PRR Update: Building the Blood Bank

By Christine Baker | April 12 2022

Recently, the Clinical Pathology Labs at University Hospital experienced a significant milestone as part of Phase 2.3 of the Pathology Renovation and Relocation project. First, the temporary walls enclosing the old autoline space within the Clinical Core Labs were removed, with much excitement from the staff. Previously, there was a long, circular route created to move from one side of the lab to the other. This was due to the construction occurring where the old autoline had been for over 12 years. 

Eric Vasbinder highlighted the changes near the new Seimens Autoline. When the new autoline was commissioned in November 2021, the old line was removed and temporary walls were put in place to allow our construction partners to renovate and upgrade the remaining portions of the Chemistry lab.

Another portion of important space was completed this week as well: the future Pathology Inventory Space (formerly known as “Path Stores"). Brooks Barnes gave a tour to Eric Vasbinder and Christine Baker to demonstrate where pallets will  soon be delivered and off-loaded, as well as where the new rack system will be installed.

And finally, the new Blood Bank Laboratory was unveiled, and work began towards the lengthy process of activating the new laboratory space. Under the leadership of Dr. Robertson Davenport and Terry Downs, the Blood Bank team met to review the space and make decisions related to the upcoming activation on May 15, 2022. The work to design the new Blood Bank dates back to 2016 when the team began the process of outlining their key process flows and modeling the ideal future state. "It was rewarding and exciting to see the culmination of so many years of effort by this talented team," says Christine Baker, the Project Manager for the PRR initiative.