“It’s great construction because it’s our construction,” Connie Broers, administrative laboratory director, said.

Faith Nilhas, left, and Sharon Mader work in Lawrence Memorial Hospital’s laboratory on Wednesday, April 28, 2010. The lab has been in the same space for three decades. Meanwhile, the workload has doubled in that time. The lab performs about 500,000 tests per year. The lab’s space will nearly double as part of a renovation project that is expected to be complete in 15 months. by Kevin Anderson

She said the lab’s work has grown as the hospital has grown, especially when oncology services were added in 2000.

Broers estimates the lab performs about 500,000 tests annually. They are equipped to do about 400 different types of tests.

With the expansion, they will have room to do even more tests. It also will bring them into the 21st century.

“As the technology has changed, laboratories have changed a lot in the way they operate,” Broers said. “Instruments have been combined, so different types of space is required to get them in.”

The lab operates 24/7, every day of the year. It does everything from simple blood and urine tests to sophisticated tests while patients are in surgery. The lab work is crucial to patient care.

“The quicker you can get a lab test done, the quicker that doctor has that information to act on,” Broers said. “It may increase the treatment time or decrease the length of stay for a patient, so the laboratory can have a lot of impact on the patient’s outcome.”

Construction work is under way Wednesday, April 28, 2010, in Lawrence Memorial Hospital’s former surgery department. The space is being renovated to include new space for the hospital’s lab, Pain Management Clinic and Endoscopic Center. by Kevin Anderson

Besides expanding the laboratory, the renovation project includes relocating the Pain Management Clinic and Endoscopic Center from LMH South, at the southwest corner of Clinton Parkway and Kasold Drive, into the space. The pain clinic will occupy 3,750 square feet of space, while the Endoscopic Center will take up 7,000 square feet.

LMH President and CEO Gene Meyer said the new location will be more convenient for both doctors and patients.

The pain clinic performed 3,600 procedures in 2009, while the Endoscopic Center did 2,900 procedures.

The entire renovation project is expected to be completed in 15 months.

Skanda Skandaverl, director of facilities at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, gives a tour Wednesday, April 28, 2010, of the construction work being done in the old surgery department. by Kevin Anderson