as you were

I got some lab results this morning which just might explain why I'm so wore out and I welcome a conversation with whomever will discuss the numbers with an old med tech.  I sent out a thousand PTHs and Vitamin D's in my day because we didn't perform them in house  I remember when the urologist came around demanding a GFR with the creatinine and we thought the world was on fire.  Simply put, we were a glorified stat lab for hospitals that didn't keep up.  A random memory from the Dyer County Commission meeting back in 1979 reminded how I got from there to here.  We were county owned and named Parkview.  There was a nursing home next door and we were responsible for drawing blood on their patients for testing in our lab.  Typical rural situation.   

In the court house that night it was packed with employees and practitioners who wanted a sale to Baptist Memorial.  Maurice Elliott and all the suits came in with an offer ten million over market value and BMH backed off and the county took the money.  Thus we became Methodist Healthcare.  This was back when tests for HIV and Hep C were just being discovered.  Scary shit for the blood supply.  Once the FDA directive went into effect for Hep C testing our entire inventory of around 60 units had to be tested and it was all on paper.  The blood bank module of HMS was a masterpiece and it served us well until CHS took over and added paper back into the mix.  I'll never forget that corporate guy just telling me to print it off and attach it to the bag.  I think his name was Thomas and I'm sure he's moved on

 up in the company.    The software engineer told me that normally a company pays for professionals to train end users but this was several hospitals at once and um...we were on our own.  

I also distinctly remember showing my boss on the news about the merger of CHS and HMA.  This turned into a nightmare for all involved and eventually all of us got sold.  Again.  There were attempts to make us a "little Jackson" what with a cath lab and all.  That particular piece scared me more than anything and still haunts me.  That's when troponins had a TAT of 10 minutes.  We did the ACTs for cath until the nursing staff got qualified.  

The company that set up that operation was called Corizon I think.  Hell they may still own it. All I know is that an egocentric respiratory therapist came in like a gang banger with corporate on his side and interventional cardiologists in hadend.  The rest is history.  

I don't know what they do there now but I doubt it's vascular caths.  That location used to the ER back in the day.  Only a few will remember that.  My heart is aching for so many people right now as they struggle to deal with reality.  Peace be still ^j^