FORT RUCKER, Ala. (April 22, 2013) -- National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week is April 22-26.

It is a time to honor the more than 300,000 medical laboratory professionals across the nation who perform and interpret laboratory tests that save lives and keep people healthy.

The theme of this year's celebration is Laboratory Professionals Get Results. Laboratory technologists and technicians at Lyster Army Health Clinic are among the many unsung heroes of medical health care.

Using state-of-the-art technology and instrumentation, laboratory professionals help to prevent disease by detecting unknown health problems, and by aiding in the diagnosis and treatment of existing conditions by giving accurate, timely test results.

"We are proud of the work we do," said Karla D. Moorehead, chief of laboratory services. "We have to be painstakingly meticulous in performing our jobs to provide dependable answers to our health care providers."

Health care providers rely heavily on lab tests to make diagnoses, thus laboratory professionals are critical components of the health care system. Results of laboratory tests often identify the presence of disease in its earliest stages, when the possibilities of a cure are greatest and when treatment is least costly. In performing and interpreting more than 10 billion laboratory tests annually, laboratory professionals are indeed frontline responders.

Medical laboratory professionals represent a variety of specialties, including pathologists, medical technologists, medical laboratory scientists, clinical laboratory scientists, medical laboratory technicians, clinical laboratory technicians, histotechnologists, histologic technicians, cytotechnologists, cytopathologists, phlebotomy technicians, clinical chemists, microbiologists, laboratory managers and medical educators.

These professionals can be found in hospitals, doctors' offices, clinics, research facilities, blood banks, public health centers, the armed forces, universities and industry.

Within the laboratory, these highly educated and experienced medical laboratory professionals may work in chemistry, serology, hematology, cytology, microbiology, immunology, coagulation, histology, urinalysis, molecular biology or the blood bank.

Lyster Army Health Clinic is proud to have such an outstanding team of laboratory professionals who give countless hours of dedicated service to Soldiers and Families in the Fort Rucker community.