SCKMC Lab Participates in Awareness Week
There’s not much time to spare when you perform over 75,000 tests each year, but the team is taking a moment to celebrate this week. April 22-28 is National Laboratory Professionals Week, the annual celebration began in 1975 and provides an opportunity to increase public awareness and appreciation for the U.S.’s 300,000 clinical laboratory personnel.
April 27, 2018
Arkansas City, KS – The team that makes up South Central Kansas Medical Center’s Laboratory department is small, but that doesn’t stop them from making a big impact on the quality of healthcare available throughout the community. With only six technicians and three aides the team provides testing services 24-hours a day, seven-days per week for not only the hospital’s patients, but also South Central Kansas Clinic, Cowley HealthwoRX, Ark City Clinic, and Sumner County Hospital. In addition, the lab will perform all testing ordered through Winfield Medical Arts beginning May 1st.
There’s not much time to spare when you perform over 75,000 tests each year, but the team is taking a moment to celebrate this week. April 22-28 is National Laboratory Professionals Week, the annual celebration began in 1975 and provides an opportunity to increase public awareness and appreciation for the U.S.’s 300,000 clinical laboratory personnel.
“It’s important to celebrate so people know what we do. We are behind the scenes so no one really knows how much we are relied on. You almost need lab to diagnose anything, it’s needed for every aspect of care,” said Lois Faber, SCKMC’s Laboratory Manager and Lead Tech.
“Everybody knows nurses, everybody knows what they do. People don’t know what we do. It’s a very important part of people getting well. It’s very important that it gets done right within a timely manner so the doctors can do what they need to do.”
Faber is a Medical Technologist (MT), also referred to as a Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS). She has over 35 years of experience, the last 29 being with the medical center.
Other members of the team include: Cassie Crocker who is also a MT. Cassie has over 20 years with SCKMC and is responsible for the lab’s micro and blood bank departments. Michelle “Shelby” Koller is a Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) with 17 years of experience. Shelby along with fellow MLT Heather Parker are responsible for the lab overnight, including any patient’s that come into the ER, outpatient services, or have been admitted. Sarah Hays, MLS, is in charge of “hemo and coag.” Rachel Bazil, MLS, is responsible for urinalysis and immunology.
“We have a great staff. We have some very, very dedicated employees here. We do quite a bit of testing in-house to make sure we are giving quality care to the patients on a timely basis,” Faber said.
The lab team also has several staff members on as-needed status who help cover for vacations and other absences. In addition, two students, Steven and Melissa, are currently working in-house to complete their training through hands-on experience.
“We do the clinicals through (our lab). It’s a great learning ground versus being just stuck in one department, because here everybody is a generalist. We do everything, it’s like we are the detectives, giving the clues to the doctors so they can figure out the problem” Faber said.
