Highlands Hospital in Connellsville has opened its first satellite lab.
On Feb. 20, the doors were opened at Highlands Healthstop, an outpatient lab that will perform blood draws and gather throat cultures and urine specimens.
Located in the Warehouse Groceries plaza along Route 119, the lab will celebrate a grand opening Wednesday.
The public is invited to stop by for refreshments and tour the facility.
Denise McCloy, a representative of Highlands Hospital, said the idea for the lab was planted several months ago by Dr. Paul Means Jr., whose office is located in the same plaza. The staff there had always drawn patients' blood.
"I don't know if it was getting to be not cost effective or if they were just getting busier, but Dr. Means thought it would be a good thing if Highlands Hospital opened a quick draw lab so they could give their patients the prescriptions for the blood work and at the same time not take anything away from us," she said.
Dr. James Nolfi, of Westmoreland Women's Health Center, also located in the Warehouse Groceries plaza, had a need for a blood-draw clinic nearby as well.
The hospital's chief executive officer, Michelle Cunningham, brought the idea before the board and it was approved.
McCloy said that besides the blood work and the other tasks most labs do, the clinic will be a place where businesses send their employees for drug tests. In the future, hospital officials hope to offer occupational medicine where a physician will conduct an exam for employers to say whether or not the employee is fit for work.
Vikki Stimmel will be in charge of the lab.
She graduated from the West Virginia Career Institute with an associated degree in medical administration. She was then employed by Jeannette Hospital's lab, where she worked for about four years.
"I got most of my lab experience there but I've also drawn blood while working in doctor's offices," she said.
This is the first job where Stimmel has been in charge of a lab.
"I'm excited," she said. "I feel I worked a long time and have gotten a lot of experience to be able to manage. I'm also glad to be a part of the Highlands team because, for a small-town hospital, people get genuinely good care."
Two of the qualities that set the lab apart from others, McCloy said, is the giant, flat parking lot that leads them right into the building where the lab is located on the first floor.
"There's no steps and no elevators so it's really handicapped friendly," she said.
The other amenity is the proximity to Highlands' primary laboratory.
"Whether a person gets tested here or at the hospital, they are still tested by the same high tech equipment," McCloy said. "A courier comes to this location about three times a day to pick up the samples and take them to our hospital's lab."
She added that it doesn't matter which hospital a doctor is associated with. They can get the results to any doctor by fax.
The satellite lab is open 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The hours will be extended once the patient load picks up, administrators said.
The hospital will hold a blood screening March 8, and the Highlands Healthstop will also hold one on March 22.
To schedule a blood screening during these two days, call the hospital at 724-626-2430.
