Sechelt Hospital laboratory gets a makeover

With Sechelt Hospital Foundation’s commitment of $400,000 of donor contributions, the renovations of Sechelt Hospital’s laboratory began in April 2022. These renovations have greatly improved physical workflows, the lab space is now more easily navigated, and there are centralized storage areas resulting in a streamlined workspace. Ultimately, these upgrades have provided a better flow of operations, benefiting both patients and staff members.

 Lab renovations include:

• New Phlebotomy area - to accommodate walk-in patients who require bloodwork. Phlebotomy is the act of drawing blood from veins into test tubes. Hence, this new space is used to organize and collect patient samples, specifically. The most common samples are blood, however urine, stool, swab, and tissue samples are also processed.
• New countertops - all of the original 1960s laminate counters were replaced with stainless steel countertops. This ensures that our lab is now operating the gold standard for antimicrobial surfaces to keep samples and staff safe and clean.
• New water purification system - which also includes an additional sink station.
• Sliding shelves - allow for compact storage of many room temperature reagents, decant containers, and various other consumable supplies.
• Wall-mounted shelves and wall-mounted organizers – allow for the creation of a centralized storage area.
• Rees cloud temperature monitoring - Allows for 24/7 computer monitoring of temperatures for very important products like packed red blood cells and platelets waiting for a transfusion. 
• New chemistry reagent fridge - creates secure storage and protection of temperature-sensitive products, samples, specimens, chemicals, drugs, solutions, and other substances.

Currently, 21 staff work within the laboratory at Sechelt Hospital. Our lab team collects about 125 samples every day! Many of those are blood samples and are tested on-site. What isn’t tested on-site is packaged up and sent to Lions Gate or Vancouver General Hospital for testing or further redistribution.
Chantel Maloney, site manager of Sechelt Hospital’s laboratory states, “Our team recognizes names of our frequent patients, follows their healthcare journeys in the background, providing decision-making results. They may not know it but we are always rooting for their recovery. In medical labs everywhere it’s always affirmed: there is a person behind the sample. Here we know these people to be our neighbours, colleagues and friends. We are so happy to serve this community full of amazing people!”

­– Submitted by Sechelt Hospital Foundation