Empowering Educators - Dr. Heli Lusti

Meet Dr. Heli Lusti: Radiologist, Lifelong Learner, and My Mom

Dr. Lusti is a semi-retired radiologist with extensive medical work experiences in hospitals across Estonia as well as Finland. When asked why Dr. Lusti wanted to become a doctor, she stated that her own illnesses as a child led her to ponder her potential in the field of medicine. Having grown up in a single parent household, Dr. Lusti remembers the challenges that her mother had with a child who was suspected of having a heart condition. She also remembers the extreme poverty in her childhood, and wanting to lay a foundation to a better life for herself and her family.

Dr. Lusti obtained her general medicine degree from University of Tartu in Estonia, followed by a residency in radiology in 1978, also at University of Tartu. A stringent school-to-employment referral system that existed in Estonia during the Soviet Union years landed Dr. Lusti on her very first job assignment away from her home town Tartu; in a small town in central Estonia. This placement immediately introduced challenges at a personal level: being a new doctor with two little children, and a husband whose work assignment was in a different town.

With her unique experiences as one of the first radiology students who was taught at University of Tartu (previously medical students had to go to St. Petersburg or Moscow to obtain this specialization), Dr. Lusti faced rapid growth opportunities at the local hospital. Before long, Dr. Lusti was named the head physician at the hospital which allowed her to be exposed her to other areas of medicine. With the high need in the surgical area, Dr. Lusti started helping out during overnight shifts in their surgical emergencies department.

Due to her extensive experiences - in less than ten years, Dr. Lusti was named the Assistant Head Doctor of the Jõgeva Hospital, specializing in the area of the job expertise evaluations of other medical professionals. Even though Dr. Lusti recognized the political challenges that were present during the Soviet times, she spoke highly of the medical system that depended heavily on an immediate referral system through local outpatient services. People were able to get assistance quickly from an area expert. With today's privatized medial system and family medicine practices, she stated, referrals take more time and often, people get held up in a loophole of referrals - without getting the immediate assistance that they need.

With the political turmoil in late 1980s and early 1990 which introduced new structures to the dynamics of how organizations were ran, many jobs across the country were eliminated. Dr. Lusti found herself in a need to start over, and she set her eye at the hospitals in her home town, Tartu. New beginnings were tough. Dr. Lusti started out assisting at the University of Tartu, creating instructional programs in the radiology department. At that time, she was also involved with reviving the Estonian Radiology Association in an effort to unite radiologist across the nation. Dr. Lusti eventually ended up working at an Oncology Center in Tartu. At that time, ultrasound and imaging techniques were first introduced at the hospital, with no experts to use the new equipment. Dr. Lusti had opportunities to study at the Vilnius University in Latvia as well as at the Helsinki University in Finland, to become one of the few experts in the diagnostics using the new equipment to interpret the findings of the ultrasound and computer tomography scans.

Meanwhile, the rebuilding of the newly independent Estonia since 1992 introduced new and challenging shifts in equality, and Dr. Lusti found herself in a perpetual cycle of low income, and the relived fears for poverty as she remembered from her childhood. Dr. Lusti was determined to keep on pressing, and for the second time in her life, she left behind what she knew and set out for a new challenge. At age 50, Dr. Lusti packed her bags, and, with the little bit of money that she had, headed to Finland for a better job opportunity. Due to accreditation issues with the medical degrees, Dr. Lusti was faced with having to re-take all the medical examinations in Finland which she completed at Tampere University, and immediately got a job at the Kristiinankaupunki Hospital in northern Finland.

Dr. Lusti looks back to these years with a smile on her face as she enjoyed the job but also the area in general that has unique history, architecture, Northern Lights, and frequent rain deer sightings. On a challenging side - even though in Finland, Kristiinankaupunki has deep historical roots in Swedish developments. Therefore, it was not enough for Dr. Lusti to learn Finnish language - she also had to learn to communicate in basic Swedish to be able to talk to her patients.

Dr. Lusti was immediately named as a head doctor of the x-rays and imaging department where she started working on digitalizing the outdated diagnostic equipment at the large Kristiinankaupunki Hospital. She worked with General Electric representatives to bring in new machines, and led the way in mammography imaging.

Then, for the third time in her career, Dr. Lusti found herself in a situation where her job was affected by historical and socio-political developments of the country. Local municipal agencies started to downsize the Kristiinankaupunki Hospital; first eliminating the surgery department, followed by the closing of the department of internal diseases. In 2007, the entire hospital was closed, and patients had to travel to Vaasa Hospital - hours away from home. Dr. Lusti re-located to Vaasa where she worked as a radiologist until her retirement in 2015.

The retirement did not last long, however. Several private companies immediately reached out to Dr. Lusti, trying to "buy" her services as a diagnostic specialist. Dr. Lusti has since worked as a consultant at the hospitals of Lahti and Helsinki in Finland, providing services related to ultrasound imaging and interpretations of the findings. When asked why does Dr. Lusti keep on going back, she stated that it is about helping her patients. She said that being a doctor is not something that you do, rather, it is your life. The changes in the medical field require doctors to be lifelong learners, which is something that she has done. Learning has not taken place only through formal trainings, but even more so through the daily meetings with co-op doctors to review the cases and learn from the work of others. Dr. Lusti stated that in any field, you have to keep learning every day in order to keep abreast with the latest research and methodologies.

Looking back, Dr. Lusti is satisfied with her accomplishments, and she credits the desire to keep on going to her personal experiences during different political reigns, ups and downs, successes and failures. She said that her job has not been easy. Interestingly, she did not talk about the difficulties of re-locating or having to learn new languages and systems, but rather, she talked about the difficulties of delivering the message of the new diagnosis to her patients. Dr. Lusti said that the most emotional experiences are those where you have to deliver a message of a re-occurring cancer to a person; especially to a young person. This has been the most drastic part of the job.

Five years after her initial retirement, Dr. Lusti is still talking about retiring, and she stated (again), "Maybe next year." She is looking forward to traveling more as health permits, and add to her long list of countries that she has already visited.

As my mom, Dr. Lusti has been my inspiration in everything that I do. Even after obtaining the highest and most honorable degrees possible, she has pushed herself further each and every day - inspiring me, my brother - Dr. Targo Lusti, and the grandchildren (one of whom currently attends medical school as well) to follow her footsteps in our own ways. Her perseverance and ability to get up after being crushed personally and professionally are more than admirable. Her professional accomplishments are an example, a shining star, that I try to reach each and every day.

With love,
Dr. Tuuli Robinson
Educator and Lifelong Learner