ISRRT_August_2006

News
CAMRT Life Member
May Jon Lachance, RTE, ACR, MBA, CHE
The CAMRT is pleased to confer Life
Membership on Mary Jon LaChance, RTE,
ACR, MBA, CHE
AFTER graduating from the Radiography Program
at St Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener,
Ontario, May Jon Lachance joined the staff at St
Mary's Hospital where she worked for eleven
years as a general technologist and then as clinical
instructor. In 1977 she moved to Peterborough,
Ontario where she worked as a vascular special
procedures technologist at the Peterborough
Civic Hospital for almost three years. She then
accepted a position as Chief Technologist and
later as Technical Director of Medical Imaging
– Radiology at St Thomas-Elgin General Hospital
in St Thomas and managed the department for
sixteen years. Following a three-year hiatus and
with the realisation that retirement at the age of
50 is too young, Mary Jon branched out in the
managerial field and joined Cancer Care Ontario
as Manager of the Radiation Therapy Recruitment
Program. This specially funded program
extended to five years, after which she retired for
a second time in 2004.
Throughout her career, education has been
very important to Mary Jon. Following certification
in Radiography, she obtained a “Teachers of Adult”
Certificate, a Canadian Hospital Departmental Management
certificate, CAMRT Advanced Certification, Quality Control
certification, a Bachelor of Administration (Health Services),
an Executive MBA, and finally a Certified Health Executive
certificate with the Canadian College of Health Services Executives.
Wedged in between were numerous conferences and
courses.
Mary Jon has supported her profession and professional
associations at the provincial, national and international levels
throughout her forty-year career. She has been President
of the OAMRT, the Ontario Association of Radiology Managers
and the Canadian Radiation and Imaging Societies in
Medicine, Vice President and Treasurer of the CAMRT and a
board member of the International Society of Radiographers
and Radiological Technologists. In addition, she has served
on numerous committees. She has also written several discussion
papers which have influenced the direction of the profes-
Mary Jon LaChance, left, with her Life Member Award from CAMRT
with CAMRT President Melanie Hilkewich.
sion or the association, most notably “The Case of Magnetic
Resonance Imaging” which led to the recognition of MRI as
a separate discipline, and “Opening Doors: Leading the Way”
which prefaced new and revised CAMRT membership categories.
It was during her term as President that technologists
in Ontario were first permitted to inject contrast media. She
designed the logo for the Ontario Association of Radiology
Managers.
Mary Jon h as received several honors and awards for her
contributions to the profession. She received the Ken Turnbull
Award for outstanding service to the OAMRT in 1995 and delivered
the Mary F. Cameron Lecture in 1996. The OAMRT
awarded her an Honorary Life Membership in 1997.
After retirement, Mary Jon got married and she and her
husband Ron reside in Kitchener, Ontario where they enjoy
golfing, gardening, travelling, the family, the cottage and the
sunny south in winter.
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