LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Have you ever wondered how many things could go wrong if a lab technician doesn’t perform well at their job?
Tech. Sgt. Richard McDonald, 47th Medical Support Squadron laboratory technician, is passionate about his job and strives to know the ins and outs of his profession every day.
“There’s always something new, it’s not typically the same routine on a day-to-day basis, there’s always going to be something coming in from the clinic that’s going to surprise you, a different sample, different tissue.”
For McDonald, day-to-day operations include working in hematology, material shipping, phlebotomy, urinalysis, chemistry, microbiology and patient interaction.
“Besides being able to run samples back here we’re also trained phlebotomists so a lot of people that do come in, we do get that face-to-face interaction,” McDonald said.
With one of Laughlin’s missions being to graduate the world’s best military pilots, McDonald notes that doctors need accurate data to be able to treat the base populous accurately and timely.
“A lot of patients we see are student pilots,” he said. “Whenever the doctors can’t make an accurate diagnosis on a particular patient, they’ll send them to the laboratory to run certain tests on them. The results we give doctors, arm them with the knowledge so they can provide a more definitive diagnosis for their patients.”
McDonald’s dedication and attention to detail in a crucial job, enables him to provide Laughlin medics with accurate information that can prove vital in many cases.