Karen Anderson shares how she moved from mammography into leadership, mobile breast imaging, community outreach and a corporate career with Siemens Healthineers.

Sponsored by Siemens Healthineers

Let me be real with you, this episode is the kind that makes a Mammography and Radiologic Technologist stop and go "wait, what?" I sat down with Karen Anderson, Scientific Marketing Manager and Key Opinion Leader Manager for North American Women's Health at Siemens Healthineers. She's been a mammographer for 37 years and still scans on Saturdays. Karen walked me through how she turned a 3-to-6-month wait at her old breast center into a 3-day turnaround, how she raised $42 million to build a new one from the ground up, and how Siemens' mobile units are now bringing 15-minute screenings, 4.8-second image sweeps, and 50-degree wide-angle tomosynthesis straight into communities that need it most.

If you're a tech thinking about mammography, mobile imaging, or community health as your next move, this one's for you.

Bring a mobile unit to your community → Community Outreach Program link

In this episode:

• How Karen turned a 3-to-6-month mammogram backlog into a 3-day wait, then raised $42 million to expand access even further
• What actually happens during a 15-minute mobile mammogram, from registration to results
• Why Siemens' 50-degree wide-angle tomo and 4.8-second scan time matter for image quality and patient comfort
• How hospitals and health systems can partner with Siemens to bring a mobile mammography unit into their own community
• Real patient stories from the Philadelphia mobile unit, including a woman too afraid of radiation to get screened, and a man who showed up with a mammogram referral in hand
• Career advice for technologists considering mammography or mobile/community imaging as their next move

Guest: Karen Anderson, Scientific Marketing Manager and Key Opinion Leader Manager for North American Women's Health, Siemens Healthineers. Registered radiologic technologist and mammographer with 37 years of experience, former breast center director who raised $42 million to fund a new facility.

Resources mentioned:

• Learn more about Siemens Healthineers mobile mammography and how to request a unit: PennMedicine.org/MobileMammo
• MQSA 30-day results reporting standard (referenced in episode)

mobile mammography, mammogram screening, women's health, breast cancer awareness, community health outreach, free mammograms, Philadelphia health initiatives, breast imaging technology, Siemens Healthineers, healthcare access, mammography technologists, early detection breast cancer, mobile health units, patient education mammography, mammography partnerships, healthcare equity, women's health screenings, radiologic technologist career, mammogram process, mobile health programs

Mentioned in this episode:

Rachel the Radiographer

I want to tell you guys something that happened to me today after I was invited to tour a mobile mammography machine.

Well, a mobile mammography unit today in Philadelphia.

As I exited this mobile mammography unit, outside in the parking lot at a grocery store, I had something amazing happen.

A woman was flying through the parking lot and she slammed on brakes and she rolled her window down, and she asked me and another young lady, how long are you guys going to be there?

And I told her, two weeks.

And she rolled her window back up and took off.

The next five minutes, two other women drove up, got out of their cars.

They were so excited.

And these women went to the tent and said, is it true I can get a free mammogram in 15 minutes?

And they were like, yeah.

Those women each individually went in, came out smiling ear to ear, because for me, I think they realized they had done something for themselves that they had been putting off for a very long time, and that was very important.

The other example was I, of course, had to tour Philly.

You're in Philly.

You got a tour.

As I was taking an Uber, the Uber driver, of course, wanted to know why was I here.

Of course, I had to tell her I was here by the mammograms and the mobile mammogram machine.

And this is where you guys.

It got me.

She got in her earpiece and she called her mother.

And I didn't understand what she was saying because she was speaking in her native tongue.

After she hung up, she told me, I told my mother, tell all the women, tell the community to go get a mammogram.

That is what access looks like.

It's no billboard.

It's not really a paid advertisement.

It is a woman calling her mother and her community and telling them to get a mammogram.

Today, I want to take you inside of what makes that possible.

The technology, the partnerships, and the woman behind making this happen, you guys, she still scans, but she's got a lot of other stuff that she does as well that is so important.

And you want to hear about it.

We have Karen Anderson.

I'm going to read this because I want to get it right.

Karen Anderson is the scientific marketing manager and key opinion leader manager for North American Women's Health at Seamus healthineers.

She started exactly where a lot of us started in our careers in medical imaging.

As registered radiologic technologist.

She cross trained and trained and became registered in mammography.

She built her career from there.

She managed a large breast center in Dallas, Texas, ran two mobile units.

But here is the clincher.

Karen raised $42 million to fund a new breast center.

And then she went into the corporate space.

Of course she did.

She raised $42 million, you guys.

Yes, I know.

People were like, come over here.

She never stopped putting her hands on the technology as well, scans.

And I want to say congratulations on all of that and thank you, Karen, for joining a couple of Rad Tech's podcasts.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sean, for having me.

Well, let's get into it.

