET scans show whether cancer has spread, or if radiation and chemotherapy are effective. Cancer patients often routinely get scans, and wait with bated breath for results.

It's stories like these that make working with cancer patients rewarding, shares Finn. Patients often develop strong bonds with their technologists, who are supportive, compassionate, and caring through the cancer journey. They appreciate that Finn and certified technologist Ramiro Martinez make the journey a little better with their calmness and professionalism.

“We treat all patients as if they’re family,” Finn explains. “It’s easy to develop bonds after sharing patients’ tears of joy, fear, and sadness,” Martinez adds.

Finn and Martinez have almost 50 years of combined experience in operating the PET/CT scanner. PET creates images of high metabolic activity in the body, rather than anatomy only, like an MRI or CT scan. Cancer in the body will show up on the PET scan as hyperactive tissue. From that, doctors can determine how advanced a tumor is, and how to treat it.

Sometimes a scan will show that a cancer has progressed, and doctors will tell a patient to get their affairs in order, according to Martinez. Others will learn that cancer is in remission. ”Everyone’s physiology is different,” says the father of three. “In many instances, after a patient has received bad news, I’m still doing their scans five years later. I let people know that there’s always hope. I’ve seen my share of miracles.”

Providing hope and compassionate care, in addition to state-of-the-art testing, is the mission of Washington Health’s Digital PET/CT Imaging Department. Seeing dozens of patients with cancer every day, some of whom are very sick and frail, can be emotionally overwhelming. But Finn and Martinez manage it well because they love their jobs.

Respect for All People

“We focus on the good things, rather than the bad,” emphasizes Finn. “In health care, you should like, respect, and help people.”

Martinez has his share of emotional recollections, too, remembering one patient whose rare sinus cancer was cured. “The doctor didn’t give him a good prognosis,” says Martinez. “I told him that because it was so rare, no one really knew the prognosis since there weren’t many patients to base it on. I told him to stay positive, and rely on his faith. After one round of chemotherapy, the sinus cancer was gone. He came back twice to thank me.”

The technologists see their role as helping in the process of cancer diagnosis and treatment by providing doctors with detailed information about a cancer. A PET scan will also show if a treatment was effective. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing a patient who has received good news after a treatment, the technologists say.

But that’s not always the case. “People have cried here,” Martinez shares. “As a technologist, all we can do is reaffirm that we’re doing everything we can to make sure they fight the cancer.”

High-Tech, High-Touch Care

In addition to the high-tech PET, the two technologists also provide high-touch comfort care. When a patient prepares for the scan, they must wait 30 minutes after an IV injection. The room has to be cold to accommodate the equipment, so the team will make sure a patient is comfortable and has enough blankets. The two have also been known to hold the hand of someone who is scared and struggling.

“People come in here very anxious,” notes Martinez, “especially if it’s their first scan and they don’t know what to expect.” The technologists will give a step-by-step explanation of the test, which is done lying on a table for approximately 10 minutes. Because Washington Health has the most advanced digital PET scanner, which also has CT scan capabilities, the test is quicker than older machines. “When patients know what to expect, they can relax,” says Finn.

“We try to create a calm place,” he adds with a smile. With a skylight over the imaging table, and nature murals on the walls, patients can visualize the outdoors during the test.

Patients may arrive nervous, sad, or angry about the circumstances that brought them to Washington Health, but the professional and compassionate care they receive from Dusty Finn and Ramiro Martinez helps make the experience a little better.