Lab testing equipment to be upgraded with Festival of Trees proceeds

Sheila McKay may not be here today if not for a blood test she had done in the winter of 2015.

Following her complete blood count, McKay was informed she had Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, lung cancer and an aneurysm in her brain. Thanks to early intervention, she now leads a healthy life free of worrying too much about those things.

“The cancer that I have is a slow-growing one, so it may not have done me any damage for a very long time, but the lung cancer, I think if they hadn’t found it by the time they did, it may have been too late to treat it,” she admits. “The aneurysm in my brain was large enough that they thought it might rupture. So even as I was waiting for that surgery, there were times when I was really quite anxious about surviving long enough to have it?

While McKay’s life is forever changed by the work of the hematology lab, the upgrades made possible by this year’s Festival are expected to make the experiences of future patients even more efficient and impactful.
 

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McKay’s story is just one example of why this year’s Festival of Trees is so important for central Albertans, with proceeds going towards upgrading technology in both the hematology and microbiology labs at Red Deer Regional Hospital.

In hematology, machines with digital morphology technology will take the place of lab staff manually counting cells under a microscope, while over in microbiology, automation equipment will prevent staff from having to manually plate about 100,000 samples every year.

“We’re privileged and very grateful to have these proceeds benefit our laboratory. It extends not only to every patient in Red Deer, but I really think throughout the zone which serves about 500,000 people,” says Dr. Garnet Horne, Pathologist and Zone Clinical Department Head for Central Zone labs.

“The Red Deer hospital is the main laboratory hub for this zone and though there are over 30 labs throughout the zone, they refer their complex testing into this laboratory. It’s a huge advantage. It puts as right at the leading edge of technology and puts us right up there with the major centres in Calgary or Edmonton.”

In the end, improvements will increase efficiency, reduce strain and get patients on the right track to better health quicker, according to Melode Banks, Lab Manager at Red Deer Regional Hospital.

“We’ve been so fortunate to have the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation’s support — in the past we have received funding from them, so we know what a dramatic difference that money can make,” Banks says. “By bringing this technology into Central Zone, we’ll be able to grow and expand our services, increase our capacity for patient care, so as a lab manager, it’s an incredible opportunity for our patients and our staff.”

Meanwhile, McKay, who is 65 and a retired nurse, says she’ll continue to live life doing the things she enjoys like spending time with family and singing. She’s encouraging everyone to attend the 2017 Festival of Trees.

“Without the lab, health professionals can’t make the decisions they need to make. When we think about healthcare, we think about things like emergency, intensive care, all the bells and whistles and the drama,” she says. “We forget about the place where the behind the scenes work is done that allows the people to make decisions about what to do in emergency and in the ICU.”

In 2016, the Festival of Trees raised $950,000 for the medical specialty clinic at Red Deer Regional Hospital where there are services for an array of things, including IBD and Parkinson’s.

This year’s Festival runs November 22-26. More information is at RedDeerFestivalofTrees.ca.