I've held you guys up long enough, but I had to tell you all those stories because I feel like that's so important that people understand what you all are doing out here in the community and that people understand they need to tell their family.

You know, technologists need to look at this as a viable profession, one that is needed and one that is so much fun because I had a great time in this mobile.

I have never been in a mammography mobile machine.

I've been in MRI mobile, CT mobiles, pet mobiles.

But this was, this was a whole nother level for me.

And I got clips of the demonstrations of what this machine can do.

And the technologist showed me.

I want you guys to hang tight, but listen to this podcast because you're going to learn a lot about Karen and her journey.

Now, I told you a bio, but Karen, please tell the audience the non resume version because of course nobody's career is perfect and just goes, you know, as planned.

I'm sure there were twists and turns, things you had to do and give up and, and learn as you went along the way.

So tell us, walk us through because.

And two, you raised $42 million.

You ran major breast centers, corporate space, not only just starting as a technologist, but you went over to a corporate space.

So I want you to tell the audience, you know, how you do this, the real path.

So I look back over all the things that I've done in my career and what I sum it up to is making an impact and having that passion for what I do.

Women's health is so important to me.

I started out my career like Sean said, in Dallas, doing mammography, and I thought, I've done so much to impact women in Dallas, Texas.

I wanted to do more because I knew there was more work to be done.

So I started looking and decided I want to help women all over the United States.

So I transitioned to a corporate job managing an applications team for a large Fortune 500 company.

And that I did a lot for women.

In the United States because we provide applications for this technology to screen women for breast cancer.

And with that, we're making an impact as technologists.

So I did that for a number of years, thought, okay, now where can my path lead me?

I want to help women all over the world.

And so I was able and fortunate enough to get a job where I can do just that.

We, Siemens, are a global company, and so we manufacture equipment that can help women find breast cancer and find it early.

So I'm so proud of the work we do at Siemens with the technology that we have.

Beautiful, beautiful.

Now I want to jump back real quick to that $42 million.

What made you think it was possible?

Because, you know, we all have ideas, but that's not an easy feat.

Okay, so the way that started out is I was actually a manager in it, radiology, it and the current breast center director.

Manager.

Director.

Was leaving.

She was retiring.

And so I got a phone call asking me, is this something that you would consider doing?

Because I was a mammographer, I had an IT background.

So it just really made a lot of sense.

And at the time, the facility had such a major backlog because we were short on resources, short on technologies, short on space.

So I walked into this breast center and it was about a three to six month wait for women to get an appointment.

I took that challenge on and I looked and I worked.

I worked with the technologist, I worked with the radiologist, I worked with the radiology department manager.

I also worked with the chief medical officer to determine how we could rectify this problem, because it is a problem when a woman calls and she has to wait that length of time.

And within a couple of months, we turn that backlog from three to six months to three days.

Now, I will tell you that that was very difficult to do, but really evaluating your workflow, evaluating your resources, we were able to do that.

And that made me feel so proud that we were able to do that.

But I will say, women still waited long periods of time in that breast center, and I wasn't happy with that.

So I started seeing how can we reduce this wait time in our breast center and still serve the community as we needed to do so.

We knew we needed to move to a different breast center or bigger, a larger space, but there was no money for it.

So we decided, my medical director and I, along with other individuals at the hospital, decided we were going to go and raise this money.

We worked with our teams at the hospital, our grants team.

We put together a powerful PowerPoint to go out and speak to the community and ask for these donations.

And believe it or not, the story was so telling and people understood how important this issue is with access and equity and all that goes.

Along with that, they poured out of their pockets to help us fund a new breast center.

We went from five rooms to now.

That breast center now has 12 rooms.

So just that alone allows that community to serve those women that ordinarily wouldn't have access or have limited access or delayed care and diagnosis.

So I'm very proud about the efforts we did at that breast center.

As you should be, because going from three to six months to three days, that right there would have been like, whoa, great job.

But you took it even further.

And this leads to me to my next question.

You're in a corporate space now, but you still scan.

What makes.

Why?

I ask myself that sometimes too.

But I mean, the reality is that there are so many women that choose not to do this for.

For various reasons, for fear, for cost, for, you know, the things that they've heard or they've experienced in the past that prevents them from getting screened for breast cancer.

And because this is such a passion for me, I cannot explain to you the passion that is deep within me that I can talk to women and make them understand why this is so vital and why this is so important.

So, yes, Monday through Friday, I work my corporate job, but on Saturday mornings, I'm up at 6am to be at a breast center to screen women on Saturdays.

That's so important to me as a woman and as a woman of color, because we all know that the one in eight women will be diagnosed with cancer.

But for African American women, there is a higher probability of mortality rates and having an aggressive breast cancer and being diagnosed later in life.

And I want to do what I can to prevent that.

Well, I mean, you have.

You have started something I think is very impressive, not only to me, but the people listening and watching and these stories that we're about to tell you.

