Member Spotlight:
Vanessa Leman

What does a good day look like?

When we feel like we’ve done the best for our patients, and we’ve got through a large list and can get to the end of the day with not much left over for the afternoon shift to get done. Everyone’s smiling and happy at the end of it and the radiologists are happy and our patients are happy and we’ve been able to not only look after our patients in the physical sense, but they’ve left the department thinking we are lovely people because of the way they were treated. Yeah, that’s a great feeling.

What do you enjoy about being a delegate?

I think it’s the camaraderie. It’s seeing, and it’s meeting old friends from around the country, and it feels like I’m doing my bit for my community for my colleagues.

How have you found your involvement with APEX over the years? What makes us different or relevant?

I feel like it’s more of a personal touch with APEX. Like, you know all the delegates’ names, you even know, some of the members, even their names in the various departments. And I feel like we started off with the NZNO, and we just weren’t taken seriously, but you really take us seriously.

“We’re a small group, but we’re a mighty group.”

We’re quite passionate. I feel like APEX responds in kind with that passion towards our group of radiographers and realises how important we are to our patients and to our community, to New Zealand.

What do you think APEX should focus on for AST professions in the future?

I think that career framework is a really important thing. You know the role extension for radiographers, and employers and members to role extend, because there’s a lot of people doing a lot of good work, in departments and in research as radiographers, and they’re just not being recognised for it. And I feel like APEX really pushes for radiographers to be recognised and to extend themselves.