Our congratulations to the following ASCLS-PA winners:

Edward C. Dolbey (Member of the Year)               

Ruth Negley

Estolle Gross                                                             

Janet Devine

Key to the Future                                                      

Randi Bright

Leah Campbell

Keener Memorial Service Award

Mary Beth Miele

Corporate Recognition Award

Roche Diangostics

Membership Award

Sandra E. Johnson

Faye S. Sheinman

Debra Turner

Kristine Wise-Rayn

Pi Alpha (ASCLS-PA President's Honor Roll):      

Patsy Bering 

Lanie Fessler 

Sandy Neiman

Maria Bohan

Jennifer Goodwin 

Cathy Palicki

Jean Buchenhorst

Regina Halbinger 

Linda Semler

Leah Campbell

Marlene Kluger 

Pete Vulfson

Frank Carey

Ann Marie Lynn

Ruth Werts

Janet Devine 

Eileen Molecavage 

Diane Zelinka

Omicron Sigma (ASCLS President's Honor Roll):

National:

Scott Aikey

William Hunt

Michelle LaChance

Regional

Mary Gourley

Sharon Strauss

State

Randi Bright

Katie Franz

Judy Hoover

Mary Beth Miele

Ruth Negley

Barbara Snyderman

Sandy Toloczko

Charles Wilson

What kind of finance experience do you have? Are you a seasoned lab manager used to crunching number to craft a budget? A new supervisor putting in a request for a new instrument? Maybe a professor in a CLS program who teaches finance? We're looking for sources (or even authors) for articles about finance in the laboratory. If you can offer tips on budgeting, dealing with financial officers or finance basics, contact us at kpenno@advanceweb.com.

We'd love to hear from you! While you're at it, check out the other articles we're working on at here, and see how you can turn your laboratory stories into cash here.

We received the following e-mail from Swisslog:

Swisslog presents Free Webinar to Clinical Laboratory Professionals featuring Pneumatic Tube System Product Manager, John Kennedy

Swisslog Healthcare Solutions (Denver, CO), a provider of hospital material transport and pharmacy automation systems in more than 2,000 hospitals and pharmacies throughout North America, will host “Mission Swisslog ’08”, a free webinar for clinical laboratory professionals on May 1, 2008 at 3 p.m. EST (12 p.m. PDT, 1 p.m. MDT or 2 p.m. CDT).  Swisslog’s Pneumatic Tube System Product Manager, John Kennedy, will be presenting the latest innovations in pneumatic tube systems.  Webinar attendees who complete the short survey after the presentation will receive a free flash drive and be entered into a grand prize drawing for a digital photo orb. This webinar is in lieu of a presentation planned for CLMA's ThinkLab '08, which was cancelled this year.  Attendees may log on to the 30-minute live webinar at http://www.instantpresenter.com/missionswisslog1.

To learn more, visit http://www.swisslog.com/hcs-press-release-clma-webinar.pdf.

"It's hard to understand," said Charles Natanson, MD, an NIH senior investigator who lead the analysis, in a Washington Post article. "They already had data that these products could cause heart attacks and evidence that they could kill."

The meta-analysis examined five blood substitutes:

• HemAssist, Baxter Healthcare Corp., Deerfield, IL;
• Hemopure, Biopure Corp., Cambridge, MA;
• Hemolink, Hemosal BioPharma Inc., Ontario, Canada;
• PolyHeme, Northfield Laboratories Inc., Evanston, IL; and
• Hemospan, Sangart Inc., San Diego.

According to the Washington Post article, the review, released yesterday, combined data from more than 3,711 patients participating in 16 studies testing, and found the products "nearly tripled the risk of heart attacks and boosted the chances of dying by 30 percent."

Not only does the oversight pose a significant risk to patients treated with these substances, but the lack of clear communication can hamper future efforts to produce a viable blood substitute, Dr. Natanson noted. "Keeping data from being public represents real risks to patients. If secret science is allowed, other companies can't build on the successes and failures and [outside reviewers] won't be able to fully assess the risk."

A recent study published in the Lancet medical journal states AIDS patients in poor countries who are observed for clinical symptoms of the disease have close to the same survival rate as those who undergo lab testing. Read the whole story.

 As laboratory professionals, what do you think of this? Are symptoms as reliable as lab tests?

CNN recently reported health officials from the CDC said this year's flu season is the worst in 3 years, and the vaccine was only 44 percent effective.

 Read more...

Here is an excerpt from a CLMA e-mail alert:

This is a huge victory for Medicare patients in San Diego, the three plaintiffs in the case, and the entire laboratory profession.

The original lawsuit was filed by Sharp HealthCare, Scripps Health and Internist Laboratory of Oceanside against U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt on January 29, 2008.

CMS had already accepted bids on laboratory services and was about to announce bid winners on April 11, 2008. Judge Whelan's order means CMS cannot proceed with implementation of the demonstration project in San Diego, cannot announce the winning bidders on April 11, 2008, and cannot disclose information on any bids submitted.

The injunction will stay in place until further order of the court, which likely means until there is a full trial on the merits of the case. Further, the judge agreed that the plaintiffs had shown irreparable harm and found there was substantial economic injury to the laboratories and to patients. He also noted that hospital laboratories would have to set up costly procedures to determine which tests were included in the demonstration and which tests were not.

The judge agreed that the balance of hardships falls "sharply" in favor of the plaintiffs and finds that the laboratories are likely to succeed on the merits of the case. He agreed that the HHS Secretary should have gone through rulemaking, that the Secretary incorrectly interpreted the definition of "face-to-face encounter," and that specimen collection should not have been included in the demonstration because it is not a laboratory test.

