ASCP Lab Week Photo & Video Contest Celebrates Lab Team's Contributions to Health Care

Lab Week is a great time to generate awareness about the critical role of the laboratory medicine profession while having some fun with colleagues.

“I like to shout from the rooftops that we can be scientists, but we also have a lot of fun!” says Kendra Willis, MLT(ASCP)^CM, whose laboratory team video at Deaconess Regional Laboratory in Evansville, IN, took first place in the ASCP 2019 Pac Lab Photo and Video Contest for the second consecutive year.

“It was a huge team effort, and it’s a good team building activity,” says Ms. Willis, who teamed up with her colleague, Jesse Gallamore, to develop the video titled, Crazy Busy Place Called Lab. “We aimed to tell a mini-story of what goes on in the lab. Jesse was the creative genius behind the production of the video.”

“I structured the lyrics to have something reminiscent of ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, where the music is serious but lyrics are light-hearted,” says Gallamore, a lab supplies manager who—outside of his day job—plays several musical instruments for enjoyment.

For Ms. Willis, the medical laboratory holds a special place in her heart. It’s where she met her husband, while they both worked at Deaconess Regional Laboratory. Both of her sons have worked there, and one still does. And, she jokes that she has mentored many younger colleagues, whom she calls her “lab children.”

“Lab Week helps to raise the visibility of our profession so that the public recognizes our commitment to patient care,” Ms. Willis adds.

Meanwhile, this is the first year that the lab team at AdventHealth Rollins Brook, Lampasas, TX, has participated in the ASCP Lab Week contest. “We were surprised we won first place in the photo contest!” exclaims Kathy Long, MLT(ASCP), who coordinated her team’s effort. 

“Ask anyone in the hospital and you’ll discover we brought around a basket of candy each day to bribe our co-workers to vote for us in the contest,” she says, with a laugh. “We had parents and kids voting for our submission as well. I think we got the attention of our hospital administrators!”

AdventHealth Rollins Brook is a small, rural, critical access hospital with 25 beds, where the staff decorates the laboratory lobby each month of the year to celebrate the changing seasons. When one colleague brought in an advertisement of ASCP’s Pac Lab-theme Lab Week contest, Ms. Long decided her lab team should enter.

The idea for their photo came from a younger medical technician who played Pac Man as a youth. She came up with arcade theme idea. From there, all the colleagues chipped in and did their part. In addition, they incorporated the hospital’s emphasis on a “Feel Whole” experience, which focuses on "Keep me safe," "love me," "make it easy" and “own it.”

Like her counterparts at Deaconess Regional Laboratory, Ms. Long takes great pride in her work. “I really like working in a small, community hospital because you perform so many roles that you really do get to know your patients.”

Check out the ASCP 2019 Lab Week winners, as well as all of the other photos and videos that were submitted here.