Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/735366
PATRONS | Fall 2016 3 FROM PIGTAILS TO PATIENT CARE I remember being 7, with missing front teeth and pigtails bouncing in the air, as I ran from the curb outside of Torrance Memorial Medical Center into the Radiology reading room to get my dad to go out to dinner. My dad, the late Dr. Richard B. Hoffman, loved being a radiologist at Torrance Memorial. As I entered the room of radiologists viewing X-rays, I was met by warm greetings from his colleagues. "Hi Heidi!" "How's your tennis Heidi?" And a special "Hi Pumpkin!" from my dad. e whole room felt like family. Bright- eyed and curious, I eagerly walked to the different viewing stations and looked at the films rotating around, while listening to my dad and his colleagues sputtering out medical lingo that sounded like a foreign language. Eventually I'd sit by dad's station, and he'd show me an interesting case—an X-ray of a child who swallowed a coin, a broken bone or bleeding in someone's brain. I would grab his cassette-tape voice recorder and pretend I was dictating reports just like he did. Flash forward more than 30 years. Now a radiologist at Torrance Memorial, I find myself in a new reading room in the gorgeous Lundquist Tower with state-of-the-art computers displaying images at warp speed and voice-recognition dictation systems far superior to the old cassette-style of recording. I work with radiologists that sat alongside my dad and with a new, younger generation of bright, highly trained radiologists from the best institutions. I sit down, dictate findings from CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds and X-rays and fluently spit out that same medical lingo that seemed so foreign to me years ago. Occasionally my own kids will come into the reading room, play with the images on my screen, spin in my chair and pretend to dictate reports. I am living my dream. I love my job, I love my colleagues, and I love the hospital for which I have chosen to work. Although initially wanting to carve my own path as a radiol- ogist separate from my father's, and with several other job opportunities in front of me, I ended up choosing Torrance Memorial because there is no better radiology group, no better hospital and no better community to work for. We are so privileged to have a stable, state-of- the-art hospital in our backyard—one staffed with such highly trained nurses and physicians and led by such brilliant, respected and forward-thinking administrators. Our independence as an institution affords us unique relationships and opportunities that hospitals immersed in mammoth networks will never have. at type of independence is rare, vital and staunchly defended in this era of hospital acquisitions and mergers. I am honored to serve on the Foundation board of directors, as well as on its executive committee. I do this because I believe deeply in Torrance Memorial's ability to provide the best medical care for our families. I do this because I am so grateful to people like you who have given your time, support and resources to help build and sustain such an amazing community asset. And I do this because I want Torrance Memorial to continue to stand independently as a beacon of outstanding community health care when my kids are grown and have kids of their own. Torrance Memorial is outstanding health care. Torrance Me- morial is community. Torrance Memorial is family. ank you for being part of our family. As patrons, your contributions have helped enrich, strengthen and sustain our hospital, and when you need us, we will be here for you—in your patient room, in the hallway and in the radiology reading room—doing our part to help restore your health. Heidi Hoffman, MD, Radiology Board Officer, Torrance Memorial Foundation BOARD NOTES "I am honored to serve on the Foundation board of directors, as well as on its executive committee. I do this because I believe deeply in Torrance Memorial 's ability to provide the best medical care for our families."