Although the order will likely only delay implementation for a matter of months, the decision allows valuable time for Congress to provide a permanent solution with legislation to permanently repeal the competitive bidding demonstration project.

Don't let this major victory go to waste! Please immediately contact your Senators and Representative and urge them to co-sponsor legislation to repeal the competitive bidding demonstration project and permanently stop CMS from implementing it.

Anyone enrolled in, accepted into, or who has completed an SBB program within the past 12 months in an AABB-accredited institution is eligible. The application includes an essay focusing on your vision of life as an SBB-certified professional.

Scholarship recipients will receive:

• complimentary registration for the AABB Annual Meeting;
• one ticket to attend the AABB Gala;
• $1,500 travel grant to be used for travel, lodging and dining expenses; and
• a certificate.

Learn more here.

As you may have read already, CLMA's Thinklab '08 conference, scheduled for later this month in Atlanta, was cancelled due to damage inflicted on the venue by the recent tornados that swept the downtown area.

Here is CLMA's statement:

CLMA has just been notified by officials at the Georgia World Congress Center that the site of our conference will not be available due to serious safety issues caused by damage resulting from the March 14 tornado that struck downtown Atlanta.

Unfortunately, CLMA has been forced to cancel ThinkLab `08, scheduled for March 29 through April 1, 2008.

CLMA staff has been on-site in Atlanta viewing the damage first-hand and has been in close communication with key officials at the Georgia World Congress Center and Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.

CLMA is sensitive to the needs of CLMA members and industry partners. We are busy working to resolve the unique and challenging issues created by this unfortunate act of nature.  Over the upcoming days, we will be sharing information to address issues and concerns you have.

We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused, and appreciate your patience, understanding and support as we move forward.

We asked CLMA to update us on the status of ThinkLab '08, to be held March 29-April 1 in Atlanta, where a recent tornado did some damage to the Georgia World Congress Center. Here's what they said:

"CLMA is closely monitoring the situation in Atlanta as a result of the tornado that hit the downtown area on Friday, March 14. We are in communication with the Georgia World Congress Center and area hotels as they assess the damage to their facilities. Contractors are assessing the damage to the Georgia World Congress Center today and will contact us with further updates.

As of Monday, March 17, ThinkLab '08 will continue as scheduled without interruption for March 29-April 1. In the event that we run into any issues that prevent access to hotels, or the Georgia World Congress Center, we will notify you immediately. We will provide further updates to you as soon as something more definitive is known.

Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to seeing you in Atlanta!"

And that's not the only issue facing the nation's healthcare system, as I'm sure you are painfully aware. With the remaining Democratic Presidential candidates descending on Pennsylvania in anticipation of our April 22 primary, politics are on the brain right now.

It certainly seems the upcoming presidential election is garnering more interest than usual, for a variety of reasons I won't delve into in this forum. My question to you is, how does your position as a healthcare professional impact your personal politics? Are you following the candidates' platforms in regard to healthcare policy? Post your comment below and let us know.

After returning from the tropical vacation of my dreams last week, I am back to the daily grind. With an article to write, our Grad issue deadlining and a looming Web update on my schedule, I barely had time to register my caffeine stock was running empty before I was back in the thick of things, and relaxing on the beach was a mere memory.

As I was proofreading an article with advice for new graduates, I came across this advice: "If you do not look forward to going to work every day, you are in the wrong profession, the wrong workplace or with the wrong people." I agree, to an extent.

We all know those people that complain about their jobs each and every day. Most of them eventually do move on. But others, due to circumstance or habit, remain, and their negativity can ruin a workplace environment. Absolutely, if your job has not lived up to any of your expectations; you dread going there every day; or you don't feel fulfilled, challenged or engaged: leave.

But-here's the but-make sure your expectations are realistic. It's common to have grand visions of all the great things you will do in a new career or position. The key to job satisfaction is finding something you enjoy, and being realistic. There will be parts of your job that you may not have considered and are less than thrilled with.

Compare the jobs you dreamed of as a child with the reality you can understand as an adult. Do marine biologists really spend all day playing games with Flipper? Do astronauts spend all their time moon bouncing on distant planets? Do firefighters move from house to house, dousing flames and saving lives? No. Most professionals spend most of their time on a myriad of everyday tasks, from training to paperwork, for a few days in the sun (or on Mars, or being hailed as a hero).

As long as you are being fulfilled, I think you're OK if every once in a while, you would rather be at your beach than behind the bench. 

Let's brainstorm together! Share your creative ideas with ADVANCE and its readers.

I wrote an editorial in 2006 about my cousin, Scarlett Parsley-Hooker, who was killed in a plane crash in Lexington, KY. The flight was a domestic short run from Lexington to Atlanta. On the morning of Aug. 27, 2006, the flight crashed while attempting to take off. Unfortunately, the plane's pilots had placed the flight on the wrong (too short) outbound runway.

Needless to say, I think often about that fateful day, and often find myself Googling the news to see what's happened since that flight crashed.

I came across an interesting story about forensic pathology and its portrayal in the media. It's slow, painstaking work.

Read more here: http://www.wlky.com/news/15413933/detail.html

Being that it's the end of February, we've been getting some nasty weather here in Pennsylvania. "Wintry mix" seems to be the favorite phrase of weathermen (and women) in our area.

At our company, editorial staff members have the option to work from home if there is bad weather. I did this last week, and it was great knowing I didn't have to combat the elements, especially because I have an hour and 10 minute commute.

However, it made me think that you laboratorians never have this option. No matter if it's snow, tornadoes, hurricanes or any other force of Mother Nature, you need to get to work for the sake of your patients.

Then I started wondering about what you do in these conditions. Do you have some sort of system set up in your lab? Do you carpool with coworkers?

We'd love to hear your stories about bearing the elements to get to your lab.