I hope you appreciated where we've started with this podcast, because where it's about to go, you're really going to enjoy.

Before we move further, I do want to let you guys know that this conversation is brought to you in partnership with C. Siemens healthineers.

Through innovation, mobile mammography programs and advanced imaging technologies, Siemens is helping bring breast cancer screening and breast health closer to communities that need it most.

To learn more, visit the link in the show notes.

So before we get into the van itself, the mobile mammography bus, I Need the audience to understand why this work exists.

You talked a lot about how you got here, but.

And we've told stories of how my experience today with women and what I saw firsthand at that mobile bus.

But somebody listening right now may be thinking, mammograms are available.

They have them in the hospitals.

Like, people got insurance.

Why can't they just go and the insurance covers them.

Why do you need a bus in a parking lot, at a grocery store or wherever it is?

So why a bus?

Why a van?

Why a trailer?

What problem is this solving?

So that is an amazing question.

And what problem that solved is number one, it is solving access.

Not all women have health insurance.

So if you don't have health care insurance, this is an opportunity for that woman to get screened and make an impact for her family, for the community.

Secondly, we Siemens really is part of our mission to make sure equal access and equity across the board is offered to women.

So, yes, we decided to do an impactful journey or make an impactful journey by offering or co partnering with hospitals, with community centers and so forth and so on to bring this technology to the community.

A lot of rural community hospitals are closing down.

A lot of rural.

A lot of people don't have transportation to get to the hospitals.

So we're bringing this very impactful and cutting edge technology straight to the community.

And so we feel as being part of our missions, we are making an impact, we're saving lives.

Yeah.

And I'm not going to be vague about this because I asked you earlier, how do you choose the communities?

Like, what was your answer?

Because I was really wondering, I'm like, how do you choose what communities?

There's so many out there.

Yeah.

So one of the things, a lot of hospitals do contact us for these events, but those hospitals make a conscious effort to go into those communities where the need is the greatest.

A lot of times hospitals look at the zip codes, they look at the mortality rates in those zip codes, and those are the communities that they tend to target.

Because again, those women, a lot of women, and I will speak as an African American woman, they're fearful of going to the hospital.

I have a lady today that just was fearful about getting a mammogram.

And I'll talk a little bit more about that.

But they're fearful.

They're very concerned about being, getting the right exam, getting the right information.

So that is one of the reasons why we, Siemens, do this co partnership with hospitals that feel like they need to go out into their communities because their communities are not coming to them.

I like that.

I like that.

That is really good.

So now that we have that picture painted for us, I want to jump on a 15 minute mammograms because I've been having mammograms since my 20s and I didn't know that they were 15 minutes.

So walk.

And our audience does not believe it.

Like 15 minutes, no way.

I'm sitting there for a long time.

But the process of actually getting the mammogram, especially in these mobile units, that's what we're talking about.

That's why it's so different from a hospital setting, I would say.

So walk us through the process of what that looks like, what this 15 minute screening memo actually looks like.

And it is real.

I saw it with my own eyes today.

Yes.

So we really work, we plan accordingly with the co partners that we work with and we have all of the IT infrastructure in place because that's important.

You have to have the correct information to screen these women because if there is a finding, we have to find these women to bring them into the physical hospital for further treatment.

So it's very important that we have all of this information for those women.

So that's the first step, getting that information placed into your his wrist system.

And most technologists know what I'm speaking on, but getting that information into your his wrist system and then passing that information over into our modality, which is our mammogram equipment.

Once that information is in there, we're ready to rock and roll.

We bring, we undress the patient, we bring them in, we tell them what we're doing if it's their first time.

A lot of times women have had mammograms before, so they understand, but there are many cases where it's their first time and there's a lot of fear.

So we go through that as we are doing the mammogram.

Our technology, we are able to do a image or what we call a sweep in 4.8 seconds.

That's really, really fast.

And typically a screening mammogram is four pictures in case, unless there is those cases where you need to have additional images.

And we get in there, we take those images and we're really, really good at what we do and we make sure we have adequate breast tissue on the women.

We check those cases and we let those women go.

Those women get follow up, get their results within the week.

And if there is follow up needed, they return to whatever co partners that we have, which is typically a hospital for a follow up and care on the breast.

I love that.

So really, I'm telling you, I saw with my own eyes 15 minutes.

And Karen gave you a good summary of what that 15 minutes from walk in to walk out and what makes that process different from your hospital experience.

You said 4.8 second sweep.

Explain that a little more because I have video.

I'm going to show that to you guys.

If you aren't listening to this, if you're only listening to this podcast, go watch it on the YouTube and you'll be able to actually see the video of our demonstration of how that sweeps.

And then I want you to kind of tell a little bit about the difference that semen brings in when it comes to how much breast tissue they are actually imaging in this 15 minutes.

Okay?

So the way we do this is, is we have, we've improved the technology such that we can make this image in a very, very short period of time.

