Guyana Ministry of Health
National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week
Awards Reception
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel, Georgetown, Guyana

Keynote Address
by Ellen Hope Kearns, PhD, SH(ASCP)
Vice Chair, Globalization Committee
American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Registry

Honorable Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Minister of Health Dr. Ramsammy, PAHO/WHO Representative Dr. Hedwig Huda, Ministry of Health staff, laboratory professionals and students of Guyana, and distinguished guests.

It is indeed an honor for me to be with you on this beautiful evening in the beautiful country of Guyana. I want to thank Ms. Yvette Irving (the new Acting Director of Standards and Technical Services for the Ministry of Health) for asking the American Society for Clinical Pathology to send a representative to help you celebrate National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week.

ASCP first connected with Guyana within the past year through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program. Through a cooperative agreement with the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ASCP has been providing training for laboratory professionals in African countries with a high incidence of HIV/AIDS for two years now. About two months ago ASCP sent its first team to Guyana to meet with laboratory officials and discuss your training needs. Since then, the ASCP team has been customizing its training manuals, and in about two weeks, ASCP will conduct its first Training of Trainers program. This program will provide instruction in chemistry and hematology. It will also train the participants to provide the same instruction to other laboratory professionals in Guyana. ASCP also is developing a training program in various aspects of laboratory management for Guyana.

So that was the first step. During that initial visit to Guyana, ASCP representatives learned about your interest in bringing ASCP international certification to Guyana. I came here this week as a representative of ASCP for two reasons: first, to celebrate Lab Week with you, and second, to begin a dialogue about the ASCP international certification process.

Upon my arrival at the airport, having come across the United States and to the Caribbean, I was wondering what I might experience here. I came with no expectations – just a few presentations to share information about the ASCP international certification process. Over the past several days, I have had the privilege of meeting many of you in the laboratory community in Guyana for the first time. I am so grateful for your warm welcomes, your friendliness, and your sincere enthusiasm for improving laboratory testing. Thank you for making me feel at home.

These few short days here in your beautiful country have inspired me -- as I hope to inspire you -- to keep working to implement a modern medical laboratory testing system that serves as a model for other countries.

On Sunday morning (April 22, 2007), a record number of 70 laboratory professionals launched the national Lab Week celebration by walking hand in hand down the streets of Georgetown. Your chanting of the Lab Week theme, “Quality Care from Quality Professionals,” is still ringing in my ears. By turning out in such numbers, you made people take notice that you take your job seriously. With your signs, you sent the message that Guyana has moved beyond the old days of chaotic testing and treatment services. Wearing the signs of other nations, you showed that you have joined the international community in its effort to eradicate AIDS and other illness by improving the quality of your services. I am proud to have marched with you – despite the blistering heat and the blisters now on my feet!

I was also impressed to see the Prime Minister marching with the laboratory professionals. He obviously doesn’t just talk the talk, but on Sunday he literally walked the walk to show his support for improving laboratory testing for the people of Guyana.

I also commend the efforts of the Minister of Health to raise standards for both laboratories and laboratory professionals in Guyana. Through his leadership, Guyana is putting itself not only the on the map of the Caribbean, but also on the map of the world.

What you are experiencing here in this country today is nothing less than historic. Each of you is part of the effort to build a framework for a new society. As a young country, Guyana has to put in place a lot of new systems. The United States did this same thing a few hundred years ago. It set up laws and regulations for a new society. Today, Guyana is fortunate to have the vision of Ms. Yvette Irving, who knows how to tap resources from leading experts in the international community. By working with these groups instead of going it alone, Guyana will make giant steps forward very quickly to improve the health and well being of its citizens. Pending legislative initiatives for improving health facilities and the quality of laboratory professionals are critical for Guyana to progress.

What a joy it has been to meet this week with Valerie Wilson of the Caribbean Epidemiology Center (CAREC) and to learn first hand of the progress made through the reform initiative. ASCP has visited other PEPFAR countries in Africa who are not as fortunate to have experienced the kind of intervention that Guyana has over the past five years.

And what a joy it has been for me to meet and talk with so many of you this week. I have heard you loudly and clearly talk about the challenges you are facing with the limited resources and other constraints. I know that sometimes it must seem that the problems are insurmountable. But just think about how far you have come in just a few short years. It may actually seem harder today for you than it did five years ago, because you may not have understood then how much hard work it was going to take.

One of my favorite authors, the educator Leo Buscaglia, once said, “To know and not to do, is not really yet to know.” Today, you know now what it takes to provide high quality laboratory services, and you are doing it. It only seems harder now because you are better educated. You have learned about the steps you have to take to make improvements. All you can do is to keep taking each step, one at a time, and five years from now, you can look back and say, “I didn’t quit when it seemed too hard. I kept working, and look how much more progress we have made. I never could have imagined we could have come so far.” And you will say that five years from now. You will say that one year from now. You can already say that today.

One laboratory professional I met today told us she loves her work. She had not slept in over 24 hours – her love of country and love of her profession resounded in her voice and her tired eyes. She said she cared so much, but, she added, she has small shoulders. She feels the weight of her responsibility, and it is a heavy load indeed. She is right. It IS a heavy load for everyone, but as long as everyone here carries their share of the burden, together you all move forward.

On this journey, there will be many differences of opinion, as I’m sure you already know. That’s OK. That just means you all care. What’s important is that you not give up. That you keep fighting for improvements in laboratory quality. That you remember the reason you all are working so hard is not just for your personal advancement, but for the health and wellbeing of your loved ones and fellow citizens.

As a representative of ASCP, I have witnessed first hand your personal dedication and commitment to strengthening medical laboratory services and personnel. I salute you. It has been said that each journey begins with a single step. I say, you have already taken many steps forward on your journey, and ASCP looks forward to accompanying you on the rest of this journey. On a personal note, I just want to say that I can’t think of a better place to celebrate my birthday today that right here among my laboratory colleagues of the great nation of Guyana. Thank you!