Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, April 18-24, 2021, is an annual celebration of medical laboratory professionals and pathologists who play a vital role in health care and patient advocacy
Laboratorians stand at the apex of health care. Their work, though often unnoticed, directly impacts at least 75% of all clinical decisions. These silent heroes stand committed to optimizing patient care, one test at a time.
Although WDL is proud of its highly-sophisticated instrumentation and cutting-edge testing methods, it is our people that make us who we are. Nearly 500 team members bring their experience and knowledge to our laboratory every day — most importantly, they bring their passion for helping people. Despite our growth over recent years from a top regional to a top national reference laboratory, it is the opportunity to help as many people as we possibly can that is central to all that we do.
Over the past year, helping people has meant being a leader in COVID-19 testing in addition to the thousands of other testing services we provide. Last year we performed our first COVID-19 tests in mid-March, eventually growing our COVID testing capacity from several hundred per day to nearly 5,000 daily. We developed a process that brought our average turnaround time for testing to less than 12 hours — among the very best in the country.
To date, WDL has performed 800,000 COVID-19 tests — which represents about 25% of all COVID-19 testing in Wisconsin — using the most sensitive and specific tests available since the very beginning.
Our people made that possible. Thank you to our dedicated laboratorians! The role they play in health care is essential, and the impact they have on the lives of patients is immeasurable.
By the Numbers:
