By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current

It’s updated and remodeled and ready to be unveiled to the community.

The $1 million, state of the art, laboratory remodel at Hammond-Henry Hospital will be open to the general public at an open house from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16. An additional open house will be held for hospital employees, also on Feb. 16, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The public is invited and encouraged to attend the open house. Light refreshments will be served, and guided tours will be available.

The new laboratory, located just past admitting on the north east side of the hospital, features an open floor plan for increased efficiency, a staffed reception area and waiting room, private blood draw stations, office and storage spaces, and two handicap accessible bathrooms.

All equipment, furniture, materials, and other records will be migrated to the new space sometime near the first week of March, including a full microbiology lab, molecular diagnostics, chemistry, hematology and other laboratory equipment.

“Wyatt Brieser, Director of Ancillary Services at Hammond-Henry, said, “It’s been like a beehive around here, with everyone hustling and bustling to finish this much-anticipated remodel. I can honestly say, a lot of people, both employees and people in the community, are very excited to reopen this state-of-the-art, updated, and beautiful laboratory. We are very proud of Karrie (Wetzell, Laboratory Manager, and her team for all their fine work during this transition.”

Wetzell, who leads the team of 20 phlebotomists, medical laboratory scientist and technicians, and a board-certified pathologist, noted that the need for a new laboratory was due to high patient volume and the provision of more than 600,000 tests per year.

“When I first came to Hammond-Henry, (25 years ago), we were lucky to have five outpatients a day,” Wetzell said. “Over the course of time, we grew. Then fast-forward to the Covid-19 pandemic and our volumes increased to 100-120 outpatients a day, sometimes more. The lab was bursting at the seams with additional laboratory equipment and supplies needed to function. That’s what we realized we needed more space.”

She continued, “During the pandemic, everyone rallied together. Hospital and clinic staff worked together to implement the drive-through respiratory clinic in the emergency department ambulance bay. There were days that we saw so many people, the samples were toted to the lab in empty copy paper boxes. I often worked until 1 a.m. monitoring our supply inventory and Covid positivity rates, just to do it again the next day. We did it well, too. I was very proud of how our laboratory functioned. Other facilities closed their outpatient labs. It never occurred to me to stop providing service.”

A news release from Stephanie DeMay, Marketing Director at Hammond-Henry, stated Wetzell’s team of 20 processes so many tests for this community that Hammond-Henry’s lab became an outlier among like-size critical access hospitals…”When we participated in Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network (ICAHN) productivity surveys and reported our numbers, we were questioned as most other (critical access and small, rural) hospitals reported between 10,000 to 15,000 tests per month, and we were recording about 45,000 tests,” Wetzell said.

“To this I say, we’re in the business of taking care of people, regardless of their geography,” Wetzell added. “During the pandemic, we saw people from all over the state, including southern Illinois and Chicago, who had no access to Covid-19 testing. We saw everyone that needed us and continue to do so.”

The press release stated, “With the resolution of Covid and thanks to a very generous community and a supportive board of directors, the decision to remodel the existing lab was made and all personnel moved to the specialty laboratory area on the northwest side of the hospital on Aug. 21, 2022.”

“Part of the reason for the move was to do everything in one phase, instead of the original two-phase plan,” Wetzell said. “This allowed us to prevent disruption of lab service and plan a more efficient renovation.”

Wetzell also noted that the new plan saved several hundred-thousand dollars and four months of construction time.

“Everyone has been very patient and kind during this process, “Wetzell concluded. “The lab team and I are very grateful and appreciative for all the support. We’re excited for our employees and the public to see our beautiful new lab. The new lab allows for future growth and offers us the space to provide the excellent care that we pride ourselves on.”

Hammond-Henry Hospital’s inpatient and emergency laboratory hours will continue to be offered 24 hours a day, seven days a week and outpatient laboratory hours will be offered from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.