Cardiology Technologist Day

Cardiology Technologist Day is celebrated annually on February 14th to highlight the important role of the profession in the diagnosis and treatment of heart arrhythmias and heart disease.

Registered Cardiology Technologists (RCTs) are a specialized group of educated health care professionals who work with Cardiologists and Internal Medicine specialists. They perform a variety of non-invasive cardiac diagnostic tests such as Electrocardiograms, Exercise Stress Testing, Holter monitoring, and cardiac device monitoring and programming. We’ve asked Carolyn Leonzio and Jonelle Czerwinski, two RCTs that work here at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, what they love about their job.

Carolyn Leonzio, RCT, RDCS, DMS, CMRITO

Carolyn is a Registered Cardiology Technologist (RCT) and Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer (RDCS) with 40 years of experience at TBRHSC.

In her role as a RCT, Carolyn is able to perform and interpret electrocardiograms, holter monitor tests, and stress lab tests. In addition to this, she follows up with patients who have permanent pacemakers or implanted cardiac defibrillators, testing and assessing the function of the devices.

In her role as a RDCS also known as an “Echo tech”, she performs echocardiograms, trans-esophageal echocardiograms, stress echocardiograms and helps in pericardiocentesis.

Carolyn describes her role as an RCT to be “all things electrophysiology”, and her role as an RDCS to be “all things structural, mechanical and hemodynamics”.

When asked what she loves about her role she said: “I love everything about the heart, I love its complexity and am fascinated with the organ. An echo is a long test so I have lots of time to interact with the patients, I love talking to them about the test and getting to know them while performing the test. I also love the teamwork my role involves. I like to tell my patients ‘I am a heart person, all about the love’”.

Jonelle Czerwinski, RCT, DMS

Jonelle is a Registered Cardiology Technologist (RCT) and Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer (RDCS) at TBRHSC.

In her role as a RCT, Jonelle is able to perform and interpret electrocardiograms, holter monitor tests, and stress lab tests. In addition to this, she follows up with patients who have permanent pacemakers or implanted cardiac defibrillators, testing and assessing the function of the devices.

In her role as a RDCS also known as an “Echo tech”, she performs echocardiograms, trans-esophageal echocardiograms, stress echocardiograms and helps in pericardiocentesis. Performing echocardiograms is an art and a science, capturing views of the heart with ultrasound can really depend on the skill of the sonographer.

When asked what she loves about her role she said: “I love the patient interaction, every heart is different and I have learned to expect the unexpected. Our patients have a wide range of acuity and it is fulfilling to be the so called “eyes and ears of the cardiologist”. I really enjoy the professional rapport we have with other medical professionals, we truly work in a highly effective interprofessional team.”