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| Wendy Williams, a graduate of SCC’s Medical Laboratory Technology program, currently serves as the Director of Laboratory and Pathology Services for the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System in Boone. |
Wendy Williams, a 2005 graduate from Southwestern Community College’s Medical Laboratory Technology program, is now facing the Coronavirus pandemic head on as the Director of Laboratory and Pathology Services for the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System (ARHS) in Boone.
Recently, a confirmed case of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Watauga County led Western North Carolina public officials and health administrators to prepare for the pandemic to officially impact this region.
According to Williams, her organization has started its emergency operations/incident command protocol, assisting with the setup of off-site collection centers in Avery and Watauga Counties to serve outpatients for testing. They have also begun aiding local physicians offices, emergency departments and urgent care facilities with sample collection and processing.
“Right now, I believe the goal of all healthcare organizations is to work toward being able to manage patients outside of emergency departments and other medical offices,” said Williams. “We want to prevent our regional hospitals from being overwhelmed by the potential influx of cases, and we’re working diligently to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
Williams also reported that healthcare professionals are following CDC guidelines to prevent infection for themselves. This includes wearing gloves, gowns, eye protection and N95 health grade masks.
Through the pandemic, Williams credits her education at SCC with providing her many of the skills she is using in her position today.
“I use my technical skills from the MLT program at SCC in all of my daily work, and they are the basis for the development and growth I’ve had in my career as a medical technologist, operations manager and now a director,” says Williams. “The program gave me the skills to do all kinds of testing, and it also gave me a foundation for thinking about how laboratories help in the bigger picture of healthcare, like the COVID-19 pandemic happening right now.”
“The MLT program coordinator, Andrea Kennedy, was instrumental in helping me learn all the skills I needed. She always made sure I was successful in my education,” Williams added. “We've stayed in touch since I graduated, and have successfully worked to train multiple people from phlebotomists to MLTs using SCC’s online program and in-person labs within the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System.”
Kennedy offered similar praise to Williams, recognizing her as a standout student from the program.
"Wendy was an excellent student here, and I'm not surprised at all that she's making her mark on the world," Kennedy said. "At SCC, we really try to emphasize the hands-on learning from day one. We demand a lot from our students in this program, but hopefully it pays off in critical times like these."
While developments in the Coronavirus pandemic are ongoing and change daily, Williams echoes the CDC in emphasizing the importance of hygiene and sanitation, social distancing and being proactive if you think you may be ill, coronavirus or otherwise.
For more information on the Coronavirus pandemic, along with guidelines and procedures, please visit CDC.gov.
For more information on SCC’s Medical Laboratory Technology program, please contact Kennedy at andrea@southwesterncc.edu or 828.339.4312.
