‘National Medical Lab Week’

By JAINE TREADWELL

Features Editor

April 4, 2000 11 PM

Edge Regional Medical Center is celebrating National Medical Laboratory Week April 2 – 8.

"This Lab Week we want to show Troy and Pike County citizens that laboratory professionals are their partners for good health," said Sheila Newman, M.T. (ASCP), laboratory manager.

Newman said that laboratory medicine is preventive medicine.

"We have wellness screening throughout the year to measure total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol and, if our cholesterol screenings show your count is 320, we’ll suggest you see your doctor immediately and take action against a heart attack or stroke," she said. "You might lose weight, change your diet, stop smoking, begin a course of medication or all four."

Early detection of a medical condition is the best possibility for a cure.

"Reliable lab test results often warn of a problem before symptoms occur," Newman said. "That is when treatment is most effective and least costly."

Clinical laboratory professionals are key members of today’s health care team and the quality of medical care patients receive depends on them.

Every day nurses, physicians and other medical workers rely on laboratory professionals to perform tests on bodily fluids, interpret the results and help provide a complete picture of a patient’s health.

"Without this precise and valuable information, medicine would simply become guesswork," Newman said.

Laboratory professionals work in a variety of settings, from hospitals and doctors’ offices to research laboratories and community wellness screenings. Whatever the setting these professionals are working to diagnose, treat and prevent disease.

Across the country, more than 30,000 laboratories are celebrating National Medical Laboratory Week and honoring the professionals who perform and supervise medical laboratory tests.

If you would like to have more information concerning the laboratory at Edge Regional Medical Center call 670-5410.