Meet a Cardiac Sonography Student

The following is a guest blog post by Kirtland student, Bree Gerard:

Nice to meet you! My name is Brianna Gerard and I am a cardiac sonography student at Kirtland. I moved here from Duluth, Minnesota specifically to pursue this program. I am living in Grayling while going to school and I’ve been really enjoying getting acquainted with this area! 

A little about me: I am an only child. I grew up in the beautiful state of Oregon, but my family moved to Minnesota when I was 11 and I’ve moved around quite a bit since high school — Milwaukee, Chicago, Eau Claire, WI and most recently Duluth, MN. In Duluth, I was working as a health unit coordinator at a hospital. I loved this job because I got to work alongside the nurses and doctors and I gained a ton of medical knowledge and experience. I also have a dog named Bella; she’s a super sweet doberman/pitbull mutt that I adopted four years ago. In my spare time, I love to get outside and go hiking or go to the beach! 

So, what is cardiac sonography? 

Cardiac sonography uses ultrasound waves to create images and short video clips of the heart. This is the same ultrasound technology used to view babies during pregnancy. With these images and clips, we can look at the heart function, as well as the blood flow through the heart to assess heart health and help diagnose heart disease. Did you know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S.? Because of this, cardiac sonography will continue to be an in-demand field with lots of job opportunities across the country. 

I’ve known for awhile that I wanted a career in healthcare, and I chose cardiac sonography because it’s not a particularly stressful or messy job. I’ve always been interested in photography, so I think that’s another reason why medical imaging appealed to me and I like that there are no biological effects (such as radiation) with ultrasound. 

Why Kirtland? 

I found out about Kirtland Community College through a friend I met while attending school in Eau Claire, WI who is also in the cardiac sonography program here at Kirtland. Most sonography programs have long wait lists, but I applied to Kirtland this past July and was able to get in right away for this fall semester. I was also able to transfer my previous coursework from other colleges to meet the prerequisite requirements for the program. I felt I had the help and support I needed from my academic advisor, the program director, as well as other faculty throughout the process of applying and getting accepted into the program which made me confident in my decision to come to Kirtland!

Another reason Kirtland appealed to me was that it’s in a beautiful part of Northern Michigan with tons of outdoor activities. I recently went kayaking for the first time on the AuSable River and I’m hooked! I can’t wait for next summer to really get into this new hobby!

I am looking forward to blogging my experience at Kirtland and getting to know my fellow classmates! If you’re on the Grayling campus and see the students in black and khaki scrubs – be sure to say hi – we’re a pretty cool bunch!

Bree Gerard is a first-year cardiac sonography student from Duluth, MN. Chasing her passion for helping people, she moved to Northern Michigan exclusively for her program. Bree works as a Marketing Assistant at Kirtland, loves photography, nature, and her pup, Bella. Stay tuned as Bree shares her story and make sure to drop any questions you have for her in the comments!