Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 04/00) - Even though she's not a photographer Kristy Peterson has taken thousands of photographs while on the job.

As an X-ray technician at Stanton Regional Hospital she sees plenty of patients who aren't necessarily in the mood to smile for the huge, intrusive camera.

"You try not to pay too much attention to the really bad things because you don't want to hold onto the sad stuff," Peterson said.

"But it's very seldom you have anything really negative that happens ... unless you're having a really bad day and you keep slamming your hand in the cassette or something."

Peterson's good nature and appreciation for humour makes her seem to be an ideal photographer for people in less than ideal situations.

But in the beginning, like several students going through medical-type training, Peterson also had her ups and downs.

"When I was in training, the first hip-pinning I saw, I was in my OR greens, wearing my mask and lead apron and ready to go," she said enthusiastically. "But it was just too much and I was down. Pretty soon I was sitting back with my head between my knees.

"But you get over it."

Before coming North, Peterson spent time working in Edmonton, Fairview and Manning, Alta., as well as Australia for four years. Jobs in her field weren't as plentiful as they are now in Canada, so she went there to work and spent some time in mammography, screening for breast cancer.

Even though it's a difficult area to work in, stress levels being high because of anxious and worried patients, Peterson still found the positive aspects. Food, for example.

"This one lady was hilarious. I said I had the worst craving for (cookies) and so she came back that afternoon (after her appointment) and dropped some off for me," she said. "They do that because they're so appreciative.

"So as draining as it is, it can also be equally rewarding."

In many places highway trauma plays a large role in what kinds of X-rays are taken, and the fact that Yellowknife doesn't have a lot of those cases makes it unique. "Here, I see a lot of things related to alcohol abuse," Peterson said. "But I don't see a lot of highway trauma because there's obviously less traffic with less places to go."

And although children are the saddest cases to deal with, they usually survive the ordeal fairly well.

"Kids are often scared because it's dark and very unfamiliar," Peterson explained. "But once they've been here once or twice you just give them a sticker and off they go."