Children's National Health System's Division of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask the House of Representatives to join me in congratulating Children's National Health System and its Division of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology on the International Day of Radiology and on the tremendous impact that pediatric medical imaging and radiation has on children's health care in the District of Columbia.

Children's National Health System and its Division of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology offers District residents access to a specialized staff, full-time Child Life Specialists, state-of-the-art equipment and walk-in radiographs. When a procedure, such as an MRI, requires sedation, Children's National is the only hospital in the national capital region that guarantees a child's anesthesia is administered by a fellowship-trained pediatric anesthesiologist.

Children's National has one of the few radiology programs in the United States with several physicists on staff. Children's physicists ensure patient safety through careful monitoring of all equipment. Their physicists supervise radiation safety throughout the hospital, can answer parents' questions about the radiation dose for an exam and ensure safe and effective application of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Children's National performs approximately 130,000 diagnostic imaging studies each year. These studies play a critical role in the detection, diagnosis and management of a wide variety of diseases affecting children; and they are performed by specially trained physicians, technologists, sonographers, nurses and child life specialists who understand the unique needs of our youngest patients. Medical imaging reduces the number of invasive surgeries, unnecessary hospital admissions and lengths of hospital stays, and helps lower health care costs for Americans.

On November 8, 2015, the International Day of Radiology, sponsored by the American College of Radiology, the European Society of Radiology and the Radiologic Society of North America, is celebrating the 120th anniversary of the discovery of the X-ray by Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen and the important role medical imaging and radiation oncology serve in health care. Children's National will designate Friday, November 6, 2015, to celebrate the International Day of Radiology, which this year is dedicated to pediatric imaging.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the House of Representatives to join me in celebrating the 2015 International Day of Radiology and recognizing and honoring Children's National Health System and its Division of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology for their invaluable contributions to improving pediatric radiology on behalf of the residents of the District of Columbia.

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