61st Medical Squadron’s lab passes inspection with excellence

Senior Airman Jennifer Toney, a medical laboratory technician with the 61st Medical Squadron at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, California, looks for elements in a patient's urine sample microscopically. The 61st MDS laboratory recently passed a no-notice inspection from the College of American Pathologists, the leading organization of board-certified pathologists. The laboratory surpassed CAP’s inspection with excellence. The inspector stated this was the highest performing lab ever seen, rating it in the top one-half percent of all labs nationally. (U.S. Air Force photo / Jim Spellman)

61st Medical Squadron’s lab passes inspection with excellence

Capt. Dorothy Ridenour, chief of the 61st Medical Squadron’s Diagnostic Element at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, California, shares the results of chemistry linearity studies from the College of American Pathologists to Staff Sgt. Laurie-Mhae Turla, center, and Senior Airman Jennifer Toney, 61st MDS medical laboratory technicians. The 61st MDS laboratory recently passed a no-notice inspection from the leading organization of board-certified pathologists. The CAP inspector stated it was the highest performing lab ever seen, rating it in the top one-half percent of all labs nationally. (U.S. Air Force photo / Jim Spellman)

61st Medical Squadron’s lab passes inspection with excellence

Published April 6, 2017
By James Spellman, Jr.

LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The 61st Medical Squadron laboratory recently passed a no-notice inspection from the College of American Pathologists. The leading organization of board-certified pathologists, CAP serves patients, pathologists, and the public by fostering and advocating excellence in the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine worldwide.

In true Space and Missile Systems Center fashion, the 61st MDS’s laboratory surpassed CAP’s inspection with excellence. The inspector stated this was the highest performing lab she had ever seen, rating it in the top one-half percent of all labs nationally.

CAP’s Laboratory Accreditation Program inspects a variety of laboratory settings from complex university medical centers to physician office laboratories, and covers a complete array of disciplines and testing procedures. CAP accredits the entire spectrum of laboratory test disciplines with the most scientifically rigorous customized checklist requirements. Their peer-based inspector model provides a unique balance of regulatory and educational coaching supported by the most respected worldwide pathology organization.

“Capt. Dorothy Ridenour, the Diagnostic Element chief, her team, and their lab are amazing -- and more amazing yet are their attitudes. They do whatever is optimum and that requires extreme dedication and attention to details,” said Col. (Dr.) Paul Hoerner, 61st MDS commander.

“Once again, it is even more impressive that they do it with no complaints and a clear-headed realization of its importance to our patients,” Hoerner explained. “Their efforts to increase laboratory services at the Fort MacArthur Clinic in San Pedro for Los Angeles AFB residents have been a big factor in the increased number of patients who are choosing to receive care at that location.”