FORT CARSON, Colo.  –   An Evans Army Community Hospital Soldier is ready for her upcoming deployment, thanks to a recent collaboration with a local Colorado Springs hospital.

Staff Sgt. Carlie Pack, a 68P Radiology Specialist assigned to the EACH Radiology Department, was tasked to support an upcoming deployment, but wanted some additional training on a Computed Tomography, or CT, scanner that wasn’t available at Fort Carson.

When Vicki Carberry, the EACH Radiology Department CT supervisor, learned that Pack was looking for a training opportunity, she leveraged some existing relationships with UCHealth to help Pack hit the ground running at her deployment location.

“I have been down this road before with our community partners and I am truly blessed that they have always been eager to help us out,” Carberry said. “We really appreciate the great team work all the way around.”

According to Pack, who has been a radiology specialist since she joined the Army in 2011, there are a number of differences between different brands of CT machines. So, when she found out where she was going to deploy, she took it upon herself to find out which CT machine she would be using. Her research determined that the machine she would be using on her deployment was slightly different from CT machines she had used previously.

“All CT machines do basically the same thing,” Pack said. “But it's like driving two different brands of automobiles - each one does it slightly differently. The hazard button is in one place on this car, but it's in a different location on the other car. It's just a matter of figuring out the details of the new system before you have to start ‘driving it.’”

UCHealth’s Memorial Hospital Central in Colorado Springs has two of the CT machines that Pack will use on her deployment, and they quickly stepped up to provide hands-on training.

“We have two scanners in our emergency department at Memorial Central that use the same software that Carlie (Pack) will use while deployed,” said Marisa Whitney, the CT manager for the UCHealth Colorado Springs region. “Carlie caught on to the system very quickly. She asked great questions and was able to run the scanner autonomously after only three days of training. We look forward to our next opportunity to collaborate with the Radiology Department at Evans Army Community Hospital.”

Col. Matthew Mapes, the EACH commander, says that this is why relationships with our medical partners in the community is so important.

“We have a fantastic relationship with our community health partners across Colorado Springs,” Mapes said. “So, it’s no surprise that Memorial stepped in to help. We appreciate and value those relationships as we work together to provide safe, high-quality healthcare to our beneficiaries.”

Radiology specialists, like Pack, aren’t required to learn how to do CT scans, but Pack is nationally registered in both radiology and CT scanning – tasks she took on of her own accord.

“First, the Army trained me to be an X-ray technician,” Pack said. “Then I took it upon myself to become nationally registered, which the Army does not require. Getting the national registry in X-ray gave me the opportunity to learn how to do CT Scans, so I worked to earn that national registry, also.

Getting registered in both X-ray and CT required Pack to take additional classes, earn an associate’s degree and pass 200+ question exams. So why go through all the trouble if it wasn’t required in her day-to-day job?

“I remember as a student in advanced individual training (AIT), I thought, ‘this is what I want to do,’” Pack said. “It might look like all you do is lay a patient on the table, and then you go in and outside of the doughnut and then boom, you're done. But on the back end, you are at times watching as the contrast liquid is going into the body. You get to track it as it goes into the heart or do an arterial scan and can actually see the insides of people's bodies. It’s very fascinating to me. I will do everything I can to keep doing patient care until I retire.”

After her deployment, Pack says she hopes to continue advancing in her chosen profession and would love the opportunity to give back to the radiology community by teaching new radiology specialists.