Business Profiles
York Hospital to honor laboratory staff
YORK - From April 22 to 29, York Hospital will celebrate the contributions of its laboratory staff during National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week.This year's theme, "Laboratory Professionals: Providing Answers. Guiding Cures" highlights the medical laboratory's role as a key element of patient care.
"Laboratory medicine provides a crucial thread that runs through the entire patient care process," said Dr. Cheryl Moore, pathologist and medical director at York Hospital Laboratory. "Test results from the laboratory drive a significant portion of clinical decisions, from diagnosis to therapy. National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week provides an opportunity to honor the contributions of pathologists, laboratory technologists and technicians in the maintenance of wellness, the diagnosis of illness and the treatment of disease."
More than 10 billion laboratory tests are performed in the United States each year to confirm diagnoses, rule out suspected conditions or monitor treatment.
Medical laboratory professionals are dedicated to preventing serious illness and disability from the time before a child is born on throughout the golden years of life.
Using state-of-the-art technology and instrumentation, they perform and supervise tests that not only search for potential health problems in the hope of identifying diseases early but also guide and assess the ongoing care of patients.
Laboratories also play a critical role in the detection of infectious agents, such as those that might be employed in a bioterrorist attack.
"The community laboratory often is the first to see evidence of an infectious agent in a patient sample," Moore said. "Our contribution at the local level is critical to a process that, ultimately, protects us all from the spread of disease."
York Hospital Laboratory, along with Wells Regional Medical Community, South Berwick Medical Services and Berwick Medical Services, has educational seminars, luncheons, prize drawings and a "Chocolate Day" open house planned throughout the week.
The "Chocolate Day" open house is April 23. Refreshments - featuring, chocolate of course - will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the event is open to all York Hospital staff, physician office staff and volunteers.
For more about York Hospital, visit www.yorkhospital.com.
