By Kasey Davis WMH Marketing & Community Relations
Weiser Memorial Hospital (WMH) congratulates soon to be graduate, Kassidy Wilson on her achievements in the Radiology field! Kassidy is the first student to complete the educational partner program between Weiser Memorial Hospital and Linn-Benton Community College (LBCC) in Albany, OR.
This partnership program allows students to remain close to home while pursuing their degrees and future careers in medical imaging. WMH began the partnership program with LBCC in the spring of 2023.
Kassidy jumped at the opportunity to remain near her home in Vale, OR. She graduated from Oregon Virtual Academy in 2020 and did her prerequisite classes through Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario. As she neared the end of her prerequisites she searched and found this opportunity through WMH.
Originally, Kassidy intended to study Ultrasound but switched to X-Ray and found she really enjoyed it. She will get her certification and register with ARRT (the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists) in April and already has a position waiting for her at Weiser Memorial Hospital in the X-Ray department. Kassidy has also been cross-training in CT and will be able to help in that department after her certification for CT in May.
When asked about her experience Kassidy said, “everyone at WMH has been super supportive and nice,” and that she has “gotten good preparation” for her career. Kassidy remains in her hometown of Vale and expressed immense gratitude for the ability to remain close to home for her training and her career. Her vision for the future is to remain local and build her career in X-Ray and CT.
Kassidy’s story is a great example of the exact reason this program was developed – to allow people an opportunity to learn and work locally. Noa Towner, who spearheaded the program stated, “we at WMH, as a small hospital, are investing back into our community to grow local professionals.” She also mentioned that it benefits the students in multiple ways, from offering hands-on training, reducing housing costs, and finishing with the potential of jobs in their home areas. Another benefit is that training others keeps the existing staff sharp in their skills while building relationships and working with the students.
Weiser Memorial Hospital is committed to the community in many ways, including offering quality employment opportunities. Kassidy’s story offers a glimpse of how this program works to create a clear process to go from classes to training to employment.
Current job openings can be found on the website at weiserhospital.org and those interested in pursuing radiology fields can contact the Imaging Department for more information about this program. The WMH Foundation also offers scholarships yearly to those living or working in Washington County who are pursuing further education in a healthcare field. This scholarship application process is open now until April 15th and applications can be found at the website.
