New Microbiology Lab at AdventHealth Porter to Serve the Rocky Mountain Region

AdventHealth Porter leadership, team members, and laboratory vendors gathered for a celebratory ribbon cutting for the new microbiology lab that will serve the entire Rocky Mountain Region. The microbiology lab is devoted to culturing, examining, and identifying microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, yeasts, and viruses. The lab has a crucial role in effective infection prevention and control as they help provide physicians and care teams with critical patient culture results which in turn, drive the care plans on how to treat patients.

Effective January 28, patient blood, urine, tissue, and other culture samples will be sent to AdventHealth Porter via courier service for testing and results. While the lab will begin by supporting the region’s hospitals and EUCs, they will support all the AHMG clinics in the near future. Those sites will be utilizing Quest Diagnostics in the meantime.

Previously, our five AdventHealth hospitals, EUCs, and clinics have been dependent on St. Anthony’s microbiology laboratory for their testing needs. In August after the disaffiliation, AdventHealth saw the opportunity and need for our region to have our own microbiology lab and were extremely generous in the funding of this project. AdventHealth brought on a highly sought after project management company as well as a team of laboratory technology specialists to drive the project to completion. In a matter of months, construction was finished, and state-of-the-art lab equipment was delivered to the new space.

“AdventHealth connected us with Biomerieux, a biotechnology company that has been a huge ally in getting our lab up and running. AdventHealth has invested in top-of-the-line equipment and supplies, therefore investing in better patient care. We’re excited to open and serve our community,”?said Andrea Johnson, Microbiology Lab Supervisor.

The lab’s leadership team has hired on multiple team members and plan to hire around 15 total team members. The microbiology lab will be staffed and open 24/7, offering fast, reliable results which will be uploaded straight to Epic by the team. Their hope is to provide rapid results and in turn, faster treatment to patients which in some cases could be lifesaving. They also hope to bring patients greater peace of mind by providing them with timely results.

“We are growing our team and establishing laboratory expertise for the Rocky Mountain Region,”?said Katherine Apostolope, technical lab system specialist.?“It will allow us to provide our patients with even greater continuity of care. Additionally, this regional lab will help us decrease turnaround times and keep revenue within our own system.”

The new microbiology lab is a huge step for our region and won’t stop there. Plans for a pathology lab, along with other lab modalities are in the works for the future. We are thrilled about this new offering as part of the continued growth within the Rocky Mountain Region.