Stacey | Local Hero
Stacey is one of our Top Ten Depictions of DN winners and recently we had the pleasure of chatting to her about her nomination and her role at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals.
Stacey is a biomedical scientist working within the Clinical Chemistry and Immunology laboratory at Doncaster Royal Infirmary. She has been there for 14 years, starting as a Lab Assistant. Stacey explained how any bodily fluid test (For example, a blood test) taken within local hospitals or at your GP are tested in the lab and the results passed back to the clinician.
The departments are determined through the types of tests they perform and Stacey explained how there are a lot of team members, all different ages from all over the world. “I really love the people I work with”, “it's a really lovely place to work”. Biomedical scientists test for allergies, autoimmune conditions, cancers, COVID, hormones and much more.
Speaking of the department, Stacey said “On average we do about three and a half thousand requests within the main lab every day.” Working 24 hours a day, seven days a week as there will always be medical emergencies which require test results.
Stacey spoke of how the beginning of the pandemic “was quite a scary time” with colleagues contracting the virus and not knowing how to keep safe but still having to go into work through lockdown.
I asked Stacey why she felt her job role was important, she said “It's hugely related to patient care and we're so depended on. We've constantly got doctors ringing saying, ‘try out this test’ and ‘find out that test’. They know how important the test results are to be able to treat the patients and diagnose what's wrong with them.”
“If a patient had a heart attack or a paracetamol overdose, for example, we can tell that in a blood test. These things are medical emergencies and needed to be diagnosed quickly.”
Stacey spoke of how she felt when she placed in the Top Ten of Depictions of DN – “it's just the recognition that's nice. And people realising what goes on behind the scenes.”
We asked Stacey if there were any stories she wouldn’t mind sharing with us to explain more of what the last year has been like for her. She spoke of when the antibody test was introduced in 2020:
“When the government decided that the antibody testing was something that the NHS would be testing for, it was my department that originally under took that task. We had to test all NHS staff, all the local police, all the local health teams. Everybody had to have an antibody test. We were literally getting 1000s.”
“That really sticks in my mind, how everybody came together. From lab assistants to management, everybody just worked as a team and got the job done”
We finally asked Stacey what has kept her going through the last year during the pandemic, she said “I think it has been still being able to go to work and having that routine. We were lucky enough to still have our colleagues to be around so we weren’t isolated like some people working from home. I think that was important. I'm lucky enough to live with my boyfriend, and he's supportive as well. My family are really proud too”
Thank you, Stacey. You and your team are amazing! Congratulations on being in our Top Local Heroes.
Our Top Local Heroes have taken part in a film shoot with artist James Lockey as a way to profile their work and celebrate their achievements. Along with a beautiful film score composed by Hayley Youell, the film was featured in this year’s DN Festival of Light.
Watch the Depictions of DN Film by James Lockey here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyzO1E-FF6Y