And with this and with our technology, we have a 50 degree wide angle tomo.

And what that means is the wider the tomo angle, the greater the depth resolution is on your, on that breast.

The caveat to making sure you get good breast tissue is making sure you spread the dense part of the breast apart so that the radiologist can see straight through that breast tissue.

Limit the amount of radiation that that woman is receiving, and that gives you the best quality image.

I always tell people when they say, oh, 50 degrees, that doesn't really mean a lot to some people.

There are other mammal vendors that have a smaller angle, maybe 15 degrees or 25 degrees.

Again, we have 50 degrees.

And I always tell people it's very simple.

If you think of it in terms of, let's say you go to Disney World and everyone's been to Disney.

The lines are really, really, really long at Disney.

And you may have kids, it's hot, and they want to, oh, how much longer?

How much longer?

How much longer?

If you're in a straight line, you cannot see the end of that line or the beginning of that line.

If you step out from that line, you can see some of those people and where that line may start to end.

But the more you step out, the easier it is to see all the way to the front of that line.

And that's what this technology does.

50 Degree wider angle, you're able to see more breast tissue.

I think that is one of the best analogies I've ever heard.

For me to even understand the difference between a scanner that has 15, 20, 30 to 50, I don't know about you guys, but that would make a huge difference in what I would want my breast imaging to what I would want used for my breast imaging.

So thank you for that practical explanation.

So us as non mammography technology people can get it right.

So now the technologists, it's important that we talk to the technologists because they're the ones that's going to be operating this technology.

And maybe they've never worked on a Siemens Health and a Siemens mammography unit before.

Maybe they've never seen a 50, 50 degree angle.

They've probably never even heard of it before.

Let's talk to them.

Because this environment in a mobile unit is different than a clinic, right?

Correct.

So the technology can be the same if you have a system in a mobile unit and at the hospital.

The difference is there's a lot of things that you don't have to do on a mobile then you do have to do in a hospital.

However, mobiles can be very different and they can be very frightening for some people because it is enclosed.

But if you have a place for the patient to be registered, a place for the patient to dress, and then a place for the actual mammogram exposure safely, I mean, that's basically all you need in a mobile unit.

That mobile unit today, that's what it had at first.

When I drove up, I was like, whoa, it's small, because I'm used to the bigger ones that I've seen at the RSNA show.

And when I went inside, I'm like, you got registration right here, the booth for him to sit down.

Then you got dressing room, two doors, entry right into the suite and one that enters in the main hallway.

I think it was a closet behind me too.

And then you had the room where the technologist and the machine all were in.

And it was pretty spacious.

It was like three or four of us in there.

And it's efficient.

A patient doesn't have to park her car.

And if she goes to a hospital, she doesn't park her car or valet.

She doesn't have to walk the halls to a breast imaging center.

She doesn't have to locate that breast imaging center.

She doesn't have to wait in line for all the other patients to be registered at a mobile unit.

She drives up to the unit, she gets out her car, she does registration, she comes in, we dress her, we get her mammogram, we tell her what to expect for getting her results and she leaves.

That's the difference.

I mean, I think it is so important for those Technologists that are interested in doing mobile mammography.

Like we talked about earlier, I chose to come here to Philly to do this particular event.

We are here in Philly for two weeks.

I won't be here the whole two weeks.

I'll be here about five days.

But we seamens are here for two weeks.

We're screening women, as many women as we can on this technology.

I don't know about you, but that's so impactful to have that many women screened who would not ordinarily not have been screened and maybe not have found a breast cancer sooner rather than later.

That's impactful for me.

And today you said you had about 17 that showed up.

17.

We did.

We actually had.

We had a gentleman that came, he saw the van and I, you know, I love it.

He came over, he inquired, he said that, you know, he had, he had been told that he need to have a mammogram.

But because it's a screening mammogram, we could not offer care for him.

He needed to go to a hospital for diagnostic imaging because men can also have breast cancer.

That is true and that's factual.

So it was just cool that he came over to ask the question.

I'm so excited about that.

Now, just quickly, to a new graduate.

We have a lot of new graduates into the radiology field, medical imaging field.

And some are wondering, should I go into mammo?

Oh, this I've never heard about mobile mammography.

What steps would you tell a new graduate?

Someone maybe memo wasn't on their radar as a career choice?

What would you give them?

Advice?

I would say that is the best modality you can select because there is nothing monotonous about mammography.

Every breast is different.

If you're doing X ray.

A hand is a hand is a hand.

Mammography is very different.

Every breast is different.

The tissue could be dense, it could be fatty, it could be in between.

So there's always something interesting and you really start to build relationships with those patients.

Because if those patients do come back, you as a technologist will have start to build that trust for that.

For that patient.

And they look for you and they, and they start to ask for you over and over and over again because they have that trust for you as a technologist.

So you really.

