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GBMC Volunteer Earns Healthcare Scholarship For Radiography Study

BALTIMORE, Md. – Decmber 7, 2006 – Seeing firsthand the personal care that her father received as an inpatient being treated for laryngeal cancer at Greater Baltimore Medical Center’s Radiation Oncology Unit helped Manchester (Carroll County) resident Kimberly Shoul realize what her second field in healthcare should be.  Now, this radiography student at The Community College of Baltimore County, Essex is one of 14 students statewide – and the only in her field – named as recipients of a 2006 Maryland Hospital Association Scholar Award.

Shoul, 26, volunteers in GBMC’s Radiation Oncology Unit ,where her duties include setting up and filing charts, mail delivery, assisting and transporting patients, and assisting the nurses and techs in the unit.  Shoul began volunteering at GBMC in spring 2006.  “I realized it would be a great opportunity to volunteer in one of the departments that had taken such great care of my dad during the last few years,” she said.

The most rewarding aspect, Shoul said, “is the feeling that I have helped in some way, whether big or small.  Especially the feeling I get knowing I’m a part of something great, like a patient beating cancer.”  Conversely, the most challenging part is “finding the right words to comfort a patient or their family in times that I know personally can feel unbearable.”

For the past 10 years, Shoul has been working in the optometry field, since age 19 as a certified optician.  She began taking prerequisite classes in the summer of 2005 and one year later was accepted into and began the Radiography Program at CCBC Essex.  Shoul plans to graduate in the summer of 2008 and specialize in many areas of Radiography, including Radiation Therapy.  “I have always had an interest in the healthcare industry and patient care, it was just a matter of finding the right career within the industry,” she said.  “Over the past several years I have been exposed to different areas of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Radiography, and with that exposure grew my interest in becoming a radiographic technologist.”

Radiography uses x-ray radiation to create images of the tissues, organs, bones and vessels for a physician to review and make a diagnosis.

Volunteering at GBMC has allowed Shoul to confirm the type of work environment she strives for.  “It has also taught me how important a friendly smile and a gentle hello can be to a patient and their family. That was one thing that was stressed during our orientation, and now I fully understand why.”

 GBMC includes Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), Central Maryland’s leading community hospital; Hospice of Baltimore, which provides comfort and care to patients with life-limiting illnesses; and the GBMC Foundation, which supports the GBMC mission by managing fundraising efforts.  The 292-bed Medical Center, located on a beautiful suburban campus, serves nearly 22,000 inpatients annually and provides approximately 50,000 emergency room visits. For more information, go to www.gbmc.org.   

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Editor’s Note: Interviews/photos with Kimberly Shoul are available. She will be volunteering at GBMC on Wednesday 12/13, 12:30-4:30 p.m.; Friday 12/22, 8 a.m.-12 noon, and Friday 12/29, 8 a.m.-12 noon. Please contact Michael Schwartzberg to schedule.