ARMC Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Laboratory Services

Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) is celebrating the 50^th anniversary of its full-service Pathology and Clinical Laboratory department. As one of the hospital’s oldest services, it began with two staff members. Department services include the disciplines of blood bank, chemistry, coagulation, hematology, microbiology, serology, and urinalysis.

State-of-the art instrumentation in hematology and chemistry help the lab conduct nearly two million tests each year. The lab’s blood bank provides blood and blood products to patients in ARMC’s busy emergency department and trauma center. The lab also has a medical technology school that educates and trains laboratory interns to qualify and pass the state license for clinical laboratory scientist.

Recently, the lab has been instrumental in conducting COVID-19 tests for ARMC staff and the public, having performed more than 64,000 in-house tests to date.

“Our 50^th anniversary marks an important milestone to celebrate the strength and importance of the types of services we provide,” says Laboratory Medicine Chair Carolyn S. Leach, M.D. “Our group expects to continue to diversify as the needs of the laboratory and hospital continue to grow. We anticipate a stronger affiliation with California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM) Academic Pathologists in a fashion that can support both the hospital and the medical school. With the advancement of Molecular Diagnostics and Digital Pathology we plan to be able to expand use of these new tools for clinical diagnostic and teaching purposes.”

ARMC’s laboratory services officially started at the San Bernardino County Medical Center (SBCMC) before the Medical Center was moved to a new hospital and the name was changed to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center. The lab is accredited by the State of California, College of American Pathologists, and the Accreditation Commission for Health Care.