As the third week of April approached, the staff of the lab at South Muskoka Memorial Hospital in Bracebridge prepared to celebrate Medical Lab Tech Week. It was time to celebrate our chosen profession, and its part in the medical system.

For Canadians, the weather and the health-care system are topics for constant discussion.

We often pull out impressive statistics about how many tests we do each year and how indispensable our work is to your health care. All true, but all the public really wants to know is that the system will be there for them when illness of injury hits.

The truth is that all aspects of the health-care system must be strong and work together to provide comprehensive medical care. If any part is weak, the whole operation breaks down. The lab is part of that entire integrated local system. Our goal is to be able to offer the best work possible.

This past year we have been busy with new accreditation standards designed specifically for the lab. The goal is to maintain and improve on the high quality of work that the public is used to receiving for the local hospital lab. We look forward to receiving news of our accreditation status soon.

We are also pleased to welcome Dr. Penswick as our new pathologist and lab director. On his first meeting with us he expressed his firm belief that you can offer top-quality lab work in a small hospital setting.

A Bracebridge hospital lab, the technical staff of 20 people represent approximately 400 years of collective laboratory experience. These years of experience are invaluable in handling busy workloads, emergency situations and mentoring new lab tech students. Our work ranges from routine tests for all local doctors’ offices, rapid response for critically ill patients in emergency or the constant care unit, to our new role as the training site for lab students from Cambrian College in Sudbury.

We are still waiting for the provincial government’s decision on whether local doctors’ office lab work will continue to be done at local hospitals in 13 communities in Ontario, or will all be shipped to central labs in the city centres.

The lab techs in your hospital were proud to celebrate lab week April 13 to 19 as a strong and integral part of your local health-care system. They look forward to continue offering excellence in their work and providing the laboratory health care needs for the public in south Muskoka.

Peter Wood, BSc MLT

Bracebridge