The Manager of the Pathology Laboratory at Letterkenny University Hospital has spoken of her pride in her staff team as they responded to the challenges of Covid-19.
One hundred days have passed since the first test for Covid-19 was carried out at Letterkenny University Hospital.
Since then, almost 6,200 samples have been tested.
Staff in the lab department have played a crucial role in the detection and treatment of local patients with coronavirus.
Judith Rodgers, Stephen Shakespeare and Donna Gallagher in the Microbiology Laboratory where COVID-19 swabs are initially received for processing.
When the pandemic first hit Ireland, staff at the Letterkenny Laboratory also provided testing for other hospitals within the Saolta Group while the hospital laboratories were scaling up their testing capacity.
Staff rose to the task by working extra shifts and longer hours. They even had the support of two recent retirees – Maria Howard and Helen McCloskey – from the Microbiology Department who returned to work and played their part in delivering an essential service to the hospital and wider community.
Maria Howard and Helen McCloskey who had both retired from Letterkenny University Hospital and returned to contribute their expertise to the introduction of new testing equipment and processes for COVID-19 testing at the hospital.
Jacqui Clarke, Pathology Laboratory Manager said, “I am incredibly proud of all my colleagues here in the laboratories at the hospital who are so professional, selfless and went the extra mile for our patients and each other when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. There was a can-do attitude shown from the very beginning as we entered a time of great uncertainty with massive change required to our day-to-day work.”
“In particular I have to pay tribute to all the retired staff who phoned me as soon as the pandemic hit offering to return to work. We had space to take back two retired staff into the lab and they were a ray of sunshine at a very sombre time and lifted all our spirits. Their expertise was hugely valued as we introduced the new COVID-19 testing processes along with a range of other tests not routinely carried out in the hospital, but which were pivotal to the effective and timely treatment of patients with COVID-19 and which helped to prevent patients from being ventilated.”
Jean McGlinchey in the Haematology Laboratory where full blood count tests are carried out in order to inform clinical decision making on treatment plans for patients with COVID-19.
Philomena Harkin and Susan McGee in the Biochemistry Pre-Analytical Area where samples are sorted before being put into the analysers.
Results from LUH are currently reported within 24 hours of receipt.
The laboratory is carrying out testing on swabs taken from patients in the hospital, HSE staff (hospital and community based staff) as well as testing samples taken from members of the public referred to community testing hubs by their GPs in Donegal.
Donna McCafferty and Deirdre Cunningham in the Molecular COVID-19 Laboratory at Letterkenny University Hospital.
April Boyle, Leanne Sheridan and Lee Monaghan in the Biochemistry Laboratory where analysis on auxiliary tests for patients with COVID-19 is carried out to determine effective and timely treatment plans.
Seán Murphy, Hospital General Manager added his praise for this crucial department of the hospital: “The Laboratory is a core hospital department but does not attract much attention usually as their work, which informs every diagnosis in the hospital, is very much behind the scenes. This pandemic really highlighted the critical nature of a hospital laboratory to the extent that testing has been a priority topic in Department of Health briefings since the very start and has become part of daily conversations.
“I would like to acknowledge the huge contribution of our Laboratory staff to our hospital and patients. Even though we are over the initial testing pressures, as time goes on it will be essential that we continue to provide timely and effective testing which feeds into contact tracing and isolation requirements, in order to keep the spread of this disease under control.”
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