Her Story
About Abby
I've been working in cardiac diagnostics for over 10 years since graduating from school. I started as a cardiac sonographer and after seven years of experience, I went back to sit for my boards to become an Advanced Cardiac Sonographer (ACS), which is a higher level education with a state board exam - I explain it to people as being like the NP to RN. I spent several years at St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee, which is the cardiology hub of the Midwest, where I worked as an advanced cardiac sonographer focusing on maintaining the hospital's accreditation for the echocardiography lab, developing onboarding programs for new sonographers, and working with students from the ultrasound school at St. Luke's during their clinical rotations. What I really focused on was education and quality with students and new grads. I also helped form a Sonographer Quality Improvement Committee, which piggybacks off the physician peer review and involves reviewing studies done by sonographers to provide both positive feedback and constructive criticism, because echocardiography is a very subjective field and very user-dependent. I was also a presenter for the free CMEs we provide for all sonographers. Recently, I made the difficult decision to transfer to Grafton Hospital, which is still within Aurora but a smaller hospital closer to my home. At Grafton, I'm the non-invasive cardiology lead over the stress lab, echocardiography lab, and EEG, along with a few smaller labs. I'm doing operational work like scheduling and staffing to make sure we can accommodate the patients we see, while continuing the accreditation work, onboarding, student education, and continuing education that I'm passionate about.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Abby
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think having a support system behind you is huge, and I have that in so many different areas. Denise, my manager at St. Luke's, who also had a cardiac ultrasound background, became one of my really close friends and was just a great role model. One of her biggest things was making sure that people created and maintained a good work-life balance, and she was supportive of me in both my home life and work life while being an incredible mentor. She's also a mom of two littles and has such passion in cardiology - she's absolutely incredible and the best role model I could have asked for. I also have an incredible husband who stands behind me on whatever decision I make and tries to make sure that I can do it to my full ability. My family, my in-laws, everyone - having a great support system is huge. My coworkers back at St. Luke's really made my career by being so supportive.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Never turn down an opportunity. There's a quote I saw on Pinterest that I always keep in the back of my mind: 'Everything's a win when the goal is experience.' If you fail, it's really not failing - you gained experience and you learned for next time. When I made the difficult transition from St. Luke's to Grafton, I had to keep telling myself that even if I end up not loving that I made this move in a work sense, it was still gaining experience, because the lead title gives me more opportunity to grow in my leadership skills, and I'm going to be working with an entirely new team, entirely new hospital, entirely new policies and procedures. I had to keep reminding myself that if the goal is experience, I'm going to gain a lot of experience in different ways. It's so hard to move away from the comfort of what you know, but even if you just meet one new person, you are opening the door to many doors - to a different experience, or learning something. You never know, it could just take meeting one new person and taking that leap of faith. So if I could tell my younger self anything, it's just never turn down an opportunity, and if the goal is experience, it's going to be a win no matter what.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Work-life balance is always part of my goals every single year. My manager Denise's biggest thing was making sure that people created and maintained a good work-life balance, because if you aren't filling your own cup, then you can't pour it out. I only work 4 days a week but I'm still full-time, so that really helps with my balance with my family, because I have that one day off and my kids only have to go to daycare 4 days a week. One thing for me is just kind of compartmentalizing my time - when I'm at work, I'm at work, and when I'm at home, I'm at home. I don't like to take work home with me, and I don't like to take home to work with me. That's the only way that I can really get down to focusing and give my best self at each place. My family is my why. I made the decision to leave St. Luke's, which I absolutely loved, for my family, because I was driving an hour one way and after having two kids it got really hard. The commute stress was making me feel like I wasn't giving my best self at work anymore, and rushing my kids in the morning meant I wasn't giving my best self to my kids either. When I crunched the numbers, I realized I would save almost 5 hours a week that I could be home with my kids just by not sitting in the car.
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