It's not just a job.

It's not just, I'm going to work, you really get ingrained into helping these women because if you find that cancer, you do good imaging, you find that cancer for that patient, you have saved their life.

And that's so important for anyone that's listening.

And considering mammography, I would give you my phone number and tell you why you should do it, but it's really, really a great career.

I can't think of anything else in radiology that I would do.

I don't know anybody.

All of my friends that do mammo, they've never gone anywhere else, like.

And that's just the honest truth.

I mean, just.

I feel like it's just another avenue in medical imaging that is open to us all.

And if you're a new student in imaging, definitely give mammography a look.

You know, don't go based off what you've heard other texts.

You know, what works for one person doesn't work for the other one.

And don't miss out in your career.

You see the possibilities that Karen has done with mammography.

I mean, the sky's the limit.

The sky's the limit.

So partnerships, hospitals, administrators, they may be wondering, like, I want one of these inside of my community.

And they should.

I'm just going to say they should, because I. I'm going to say my community definitely needs one.

I got some things running through my head now that I'm like, I need to get one of these on my street, where I live, in the libraries that I go volunteer at.

So that's something I'm going to go back and work on.

And maybe, you know, we can maybe talk about that later.

But let's talk to health care organizations, because when people pull up in a grocery store, at least I thought this until talking to you and a few other people, that the grocery stores had some kind of arrangement with the hospital or something, because you always see them in a grocery store parking lot somewhere like that, or in a drugstore parking lot.

I thought it was the drugstore or the.

Yeah, I just didn't think it was a whole global company like Siemens, but partnering with healthcare organizations to get this in the community.

So this is a question that some may wonder, because patients may wonder, oh, it's my store that's doing it.

No, how can partnerships work?

Who initiates it?

What does Siemens bring to the table?

And what does a healthcare institution have to contribute?

So what Siemens brings to the table is innovation, technology, and the expertise of being able to bring a van, such as what we have in Philly, and we can Also provide the technologist to do that, to do that, those scans for you.

If someone is interested in doing partnering with us, we definitely have to have a healthcare provider to partner with because there's follow up that each exam has to be read by a radiologist and then that follow up, should there be follow up, need to make sure that they can take care of that patient in their facility.

So typically hospitals come to us.

We do have information on our website how you can request the mobile unit.

And then there's a process you have to go through because again, you have to have the space to place the mobile.

You have to have somewhere to take it.

So a lot of logistical things have to occur.

But of course we are willing to help with those type of projects.

But yeah, that request would definitely come through our Siemens website.

That's good information.

So any of you administrators, hospital organizations out there definitely are enjoying this podcast.

This is something that maybe your community could benefit from and this is how you can enact that in those communities.

Communities to get, as you said earlier to the community wasn't coming to the hospital, so the hospital came to them.

That's right.

So I do want to ask this question because you have a hospital, a large hospital facility that you partner with, they took steps and now they have their own mobile van.

How did that happen?

What?

Yeah, so we've been doing the mammograms in Philadelphia for about three years and there was a radiologist whom is with, had just as much passion for the community and making sure that he was offering outreach exams to get those women who don't have regular access or are not coming to the hospitals.

So he partnered with us and we typically use the fresh gross or cut that out.

Yeah, we use a parking lot, that's a business parking lot to park the van.

Of course you have to get approval for that sort of thing.

But we partnered with this facility and they really enjoyed and they saw what it was doing for their community.

They were finding cancers where they ordinarily wouldn't have because those women wouldn't have been in their facility to begin with.

So he, this radiologist decided to go and seek out grant funding so that he could get a mobile so that he could run it all the time, not just for the times that we had it available to bring to him.

And so this is why we are here doing this particular outreach because as it stands today, there is always a short, there is a shortage of technologists and they purchased this, this unit, but they are short on staffing.

So we were Obliged to come here.

It's our technology, we can do the scans well.

So we were very obliged to come here and help them, you know, transition and get care for the community this time.

Sounds like a perfect partnership.

So if any of you administrators out there are saying, I want this, I need to, I need to talk to my head people to get this in there.

If you can give them one piece of advice.

Because what they're probably saying is what is required?

What's that one thing that's required before I can just put a van somewhere?

I know you said get permission from the place where you want to put it, but what's that one piece where they should start?

Have to really want to do this because there is a lot of work involved.

It is a commitment to doing this because you have to be committed to getting those exams read within that 30 day period and those letters out to these patients within that 30 day period.

So you have to have someone that is going to champion.

I like that.

Okay.

Your, your outreach services.

Because otherwise, you know, you're doing this for.

Not because that is important.

We have standards, MQSA mandates that we get these results out to people, patients within 30 days.

So you really have to have someone that's willing to get in there, get these exams read and get the reports out to the patients.

So you need that person, you need that.

Champion, I would say, is the number one aspect to doing something like this.

And this, this falls into where I try to encourage.

