Caregiver Stories
Cutting-edge tech, connection and teamwork: How nuclear medicine techs thrive at Providence
Nuclear medicine sits at the intersection of advanced technology and deeply human care. It’s a field where science, innovation and patient connection all matter — and where technologists play a critical role in diagnosing and treating complex conditions every day. At Providence, nuclear medicine technologists don’t just keep up with innovation; they work with cutting‑edge tools, collaborate across close‑knit teams and build meaningful relationships with patients. Two of our technologists, Ally and Anna, share what makes their work here fulfilling — and why they choose to stay.
Access to the very latest technologies
For Ally, the technology makes a big difference. “My perfect day at work is here in PET,” Ally says, in large part because she and her team work with a brand new PET scanner with an AI positioning camera. She explains, “It’s the first one in Oregon. The patient just lies down, and the camera knows exactly where they are, just puts them in the right place. It can do a scan on somebody my size in about five minutes, which is really impressive compared to our last camera, which took about 30 minutes to do that scan.”
Anna says her team uses different cameras to explore the body’s various functions, which adds variety to her workday. “It’s always different, which I like,” she says. “We try to keep all our cardiac patients on one camera, and all our bone patients on another. And then we have a general room where we have our other general function imaging on a separate camera. We navigate between high-priority inpatient orders and scheduled outpatient orders, all in the same mix.” She also points to the rapid pace of innovation in the field. “They’re constantly upgrading these radiopharmaceuticals. Now they have targeted therapies for imaging, which specifically target bone cancers that come from prostate cancer. We use that radiation here, which is an evolving crossover between radiation therapy and nuclear medicine.”
True connections with patients
The Providence Mission is to serve all, especially the vulnerable, and we foster an environment where every patient interaction is sacred.
Ally loves this about working here. “You really get to interact with the patients,” she says. “You get to spend a good amount of time with them and to really connect with them. You have to assess every patient as they walk through the door and decide how you’re going to work with them.” That might mean bringing humor to ease nerves or simply listening. “Sometimes I am a stand-up comedian. Sometimes I am a shoulder to cry on. Sometimes I am just somebody who needs to listen while somebody shares their story with me,” she says. “Some people take longer than others. Some people have different abilities, different needs, and you need to be able to work with that and provide for every patient.”
A culture of teamwork
Both Ally and Anna rave about their teammates and say the team culture is what truly sets their workplaces apart. Ally says, “There are so many great things about my team. Everybody is willing to put in the work. Everybody’s willing to help each other out. My boss is amazing. She always has your back. Our students are really wonderful, and all of our techs are willing to work with them, bring them in, show them exactly what to do, and be a good example. And it’s worked because we’ve just hired our newest student and he’s amazing.”
Anna agrees, “I love how we all help each other out. We’re all very mindful of each other’s needs and wants. We’ve been called the unicorn department before, because it’s so unusual. Truly, it feels like we’re friends and family that work together. You couldn’t ask for a better thing.”
Join us in nuclear medicine
If you’d like to serve all in a welcoming department, while working with technology that’s pushing medical imaging forward, check out our nuclear medicine across our organization in:
