ROUND ROCK, Texas — Across the state, lab workers are getting COVID-19 tests and processing them to get back to the patients.
"Our job is to take that specimen and turn it into something that the physician or clinician can use to turn it into diagnosis, but nobody really knows who we are or what we do," said Denise Cushing, the regional laboratory director at Baylor Scott & White for the Austin and Hill Country regions.
In her role, Cushing sees over nine hospitals and more than 40 clinics.
"We've been inundated," Cushing said. "It's been an increase all around for us."
Cushing said sometimes it seemed like there weren't enough hours in the day. However, she said her team was good about keeping turnaround times short.
"Our nurses acknowledge, the physicians acknowledge – we get a lot of kudos because they know for a long time we kind of carried the load as far as the only thing we had was testing," Cushing said.
She said testing began in early March. Cushing said her typical job shifted to "full-time management of COVID-19.
Cushing doesn't consider herself a hero, but she does praise the work of her team, along with ER and ICU nurses.
"In the lab, we’re very introverted, and so our preference is to actually be behind the scenes," said Cushing. "Our organization has been really good about including us and celebrating us."
Cushing said news of the vaccine is "the light at the end of the tunnel".
"Kudos to those pharmacy friends. I'm ready to pass that testing baton and they can take over the therapeutic baton. I'm very excited, and I hope we get to the point where we don't need this test as much as we do now," she said.
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