I get messages all the time from technologists looking to pivot in their careers and they don't necessarily want to leave where they work.

But this, to me sounds like a great opportunity for individuals and organizations to use their expertise, use all that knowledge they've gotten as memo technologists.

Yeah, you know, mammography technologists, let me say it correctly, mammography technologists to use that expertise to take on this kind of project.

Yeah, I think we have facilities that we've gone into and done and done mobile mammography events with the hospital and then the hospital like this one, purchased their own equipment and that's an additional avenue for that technologist that's in the hospital.

Because I feel like if you're running an outreach, you are doing such an amazing job for the women in your community.

It makes you feel good.

It gives you that warm and fuzzy of what you're doing, means so much to those women.

So you take on that, that role takes on, you know, a life of its own.

Being in the hospital is very different from being on a Mobile memo machine.

And what they're doing too, and creating a program like that and spearheading something like that is using those skills that they've acquired all those years being a member.

Nobody knows that but a mammography technologist.

So taking those skills you've learned and instead of feeling stuck in your career, think about this episode, go back to your department heads and think up a plan or some kind of project in your community that maybe you guys can work together on.

This is just another avenue of using all those years of skills that you've acquired to give back to your community, build your career pivot, build your skills on your resume.

I just love how all this kind of falls into place now.

I do wanted to end this topic out here, this category.

I want to talk about the first conversation that hospital and health systems need to have.

Because there has to be a conversation internally.

I know you got to have that person.

But before they reach out to partner with Siemens, what should they, besides finding that person?

Is there something you could think of that they need to have internally?

Well, I mean, you definitely want, like I said, you definitely need a champion for this because there are logistical things that you need to be, you know, you need to consider.

You need to consider, number one, where are you going to get the best patient turnout?

Because you just don't want to just say, I think I could do it here, I think I can do it here.

Look and see where the, where the risks are and make sure that you're benefiting that community.

So I think a lot of pre work needs to go into it as well.

And then look at community partners.

Today we basically did memo only, but there is opportunity to have a larger health fair.

So if women are coming for their mammogram, make it bigger, have other screenings available, have glucose screening, cholesterol checks so that the whole family can be screened.

So there's other things that you can add into having a mobile mammography van.

I love that aspect because the whole family can be screened.

I mean, so many.

I get the ultrasound, the ultrasound along with my breast mammogram.

There's so many other ways you just spun that for.

Especially when you get to that level.

Hospital administrators, they're thinking differently than the, than the supervisor, the manager.

So that conversation, the supervisor, manager finds someone internally, but someone is spearheaded internally.

But those higher level administrators, they have to have another different conversation to think about this.

So perfect.

Now you said you had some stories for us, so we want to hear some stories.

You've been working in MAMMOGRAPHY for how many years?

If you want to share, this is year 37.

Wow.

Wow, wow.

That is really encouraging, because again, it goes back to those of you looking to pivot in medical imaging.

37 Years.

And people just don't stay because they just.

I like it.

You stay because you have the passion.

You're seeing results from your hard work.

But I want to hear some of those stories.

I'll start with one we had today.

I stepped off the van, and there was a lady, you know, she was in the distance, and she was looking.

And I said, hello, how are you?

I said, come on over.

And she said, no, no, I don't want to do this because I don't like that radiation.

And I said, okay.

I said, come on over.

Let's talk about it.

So you know what I wanted her to understand.

It was a bright, sunny day.

You're getting radiation from the sun, believe it or not.

And she looked at me and she says, really?

I said, yeah.

And she said, oh, but I don't like it when they squeeze my breasts and they slam this thing down on my breast.

I said, we have newer technology.

I would love, love, love to get you to come on my unit so that I can show you.

She said, no, because I'm telling you, it hurts and I don't want to do it.

So I said, well, I said, I'm here.

I said, I'm from Dallas.

I'm here in your city because I'm looking for women just like you.

I want to talk with you and find out why you're not getting mammograms.

So come on in my van.

She came in, and she wouldn't agree yet.

So I said, I tell you what I want to show you.

I want to show you the machine first.

I brought her in.

I said, look at this nice machine.

Does it look scary?

She said, no.

I said, let me see your hand.

I put her hand on the actual detector, and I brought the compression down on her hand.

And I said, just imagine this was your breast that I have in here.

I said, did you notice anything as that compression came down on top of your hand?

She said, yeah, it got slower.

She said, the last time, it just came down so hard and so fast it hurt.

She said, but this didn't do that.

I said, exactly.

We have newer technology.

I said, if you give us an opportunity to do your exam, you will have the best exam possible.

She went outside, sat at the registration desk.

So just that alone, that was one thing that happened today.

I've had women to come onto the van.

They're afraid.

They have felt something in their breast.

They come on there.

You ask them, do you having any problems?

And they will say no, because they're afraid.

We see those images, we see something there.

