A Bermudian college student studying diagnostic imaging wants other students to really explore their options before settling on a career choice.

Roche Wolffe, 28, became the first student to receive a $15,000 medical radiation scholarship from TB Cancer & Health in 2006. Now she is in her last year at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston in the Diagnostic Medical Sonography programme.

A few years ago she was working in the global funds department of a Bermuda bank when she decided a career change was in order.

“I wanted to do something technical that was more involved,” she told The Royal Gazette. “I wanted to do something where I could give back to the community, and feel happy with what I was doing. People stay in jobs for 20 to 25 years and they are not happy when they retire. When I am done I want to be able to say that I spent a good 30 years doing something that I liked.”

She urged other young people to research careers before picking one, no matter how much pressure there was from adults to go in a certain direction.

“I want young people to realise there are other options out there other than business, or information technology, or teaching,” she said. “Don’t just pick the first thing that comes to mind. Research what you want to do. Make sure it is something you want to do for the rest of your life. Love your job. It doesn’t make sense doing a two-year course and then you have to go to school again to do something that you really want to do.”

She said not a lot of students know about diagnostic imaging, but there is a tremendous need for trained ultrasound technicians and radiographers.

“I was abroad and someone told me about it,” she said. “I did the research for myself. I came back and I just researched it in Bermuda to find out how many techs were doing it, whether it was a career was put out there, to see what the interest in it was. When I did decide to do it, I went to the hospital to observe for a little while and I really liked it.”

Miss Wolffe said she has an eight-year-old son, and the four years away from him while in college have not been easy.

“I am not allowed to come home or take vacations,” she said. “I took a couple of days before Christmas and the two days of Christmas. I ended up meeting my son and a friend in Orlando, Florida and just spent that four days with him, and had to fly back to go to work the next day. He tends to come up when school is out. It is tough.”

However, she said her new career would be an investment in his future also.

“I have to better my life to better his,” she said. She is currently doing her clinical rotation at Tufts New England Medical Centre, which sees a lot of Bermudian patients.

Her programme at Bunker Hill Community College is very demanding. She must maintain a high grade level. Students who get Cs are asked to leave. In her first year she received an impressive 3.7 grade point average.

“I have a few friends who couldn’t handle the stress,” she said. “These programmes are very hard to get into. I didn’t think I would get in when I first applied. They only take 12 people out of 500. The radiography programme is ten times worse.”

After graduation, she originally intended to come home straight home to work after sitting her board exams in September, but TB Cancer & Health urged her to stay on a year to work in a Boston hospital and gain additional experience.

“This is such a crucial year for her,” said Pauline Girling, spokesperson for TB Cancer & Health. Ms Girling and TB Cancer radiologist Maureen Burke have been acting as mentors for Miss Wolffe. “If she comes back here she has all the knowledge, but she hasn’t got the practical skills that help with the problem solving. If she works in a big-team teaching hospital, she will get such a condensed amount of that, that it is worth that extra year investment.”

TB Cancer & Health decided to give out the scholarship because there is such a desperate need for qualified people to work in diagnostic imaging. “We have issues with staffing our ultrasound service all the time,” said Ms Girling. “We have tried several stopgap measures and it hasn’t worked. The only way we can do it is to take a long-term view, and provide a Bermudian student with the prerequisite skills and financial assistance so they don’t drop out because of the expense. We do a lot with the teaching hospitals in Boston and we are trying to look at opportunities to partner with these teaching hospitals so the Bermudian ultrasound students who graduate from accredited programmes like Bunker Hill have an opportunity to gain practical experience and knowledge.”

In her working life, Miss Wolffe will be doing obstetric ultrasounds for all trimesters and also abdominal ultrasounds.

“We also do paediatrics and neonatal heads, and things like that,” Miss Wolffe said. “We get a broad range of everything. Right now, I prefer abdominal ultrasounds. I am starting to like obstetrics a little bit, but it is like chasing a moving target because the baby moves around so much.

“At first I was like, I don’t think I can do this. It is a special technique you have to learn and it cannot be learned in one day. You have to gradually practise it and give yourself specific goals to reach on different days to become skilled at it. Everyone thinks it is about taking pictures of the baby all day, but you are actually diagnosing the baby to make sure there are no defects.

“You are making sure the baby is measuring at the right dates. People don’t realise the importance of it. We are doing a detailed check to make sure your kid is okay.”