LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — When Lois Breed talks about the struggle to get her husband, Michael, the appointment he needs for his ongoing cancer treatment, her voice is filled with exhaustion.
"It has been so frustrating," she said. "You call a number and it will ring 25 times, and then they put you on hold for an hour."
Breed isn't alone in her struggle. A shortage of medical imaging technicians is a critical problem causing serious delays in care for our entire community.
Michael Breed was first diagnosed with leukemia, then lymphoma leukemia. After waiting nearly two months for crucial diagnostic scans, Lois says she was reaching her breaking point.
"This is for a person that has a very aggressive cancer that turned into something overnight, and I feel that we are just losing time here," she said.
That backlog is being felt across the Las Vegas community, said Michael's oncologist, Dr. Rupesh Parikh of Comprehensive Cancer Centers.
"Radiology centers are overwhelmed," Parikh said. "Whether it be the number of patients or the lack of radiologists, it continues to be a huge problem because without diagnostic tests, we are not able to see what is going on inside of somebody."
What Parikh says should have been a 72-hour wait for scans has now turned into eight weeks of agonizing uncertainty for his patient.
"...if I don't get that procedure done sooner than later, he will end up in the E.R. I know that for a fact," Parikh said.
Part of the problem is a shortage of medical imaging technicians in the Las Vegas Valley, said Michelle Nicholl, the chief human resource officer at Steinberg Diagnostic Medical Imaging, which has centers throughout the valley.
"There is a shortage of technologists," Nicholl said. "We just can't get enough in the valley. We are at the point where we have to do national searches to find employees."
The Nevada State Medical Association tells Channel 13 it is aware of this problem and looking into what can be done to recruit more people.
It's cold comfort for the Breeds as they navigate Michael's cancer treatment.
ABEL GARCIA: How frustrating is something like this, when your life and your health depend on it?
MICHAEL BREED: I was getting ready to go to the VA to see if they can do it. I was getting desperate. If you get a broken arm or you need to have a chest X-ray or something like that, you get a walk-in, but if it's not a walk-in, all I can say is good luck.