Chances are that patient knew it was there.

But they're afraid.

They don't know what to expect.

And so, you know, those are the kind of patients that I take pride in, making sure, okay, I'm not going to wait till the end of the day.

I'm going to contact a provider and let them look at this case right away.

And we are able to get those women done sooner because we know that there is a problem.

So being that seasoned mammographer, you see those type things, we can be that cabbage.

We can be that, that person for that patient.

And I just love doing things like that.

I've had women to come on, they come over and they say, well, you know, I don't have the money to do this.

It's free.

And they're like, shocked.

It's free.

I don't have to pay anything.

And that makes a difference.

I had a patient today also said, you know, I'm so glad you're here.

I lost my health insurance and I really needed to get a mammogram, but I have no way of paying for it.

The fact that you all are here today has made my day.

That right there alone, it validates what we are doing in the community.

We're impacting lives.

We're saving lives.

Lives.

And that's.

I mean, I'm speechless.

I mean, we could just drop the mic right there.

I mean, those are.

And that was just from today.

And you got 37 years of experience with more stories, but those were perfect.

And coupled with the gentleman that showed up, he probably had been carrying that script around for the longest and now he's gonna go and get that done.

That's correct.

But we talked about scaling and what all you shared with us today, scaling and the outreach.

Where is this going?

Like, what does it look like in the future in your eyes?

I think more and more facilities will adopt the ability to go out into the rural space, because as I mentioned earlier, rural hospitals are closing down, but there are still patients that need to be served.

So if facilities can find a way to fund a mobile on their own, that's great.

But if they can't, they do have us to possibly partner with and help them reach those communities.

That is a great option.

I believe in options.

Always having options.

Now, technologists, what can they do right now?

I want to ask you, because my audience are working technologists, working therapists out there.

And, you know, usually we're married to a technologist or somebody else in our family is one, or, you know, you know, somebody else.

They're listening, they're on their way to work, they're sitting in their car, they're on break, they're working night shift, listening to this podcast.

Not an executive, not a director, just a technologist, a therapist.

What can they actually do as they are working?

What part can they play?

I think technologists, as you know, both of us have been a technologist for many years.

I think technologists should really take a hard look and decide what's most important to you.

Look at where you are in your career and say, is there something I can do more?

Is there more that I can do in this industry?

There's so much we can do in radiology.

There's so many avenues you can take in radiology.

And I challenge each technologist that's listening to me today, and listen to Sean and I today, you know, look at what.

What is.

What's most important to you?

What value can you bring to the table?

Because oftentimes we feel like we're stuck in that X ray or, you know, and you feel like, oh, my goodness, I'm just going to be an X ray or fluoro.

You're still doing amazing work in those areas.

But if you want to do more, talk to your leaders.

Let them know where your passion lies and what you can bring to the table.

I just think that's critical in growth.

There's leadership roles that you can advance into.

There's corporate America roles you can advance into.

But I think taking a hard look at where you are today and what you want to do for your future, and what is most important to you is what all technologists should be looking at.

That is fantastic.

That covers the next two questions I had.

She's such a good person to interview because I had two more, but she answered all of those in there, so I don't need to.

But I'm just going to end it there.

But I do want to ask, did I cover everything?

Because I feel like I want to make sure, because we have you here.

Is there anything else you want to share about what you guys are doing for the community and what this mobile mammography bus trailer can do for the community?

So Siemens outreach is not just about technology.

It's about access, it's about equity, it's about partnership, and it's about early detection that saves Lives.

If you're listening to me today and this is something that's important to you, let us know.

Let us know how we can partner with you.

So I think that is some of the.

I was going to ask you what will move the needle for it.

That was actually my last question, but I'm glad you shared that because there's gotta be something that moves the needle for whether you're a director, you're administrator, you're a manager, you're a technologist, a therapist, something every one of us has, something that can move the needle for the next.

For the next person with this, with this beautiful technology.

And I was in there and I saw it for myself.

It's amazing.

So, Karen, I just want to thank you so much for inviting me to the unit because I have never seen.

And it's so pretty outside.

The outside of it is so gorgeous.

I want to put a picture of it.

So you guys are listening to this podcast.

You got to go look at the video.

Because the scanner, the.

The bus itself is very inviting.

I do want to say that it's very inviting.

As someone who has had their own scare with, personal scare with breast cancer at a very young age and a family of history, I have a very strong history of cancers, period.

But I walked, I drove up and I was like, oh, that's a nice looking bus.

It looks really good on the outside.

It's just not pink and it doesn't give off like, you know, this is some big contraption I gotta walk into.

It was nice and cute.

And then when I went inside and saw the actual equipment, it was a cute little scanner, a cute little machine.

It had lights that popped all up, which I love.

A good purple lighter.

She likes a pink light, you know.

But it had different colors, very calming colors.

And it was just really in and out.

