The ASCP Central New York Chapter has maintained a healthy membership of nearly 226 active members, and is working to strengthen its membership. Over the past three years, the ASCP Central New York Chapter held Zoom meetings every month or so to keep members engaged in ongoing education.
Its most recent meeting, held in October 2022, served as its annual meeting held in collaboration with another professional society. As New York State requires laboratory professionals to be licensed to practice, the ASCP Central New York Chapter always invites representatives of the New York State Department of Health Clinical Laboratory Evaluation Program (CLEP) and the New York State Education Department to speak at its annual meeting. New York State CLEP representatives provide information on quality improvement for for patient testing. the NYS CLEP representatives and the NYS Education Department representatives are “a big draw,” says Kim Harasymiak, MBA, CLS(NYSED), SCT(ASCP), SSCGB(ASQ), secretary of the ASCP Central New York Chapter, which encompasses New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. “Our members always bring questions on licensure to this meeting.”
The October meeting also invited experts in the field to address other pressing matters, such as laboratory staffing, quality improvement, and test utilization. The Chapter also invited a pathologist to speak and worked to ensure that all facets of the medical laboratory were addressed in its program.
Ms. Harasymiak, a previous laboratory supervisor at a large hospital in Albany, NY, finds it beneficial to be involved in a ASCP Local Chapter as well as the Society overall. “You can reach out to fellow laboratory professionals in your area to get their take on matters that are going on in the profession and to share ideas,” she says. “I have always been involved in ongoing education throughout my career,” she adds.
The ASCP Central New York Chapter welcomes professionals who work in various parts of the laboratory, and also reaches out to local laboratory students. “We invite local New York colleges with laboratory programs to our annual conference, and we offer ‘speed interviewing.' Any laboratory managers who attend the meeting can speak to the students and learn about their areas of interest and discuss possible employment opportunities,” Ms. Harasymiak says.
Participating in an ASCP Local Chapter is a great way for ASCP members to connect with other laboratory professionals in their area as well as keep current on education and regulatory trends. If you’d like to learn more about ASCP Local Chapters, or to find a chapter that serves your area, click
here.
