For Immediate Release

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John Hofer
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Bay Area Medical Center Laboratory Honored for Emergency Preparedness Training

David Olson President and CEO and Keith Wendlandt Lab Director accept the Certificate of Achievement from Carol Kirk with members of the BAMC Lab and Marinette County.

(Marinette, Wis.) – Reinforcing their commitment to the community, staff at the BAMC Laboratory recently completed a series of training modules focusing on the clinical laboratory’s role in emergency preparedness. Keith Wendlandt received the Certificate of Achievement for Laboratory Training in Emergency Preparedness from Wisconsin Laboratory Response Network (WLRN) representative Carol Kirk at a recent ceremony at Bay Area Medical Center.

“Our staff takes its role in emergencies seriously and is proud to be part of the hospital’s disaster preparedness team,” said Wendlandt. The WLRN is a network of more than 130 clinical laboratories in Wisconsin, with the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene as the coordinating laboratory. The WLRN is a subset of the National Laboratory Response Network (LRN), a collaborative, voluntary system of laboratories that are equipped to respond quickly to acts of chemical or biological terrorism, emerging infectious diseases, and other public health threats and emergencies.

Laboratories such as BAMC’s have three primary roles in emergency response: 1) recognition of unusual organisms in patient specimens; 2) ruling out unusual organisms according to the laboratory’s testing capabilities and protocols; and 3) referral of unusual organisms to the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene in those cases where a bioterrorism agent or other unusual organism cannot be ruled out.

The WLRN developed a series of four laboratory examination modules (Biosafety, Emergency Laboratory Response, Packaging and Shipping Samples, and Laboratory Diagnostics for Bioterrorism) to document laboratory-training achievements in emergency preparedness.  To qualify for the award, at least two members of laboratory staff must successfully complete each module.