The American Society of Radiologic Technologists has named Shirley Porter, B.S., R.T.(R)(M), of North Dakota, as the winner of the 2022 ASRT Individual Award for Advocacy and the Louisiana Society of Radiologic Technologists as the affiliate award winner.

Based on nominations submitted by ASRT members, the ASRT Award for Advocacy recognizes and acknowledges achievements in various advocacy efforts, including overall growth and development of individual and affiliate grass roots involvement. The ASRT Committee on R.T. Advocacy selects the award winners, and the awards are presented on behalf of the ASRT Board of Directors. The 2022 Award for Advocacy is for efforts that took place between Oct. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021.

Shirley Porter currently serves as the president of the North Dakota Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Board. She was incredibly active in North Dakota legislative affairs in 2021, spending countless hours working on Senate Bill 2122, which would have given physical therapists the authority to order, perform and interpret radiography and magnetic resonance imaging exams. Through Porter’s efforts, the bill sponsor rewrote the bill’s language to mandate that physical therapists can only order musculoskeletal radiographs, and radiography exams must be performed by authorized personnel outlined under current North Dakota law. Porter also collaborated with the North Dakota Board of Nursing leadership to help them come to a consensus that performing fluoroscopy procedures is outside the scope of practice for advanced practice registered nurses and should be considered an expansion of their scope. Even more, she was instrumental in advancing patient safety by connecting the nursing group’s leadership with the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists to ensure that APRNs pass a nationally recognized fluoroscopy examination before performing fluoroscopy procedures.

The Louisiana Society of Radiologic Technologists spent much of 2021 monitoring legislative bills and working with its Legislative Affairs Council to determine if active or proposed legislation affected the state’s medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals. In addition, the society launched a comprehensive communications program in 2021 that features social media, texts and videos as communication tools to alert technologists about state legislative issues. The LSRT also backed the Medicare Access to Radiology Care Act in 2021 by highlighting its importance as a professional-growth pathway and encouraging Louisiana technologists to contact their legislators to ask them to support the bill. Through its advocacy efforts in 2021, the LSRT saw its membership grow and reported an uptick in communications from technologists interested in getting involved with the society.