Lab techs find what lies beneath

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Montse Ramirez
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  Technicians from the 509th Medical Group laboratory dig deep to ensure military members and dependants are healthy under the skin.

The team of seven technicians performs more than 100 different analyses to help doctors treat their patients.

"If Airmen aren't healthy, they can't complete their missions," said Tech. Sgt. Jason Levine, NCO in charge for the 509th MDG clinical laboratory technician. "If dependants aren't healthy, the Airmen are distracted from the mission because they are worried about their dependants."

Sergeant Levine said the laboratory technicians help about 40 individuals per day. They do this by following a specific sequence of events.

"Once we collect the sample, whether it's blood, urine or another fluid, we prepare it to be analyzed," said Sergeant Levine. "We test it for different illnesses ranging from anemia to cholesterol. Then we send samples to reference laboratories.

Reference laboratories are off-site labs that assist by performing extensive tests that the lab techs are unable to perform on base.

"The reference laboratories then check for thyroids and other illnesses once all the basic routine checkups have been performed," said Sergeant Levine.

Frequently, the well being of an individual lies in the hands of a lab technician.

"Our job can be difficult when 99 out of 100 of our patients are sick and you're the person who's supposed to help them, said Sergeant Levine. "The last thing they want is to be poked with a needle, but it's cool when you do something that you know will help the person become well or help the provider find a way to get them healthy."

The lab technicians don't only help medical providers find out what's wrong with a patient, but they also help the bio environmental unit.

"We have a dual mission," said Sergeant Levine. "We test for biological warfare material. If there is a suspicious package, we can assist our bio environmental department detect things such as anthrax."

Thanks to these behind-the-scenes Airmen, more than 40 patients each day can rest assured they will receive the best care possible.

"We send our patients to the lab frequently," Tech. Sgt. Kenneth Hampton, 509th Medical Operations Squadron family practice medical technician. "They are very timely in getting us results and always have great customer service.

"For us to test and see what's wrong with our patients we need the lab," said Sergeant Hampton. "They can get us just about any tests.

"With the lab in the premises we can often have the lab results while the patient is still here,"  Sergeant Hampton concluded. "For our patients it's like a one stop shop."