CREATING CAREERS THROUGH
CARING
Find the career that fits you while helping the community
WASHINGTON REGIONAL is committed to improving the health
of our communities through compassionate, high quality care,
prevention and wellness education. Its vision is to be the best
place for patients to receive care, and the best place for its team
members to give care. Most people picture doctors and nurses
when they think of hospitals, but there are many other careers to
choose from.
Danie Kirkland is a registered respiratory therapist who first started
working at Washington Regional as a certified nursing assistant,
or CNA, when she was in high school. “I’ve known since junior
high that I wanted to work in healthcare,” she says. “I took a CNA
course in high school and started working evenings and weekends
providing basic care – like bathing patients and taking their vital
signs.”
After she graduated from Fayetteville High School, Kirkland began
studying nursing but discovered that wasn’t the path for her. “I
knew I wanted to do patient care, and I talked to some people
who encouraged me to apply to the respiratory therapy program
at NWACC.” She knew she’d found her fit. “The concepts they
taught really clicked for me, and I was comfortable with it.”
Kirkland monitors and helps treat patients who are in distress or
have trouble breathing because of a disease, injury or infection.
“We work with trauma patients, rapid response calls for people
in respiratory distress, critical care patients and pediatrics. We’re
even there for C-section deliveries and in the NICU.”
Working in the NICU, or neonatal intensive care unit, is where
Kirkland finds her job especially rewarding. “My oldest child was
a preemie in the NICU here, and I remember what that was like.”
Kirkland is part of the NICU transport team, which brings newborn
or premature babies from other facilities to Washington Regional
for care. “The hospital’s NICU is growing, and I want to be part of
that. My goal is to get my neonatal specialist certification.”
In less than a year, he moved to a full-time position as a patient
transporter. Transporters move patients to and from service and
treatment areas throughout the hospital. “It was a start to my career
journey. I really got to know all the departments in the hospital and
meet all the nurses, aides and techs. I started talking to people in
radiology because I was interested in the different procedures they
do. There’s a lot more to it than taking X-rays of broken bones.”
Radiologic technologists use many types of equipment and
procedures to create images used to diagnose and treat patients.
That includes X-rays, sonograms, MRIs and CT scans.
Elliott completed a two-year radiologic imaging science program
at UAMS in Fayetteville and decided to continue by earning his
bachelor’s degree. He plans to stay in radiology at Washington
Regional.
“I’m able to work with some of the best doctors in the country and
with high-quality equipment and facilities,” Elliott said. “This career
has opportunities for long-term growth, and my goal is to gain
experience and become a supervisor and, eventually, director of
radiology.”
If a career in healthcare is your goal, Elliott and Kirkland both
recommend getting some hands-on experience to learn about the
many different jobs in a hospital to find the one that fits you.
Washington Regional believes in providing a rewarding workplace
while delivering outstanding quality of care. Washington Regional
received the 2018 Governor’s Award for Performance Excellence,
which recognizes organizations engaged in continuous quality
improvement.
To explore career opportunities at Washington Regional, scan the
code or visit http://wregional.com.
Kevin Elliott is a registered radiologic technologist. Initially,
Elliott had studied kinesiology and worked for a company that
administered corporate health screenings. He knew he wanted to
work in a hospital but wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to do.
He started working part-time at Washington Regional’s Center
for Exercise doing things like staffing the front desk and cleaning
equipment. “This was a way to get my foot in the door, and I knew
more opportunities would open up,” he explains.
FAYETTEVILLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
| 9