Great Stories
Montana Campus Corps:
College Students Meeting Critical Community Needs
Great Story by Kelsey Minch

One of the rotations during my clinical time as a rad tech student through the hospitals is the same day care facilities. I had a patient in his early thirties who was deaf. It was a very interesting experience. The patient had a little notepad and pen on him that he used to communicate with the doctor. The doctor told me to use the notepad to give him instructions during the x-rays. I was unsure if he could read my lips or not. I would have felt bad if he could read them and I was still writing things down for him. However, without knowing, I did as the doctor suggested. It was very strange to write down "hold your breath" and then run back to my machine, take the x-ray, and then run back and touch him so he knew he could breathe again. I had to repeat one of the films and I normally would have explained why, but was not going to write all that down on the little pad, so I just went ahead and repeated it. I felt awkward because of how quiet the whole exam was. Then I realized that this is what his entire life is like. It was a very humbling experience.

It was a learning experience for me to have to change my "normal" way of doing things. I can get into a routine that I'm comfortable with and be resistant to change. It was also an excellent reminder of how I take the simple things in life for granted.

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