Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Jennifer Benedict | Behind each diagnosis from Navy Hospital Bremerton is a dedicated medical laboratory...... read more read more
Behind each diagnosis from Navy Hospital Bremerton is a dedicated medical laboratory technician committed to precision, quality, and operational readiness care.
These active duty and civilian professionals are the unsung heroes who work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure accurate test results and the best possible care in direct support of operational readiness and patient care.
Medical Laboratory Professionals Week - April 20-26, 2025 - is an annual recognition of medical laboratory professionals and pathologists who are crucial in health care delivery to active duty, retirees and dependents.
The theme this year is, ‘Mystery Machine of Diagnostics: Another Case Solved by the Lab.’
The daily work accomplished in the lab helps define that theme. Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Michelle A. Flores Hernandez, from Sterling, Virginia, explained.
“While we do not diagnose patients we can help identify disease, monitor their progression, and assess the severity of conditions,” said Flores.
Roughly 70 percent of clinical decisions are based on the results obtained from laboratory testing.
“I find fulfillment knowing our work contributes to these correct diagnosis and treatments,” added Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Collin Bennett, a Killeen, Texas native, and NHB Lab work center supervisor.
“Lab techs provide the accurate and timely delivery of results that providers need to help come up with a diagnosis and an accurate treatment plan for patients,” continued Flores.
Complied statistical evidence helps to illustrate the support the lab staff brings to patient care. NHB’s Core Laboratory - Hematology, Urinalysis, Coagulation, Point of Care Testing, Mail-Out Test Processing, and Blood Donor Screening Support testing – totaled approximately 526,630 tests for 2024. The satellite clinic test volume from the hospital detachment on Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and branch health clinics at Naval Base Kitsap Bangor and Naval Station Everett added another approximately 48,450.
The lab work is always changing, and the need to stay up to date is at the front of their efforts. Bennett can attest that assigned to a Navy lab means having a sense of urgency. He began his Navy career as a lab tech in the Blood Donor Center at Naval Medical Center San Diego.
“Every Friday, I got to work at 4:30 a.m. so that I could grab the supplies needed to screen over 500 Marine recruits for blood donation,” Bennett related. “I would screen, review, register, take vitals, interview, perform phlebotomy and pack the units of blood for transport until roughly 5:00 p.m.”
Bennett would then return to the donor center and enter all the donation and deferral information into the electronic system until roughly between 9:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m. and return to work at 7:30 a.m. the next day.
“Those days I didn’t have enough time to think about how tired I was. The recruits were typically fun to be around. The admin work after didn’t bother me because my coworkers always made it a good time,” said Bennett.
There were notable major laboratory initiatives established during 2024 at NHB, including validating a [timely] process to correct erroneous billing charges for test patient profiles in the electronic health record. This development was disseminated enterprise wide to eliminate billing errors associated with laboratory test files needed to validate new test platforms and perform required proficiency testing.
Yet perhaps one of the most fitting advances was the lab’s empowerment and support of junior and first-term staff.
“The schooling to become a lab tech provided me the opportunity to earn a medical laboratory technician certification which can be used in the civilian world. It also gave me the opportunity to earn most of my credits needed to attain an associate’s degree since I joined right after high school,” said Flores.
Established in 1975, this weeklong recognition is now in its 50th year. In that year half a century ago, hospital corpsmen assigned to laboratory staff were supporting U.S. Navy operational efforts across the Pacific.
Fast forward to more recent times. U.S. Navy medical personnel deployed as part of Pacific Partnership 2024 and visited Micronesia, where the focus of support was providing laboratory training at Chuuk State Hospital.
From fleet to family, laboratory technicians do it all, one diagnostic test at a time.
| Date Taken: | 04.25.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.25.2025 16:04 |
| Story ID: | 496238 |
| Location: | BREMERTON , WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 48 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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