Press Releases

For Immediate Release
Date: July 12, 2005
Contact: Liz Lloyd, Marketing Communications Manager
Phone: 800.871.8909 ext. 109

Regional West Medical Center Wins TREK Diagnostic Systems’ National Medical Laboratory Week Contest

Cleveland, Ohio – July 12 , 2005 – Regional West Medical Center was the “Lucky” winner of TREK Diagnostic Systems’ website contest during National Medical Laboratory Week (NMLW) April 24-30, 2005.   

Visitors to TREK’s website (www.trekds.com) during the entire month of April were invited to click on the NMLW link to fill in their contact information and complete a brief qualifying form. At the end of NMLW, one entry was randomly selected to win a special commendation for their microbiology laboratory.

That winner was Susan Weber from Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. As the winner of the contest, all of the microbiology laboratory personnel at Regional West Medical Center received $10 Target gift cards, TREK pens, mugs, and notepads.

Susan Weber, Senior Technologist in the Microbiology Department at Regional West Medical Center, entered Regional West Medical Center into the contest. She has worked in the microbiology laboratory at Regional West since February 1978. According to Susan, “We process specimens for our inpatients as well as specimens from smaller area hospitals and clinics.  We receive specimens for culture from the very eastern part of our state to the northwestern part of Wyoming. We process specimens for bacteriology, mycology, and parasitology.  We do limited viral antigen testing in house, most of which is processed by our evening and night staff, as the specimens arrive via couriers throughout the night.  Our evening and night staff do most of the antigen testing, gram stains, specimens for parasitology and set up the cultures on specimens received on the routes.  Day shift works up the cultures, then shifts to reading all the parasitology slides and working up any positive fungal cultures and reading AFB slides.  In our spare time, day shift also sets up cultures as they are received and performs and STAT gram stains.”

The theme for this year’s NMLW  was “Laboratory Professionals – The Heart of the Medical Investigation Team”.

“At TREK Diagnostic Systems, we honor those individuals who put their hearts into such a valuable role.  Medical technologists and technicians contribute so much to the overall betterment of patient care. TREK wishes to recognizes their commitment to the medical laboratory profession in addition to appreciating all that the medical technologists do to improve patient care, not only during NMLW but throughout the entire year,” said Les Stutzman, Global Director of Marketing for TREK Diagnostic Systems.

About Regional West Medical Center
As western Nebraska's largest hospital, Regional West Medical Center offers a full continuum of comprehensive health care services-from emergency care through outpatient rehabilitation. Since 1924, Regional West has grown from a small community hospital to a progressive-and impressive-regional referral center and is one of only three Level II Trauma Centers in Nebraska. An active medical staff of over 85 physicians and consulting specialists represents more than 30 medical specialties. Eight of every ten physicians have earned board certification, a benchmark of the highest professional standing in each medical specialty. The services provided are driven by the needs of the community-trauma care, cancer treatment, acute rehabilitation, neurology and neurosurgery and vascular services, to name just a few.

Regional West is, in the words of many visitors, "an urban hospital in a rural environment." Caring for health and well-being is our mission.

About TREK Diagnostic Systems
Founded in January 1999, TREK Diagnostic Systems is a global manufacturer and distributor of automated systems and consumable products for the microbiology diagnostic laboratory. Signature product lines include VersaTREK®, ESP®, Sensititre®, alamarBlue®, para-JEM®, YeastOne®, onSite®, and TREK Lab Services. TREK is committed to delivering the highest quality products and services to clinical, pharmaceutical, and veterinary diagnostic laboratories worldwide. 

For more information, contact Liz Lloyd at 216.485.1140 or via e-mail at elloyd@trekds.com