Laboratory

C.O.L.A. certified 2009

The data acquired from laboratory testing plays a crucial role in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. The Clinical Laboratory processes specimens for testing to aid you physician in determining your proper diagnoses and treatment plan. Lakeland Community Hospital Watervliet's laboratory personnel perform analytic tests in conjunction with scientists and physicians in hospitals, clinics, research facilities, and other laboratory settings. They derive information from blood, tissues, and fluids of the human body by using manual procedures, as well as those requiring sophisticated instruments and complicated methods.

Our Clinical Laboratory is directed by Robert L. Clark, M.D. a board certified Clinical and Anatomical Pathologist. Included among our laboratory personnel are medical technologists (also called clinical laboratory scientists), medical laboratory technicians an technologists, specialists in hematology, and phlebotomists. These professions are described below.

• A medical technologist (MT) and medical laboratory technician or technologist (MLT) are a healthcare professional who performs diagnostic analytic tests on human body fliuid such as blood, urine, sputum, stool, cerebrospinal fluid, peritoneal fluid, pericardial fluid, and synovial fluid, as well as other specimens. Medical technologists work in clinical laboratories at hospitals, doctor's offices, reference labs, and within the biotechnology industry.
  
• Hematology is the branch of biology (physiology), pathology, internal madicine and pediatrics that is concerned with the study of blood, the blood-forming organs, and blood diseases. Hematology includes the study of etiology, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis and prevention of blood diseases. The lab work that goes into the study of blood is performed by a Medical Technologist.
  
• A phlebotomist is an individual trained to draw blood (veinpuncture), either for laboratory tests or for blood donation.

About half of all laboratory personnel work in hospitals. Most others work in medical laboratories, clinics, and physicians' offices. We will be happy to honor any physicain's written order for laboratory testing even if the physician resides out of state. Results will be returned to the ordering physicain. Fasting tests are also common at Lakeland Community Hospital Watervliet. If a physicain orders a test that requires a fast, you must fast for a minimum of 12 hours to obtain accurate results. You must also abstain from eating or drinking with the exception of water.

Hospital Outpatient Laboratory Hours Monday through Friday 7:00 am- 5:00pm
Saturday 7:00am- 12:00 pm   Coloma Medical Center Outpatient Laboratory Hours Monday through Friday 9:00 am- 5:00pm
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