Kemani Harriott

For people diagnosed with cancer, radiation therapy can be an important part of their treatment. At Baystate’s D’Amour Center for Cancer Care, many of those patients are greeted by Kemani Harriott, a radiation therapist who utilizes a medical linear accelerator to deliver precise, targeted radiation treatments. While the technology plays a critical role, she knows it's the human connection that patients often remember most. Guiding people through one of the most difficult times in their lives is what makes her work so meaningful, and providing compassionate, skilled care is the part of the job she loves most.

“I feel honored to work in a field where every day I am helping people to feel relaxed and more comfortable,” she says, “providing both clinical and emotional support.”

A medical linear accelerator customizes high-energy X-rays or electrons to conform to a tumor's shape and destroy cancer cells while sparing surrounding normal tissue. This type of radiation therapy can be used to treat numerous types of cancers, including prostate, breast, lung, and brain cancers. Most patients are unaware – and pleasantly surprised – to learn that each radiation appointment only takes about 15 minutes. This brief treatment window is made possible thanks to a series of precise steps taken by a planning team who collaborate to ensure treatment is as safe and effective as possible.

Before a patient ever begins treatment, Kemani works with physicians, dosimetrists, medical physicists and others who create a customized treatment plan. Patients start with an initial CT planning scan ordered by their physician. Taking the information the scan provides, dosimetrists determine how to best apply the dose that was prescribed by the physician to a targeted area and how to minimize the dosage effects on surrounding structures. Medical physicists run this plan through the linear accelerator, making sure the machine gives the correct output. During the treatment visit, radiation therapists like Kemani carefully position patients, aligning them to millimeter accuracy, and repeatedly use the machine’s built-in safety features to ensure the dosage is correct for each patient.

Many radiation therapy treatment plans involve daily visits on weekdays over the course of 6-8 weeks, giving Kemani a chance to get to know patients and provide ongoing support to them. Some are looking for conversation and distraction, others for reassurance.

“I feel honored to be able to share the details, step by step, about what is going to happen,” says Kemani. “I try to put myself in their shoes. I feel this is a calling, to be able to be a support for them and help them feel less nervous.”

Some patients have formed such bonds that they come back to visit Kemani and other members of the team after their treatment is complete, just to say hi and catch up on how life is going. One patient, Kemani remembers fondly, even made her a certificate after he completed treatment, thanking her for her help through the process.

Kemani is in her fourth year as a radiation therapist at Baystate – her first job after graduating from a college radiation therapy program in Connecticut. She had thought about pursuing a healthcare career, and her everyday experiences with patients help confirm she made the right decision.

Whether it’s the role she plays in helping to treat their cancer, or the comfort and camaraderie she can provide when patients are nervous and afraid, “it’s heartwarming to know that I am making an impact,” she says.