And I just appreciated how you describe how the different paddles work, how the redesign and how long the compression lasts.

That 4.8 seconds is huge because I have had compressions longer than that and had to hold my breath.

These are things that real women who have had these exams are thinking.

No matter how many times you get them done, it's like, I gotta do this again.

The last time I couldn't hold my breath and I was holding onto the thing and it was eating into my collarbone.

It was eating into my collarbone, into my rib.

The way you explained the technology of the Siemens, the way they designed the memo mat be brilliant.

And the name brilliant.

It is brilliant design.

You guys listen to technologists.

You didn't just say, make us a memo.

What was some of the feedback you got from technologists?

Yeah, so that's a great question.

I mean, we, we often listen to the stakeholders, and the stakeholders are technologists and radiologists.

They want great image quality and they want good ergonomic systems for themselves.

Patience.

So we are, we do great things like take our technologists to our global headquarters and have them sit down with us.

And we have great feedback sessions on what they feel that they need for themselves and for patients.

I told you a story today.

I had a brace on because I've been doing this 37 years, and I'm used to doing a cranking sensation where I'm using all of my muscles in my hand.

Technologists gave great feedback because over time you get symptoms like carpal tunnel, you get tennis elbow, all of those things because you're doing a different type of motion.

With our technology, it is simple as you can actually move it with one finger turn.

And guess what?

Patients don't even realize they're being compressed.

That's the beauty of some of the feedback that we received from technologists.

Also, technologists do this day in and day out.

They're standing, they're stooping, they're bending, and all of that over time weighs on their body.

We've made this system so ergonomic that there's no more bending at the knees.

Stooping, looking under tube heads.

All of that has been improved where now the tube head moves out of the way.

So the technologist maintains her posture throughout the entire procedure.

And that's huge because I'm getting older, as a lot of technologists are, and our knees don't quite work like they used to.

So those type of things.

Again, feedback sessions from technologists.

And we listen, and technologists see that we listen.

And that's one of the things I think is important about the Siemens way,.

And one of the things I saw you demonstrated, and we'll have this on the video part of the podcast, which is not only ergonomically correct for a technologist, but even for the patients.

She took the scanner like, I think that was seven feet tall.

I might be exaggerated, but it was to the ceiling of the tree trailer.

So whether your patients are 5ft tall or over 6ft tall, they can have an ergonomically correct and a pleasant mammogram at the same time as a technologist as well.

And that's kind of hard to do to please both.

That's true.

But you guys did it.

I was very impressed.

Yeah.

And Wheelchair patients used to be.

You know, I remember getting mine early on in the board was the.

The sensor was very big.

The plate.

Am I saying it right?

It's detector.

Detector was very big and it would eat into my little ribs there was kind of painful, but I was going to take it because I had to get it done.

But yours is what?

It's very thin.

Yeah.

So the underbelly is no longer there.

So you're able to slide that wheelchair patient in for adequate imaging on that.

On that patient.

So there's no patient that we can't image.

True accessibility.

Yeah.

Thank you again for coming with us and sharing a couple of Rad Tech's podcasts.

The stage with me and with the audience.

I tell you guys, we always bring you really good quality information, not only career wise, but also for the job that you're in now.

So you can do what you need to do, understand you have options and go educate your patients, educate your family, educate yourself as well.

Not only about career, but it's your health as well.

So if you're working in departments where you're not really satisfied with equipment or you're not trained or you want to know about something else, talk to your, your leaders and share this podcast with them.

Reach out to Karen and her.

Her team and they'd be glad to share more about the mammography partnerships that they have, as well as the technology.

Thank you so much for having me, Sean.

Well, it was my pleasure.

And that's a wrap of another episode of a couple of Rad Tech's podcasts and a huge thank you again to Karen Anderson.

Go connect with her.

All her information is in the show notes as well as the link to learn more and partner with Siemens Health and Ears, our sponsor for this episode.

As we end this conversation, I want those stories that we shared with you earlier.

The one where the woman drove up and rolled down her window.

She was in a rush, but she said, I'm coming back.

The one where the man showed up with the mammogram script in his hand because he hadn't gone to get his mammogram yet, but he saw that bus in his community and even though he couldn't get it done there, he was pointed in the right direction and I believe he's going to go get it done this time.

The woman that was scared to get a mammogram because she had every excuse, the compression, the radiation, and she just was fearful.

Karen was able to show her why not to be fearful.

And this is one of the most important things that we can do as medical imaging professionals, especially mammography technologists, is educate our communities, but also educate within our department of all the partnerships that are available, especially the ones where we can get into the communities and get more people a mammogram.

So thank you again, our sponsor, Siemens healthineers.

And if this episode hit different, be sure to share it.

Share it with your loved ones, share it with your department and give us a great review.

If you enjoyed this podcast and share a comment of what was your most memorable thing in this podcast that you're going to take away with you until next time, go out there and be more than your modality.