
Shown with the chemistry analyzers in the Chestertown hospital’s Laboratory Services are Medical Lead Scientist Anderson Griffith; Chester River Health Foundation Chair Libby Woolever, SMC at Chestertown Executive Director/VP of Rural Health Zack Royston; and Chestertown Lab Site Coordinator Karen Bitter.
The Laboratory Services Department at University of Maryland Shore Medical Center (UM SMC) at Chestertown is now home to two new chemistry analyzers, made possible by more than $300,000 in funding provided by the Chester River Health Foundation. UM SMC at Chestertown is University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) hospital; UM SRH is a member of organization of the University of Maryland Medical System.
“These new analyzers represent a significant technological advancement compared to our previous equipment,” said Julianna Hospodor, Director of Laboratory Services at UM SRH. “They provide overall faster processing and better cardiac readings, as well as some technologies we did not have before. We are so grateful to the foundation and its many donors for their generosity in making this new technology a reality for our hospital and our patients.”
Installing the analyzers first required significant updates to the Chestertown laboratory facilities, which began in 2021. “It was a lot of work to get the space ready,” said Hospodor. “Now that the new analyzers are installed and operational, this state-of-the art technology is consistent throughout our laboratory sites, and that consistency supports quality patient care.”
“The Board of Directors of the Chester River Health Foundation recognized the significant need to update the hospital’s laboratory equipment and we were happy to commit the necessary funding,” said Libby Woolever, foundation chair. “The lab team was a great partner in this project, working through the process with grace and commitment. It’s gratifying to see it come to fruition and to know that patients are benefiting from access to state-of-the-art laboratory services here in Chestertown.”
About University of Maryland Shore Regional Health
A member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of five counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot. UM SRH consists of approximately 2,000 team members, including more than 600 health care providers on the Medical Staff, who work with community partners to advance the values that are foundational to our mission: Compassion, Discovery, Excellence, Diversity and Integrity. For more information, visit https://www.umms.org/shore.
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
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