National Medical Laboratory Week (NMLW) is a time to honor the more than 280,000 medical laboratory professionals across the nation who perform and interpret laboratory tests that save lives and keep people healthy.

Laboratory technologists, pathologists and technicians at St. Luke’s Hospital are among the many unsung heroes of medical healthcare. Using state-of-the-art technology and instrumentation, laboratory professionals help to prevent disease by detecting unknown health problems and by aiding in the diagnosis and treatment of existing conditions by giving accurate, timely test results. The laboratory tests results comprise an estimated 70 percent of the patient’s medical records and are vital to the diagnosis and treatment of illness and disease.

“St. Luke’s Hospital Laboratory strives to provide outstanding service every day,” said Jody Flynn, lab manager. “We wouldn’t be able to accomplish this without the extraordinary efforts of our laboratory staff.”

The St. Luke’s Hospital Laboratory is a full-service facility that offers services for both inpatient and outpatients including: transfusion services, hematology, coagulation, serology testing, chemistry, therapeutic drug levels, PSA, blood gasses and carboxy hemoglobin, urinalysis, pregnancy testing, thyroid testing and cardiac testing.

Results of laboratory tests often identify the presence of disease in its earliest stages, when the possibilities of a cure are greatest and when treatment is least costly.

– article submitted by Jennifer Wilson