MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 28, 2011
BGH Laboratory Services Under the Microscope for 2011 Foundation Annual Appeal
Brockville and district—The Brockville and District Hospital Foundation (BDHF) has launched its Annual Appeal for 2011, aiming to raise
$135,000 for BGH Laboratory Services equipment.
“This year, we are supporting the Brockville General Hospital Laboratory Services’ commitment to achieving the next stage of service excellence
with Telepathology,” says Joan McLaughlin, Executive Director of the BDHF.
Telepathology is the use of electronic imaging and information transfer to allow instant transmitting and sharing of digital images of pathology
samples for second, expert opinion in support of diagnosis—enabling fast and accurate diagnosis for patients regardless of where they live.
“Telepathology is changing the way laboratory and pathology services are provided to patients, and enhancing a lab’s ability to achieve timely
and accurate diagnosis,” explains Dr. Naguib Yassa, Chief of Pathology at Brockville General Hospital (BGH) and Director of Laboratories. “Once
the slides are scanned, Telepathology allows the slide images and records to be accessed instantaneously, even off-site. Specialist
consultations can happen in real time through simultaneous image readings and discussion, offering possible same-day diagnosis once the slides
are available.”
Even if a pathologist is not on-site on a particular day, the imaging and information system will make access and consult possible at a
distance, adds Yassa.
For patients and families possibly facing a battle with cancer, time is of the essence.
BGH Laboratory Services is a department in the hospital out of public view where 40 staff quietly and consistently provide one pillar of
clinical management service for the community hospital—as approximately 75% of patient care management decisions are based on laboratory
results. The BGH Laboratory processes over 4,500 surgical cases a year, generating 7,000 specimens annually. At least 15% percent of all cases
are cancer-related. What now takes days or even weeks to achieve, Telepathology would reduce to a wait time of only days or even hours, once
slides are prepared.
“Laboratory Services connect to every aspect of patient care within the hospital,” says Dr. Yassa, “whether in-patient or out-patient. The
equipment purchased will provide faster accurate diagnosis, whether in pathology,or hematology. Improved clinical support means enhanced
patient care for the people of Leeds and Grenville.”
The BDHF Annual Appeal will run to December 24th.
In the BGH Lab, Chief of Pathology Dr. Naguib Yassa (seated) and Lab Manager Susan Pugh examine a set of
“slides”—one of the traditional forms of clinical data analysis they hope will become obsolete with the acquisition of Telepathology for BGH
Lab Services.
For more information,
please contact:
