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    Laboratory Airmen ensure healthy force

    Laboratory Airmen ensure healthy force

    Photo By Tech. Sgt. Franklin Ramos | U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kristi Jordan, 97th Medical Support Squadron NCO in charge...... read more read more

    ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, OK, UNITED STATES

    01.15.2015

    Story by Senior Airman Franklin Ramos 

    97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

    The 97th Medical Support Squadron Laboratory conducts specific test which can help decide if Airmen are healthy for day to day operations and ready to deploy.

    “In order for you to deploy you have to be healthy and fit. The doctors don’t know what is going on with you until we give them the lab results so part of your pre-deployment is to get your tests done,” said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kristi Jordan, 97th MDSS NCO in charge of laboratory service. “We do these for your post and pre-deployments and we make sure that anything that is wrong with you we can analyze to ensure you are healthy and ready to deploy.”

    Not only does the lab test Airmen, they also take care of civilian employees, dependents and retirees. The tests are ordered by the patient’s provider and the results are logged into a system which the providers can access.

    “We make sure that if a provider sees you they ask of your symptoms and based off your symptoms they can order a lab test,” said Jordan. “We actually tell the doctor what is wrong with you based off your lab results. So the doctor has a general idea of your symptoms but if they think you have the flu they can’t tell until they give us the flu sample and we actually run the test.”

    “We enter it into our computer system and if it’s an abnormal or critical value we would call the provider and let them know ‘Hey, this is abnormal or critical’ so they can take care of the patient right away. If it’s normal we put it into the computer system that the providers can look through at their leisure if they need to,” said Jordan.

    Blood is not the only sample the laboratory uses to determine whether an individual is healthy or not.

    “Pretty much anything and everything that comes out of your body we can test for, so urine, sweat, blood, anything. If we can’t test it here then we ship it off to our reference lab,” said Jordan.

    Around 4,800 patients are tested annually. “I love interacting with the patients and I love being able to help people feel better and get better,” said Jordan.

    Although the 97th MDSS Laboratory is a small unit, it has a big impact on the mission and the lives of those supporting the mission.

    “It’s nice and rewarding that we help all Airmen and make sure they stay healthy, fit to fight, and deploy. At the end of the day everybody’s health and wellbeing is our goal and our mission,” said Jordan.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 01.15.2015
    Date Posted: 01.15.2015 09:29
    Story ID: 152039
    Location: ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, OK, US

    Web Views: 57
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN