Thursday, August 16, 2001 • Vol 7, Issue 16
The big 3-0!
Hematology technician finds much to learn in her three decades at the Hutch, Alliance
By BRAD BROBERG
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PHOTO BY MICHELLE HRUBY
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| Carrie Limon is enthusiastic about her work in hematology at the Hutch and the Alliance. "Is there a place to go to work in this town in my field that is better? I don't think so!" |
Carrie Limon is dedicated, determined, dependable - and a little bit dangerous. But only if you make her laugh.
Limon has a habit of "sort of hitting you" when she gets excited, said Crystol Lee. It's a jovial gesture, but one that keeps friends on their toes. "We get out of her way when she starts laughing because we know she's going to hit you," Lee said with a chuckle.
Limon and Lee are longtime lab mates, first in the hematology lab at the Hutch and now in the expanded lab of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
How long? With 22 years under her belt, Lee is among the most senior staff of the Hutch and Alliance. But even Lee, lead tech in the hematology department, falls short of Limon. Last February marked her 30th year as a hematology lab technologist, making Limon the longest-serving staff member recognized in this year's Career Appreciation Program.
Pioneering team
Technically, Limon has worked for the Hutch and Alliance only 25 years. However, before that, she worked for the pioneering bone-marrow transplantation team led by Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, joining the Hutch with the rest of Thomas' team after the Center opened in 1975.
Limon said her son asked her how she could work in the same place for 30 years. Her response: "Is there a place to go to work in this town in my field that is better? I don't think so!"
For Limon, the carrot that has kept her at the Hutch and Alliance has been the chance to learn new things. "In a regular hospital, lab work is more like production," she said. "Doing research, there is so much to learn."
And Limon loves to learn. Anytime the lab gets a new piece of equipment or adopts a new procedure, Limon dives in until she "gets it down pat," said Lee.
While everyone in the lab takes turns performing weekly maintenance on the blood analyzer, Limon is the machine's unofficial troubleshooter and performs the more rigorous quarterly maintenance. "She just sort of took it upon herself and did it," Lee said.
Reliability is one of Limon's greatest strengths. "We can always depend on her," Lee said. "She never comes late and never leaves early."
Co-workers also have appreciated Limon's green thumb, as she frequently brought in flowers prior to working at the Alliance clinic building, where flowers are not allowed.
"I like flowers, I like vegetables, so why not grow them yourself?" said Limon, whose Bothell home features both a vegetable and perennial garden, plus a rose garden with 16 varieties of roses.
Looking back, Limon considers herself lucky. As a young girl growing up in the Philippines, the thought of coming to the United States and working for a world-renowned institution such as the Hutch "was only a dream to me."
Her brother helped her do both. First, he persuaded her to attend a medical technology program at the University of Santo Thomas in Manila. Then he helped her join him in America.
Limon landed her first job at Swedish Medical Center, where she was a lab assistant. Soon, however, she began seeking better opportunities. Intending to continue her education, she looked for a job at the University of Washington, where she could work and attend classes at the same time.
At that time, Thomas' transplant team was affiliated with the UW and was looking for a med tech to run complete blood counts on its patients.
"That's exactly what I had trained for in school," said Limon, who applied for the job and was hired.
Although Limon never followed through with her plan to attend the UW while she worked, joining Thomas and his groundbreaking team was an education in itself.
"I was learning things I had not seen in school or any other place," she said. "I could see it right in front of me."
Limon was the team's lone hematology med tech, but back then, one was enough. The team was treating only eight patients at a time in a unit at the old Seattle Public Health Hospital (now the home of Amazon.com).
In those days, there were no blood analyzers. Limon did complete blood counts manually. Today's sensitivity to blood-borne diseases makes blood analyzers necessary, but med techs still must learn the manual technique in the event machines fail, Limon said.
Over time, Limon has seen more and more machines developed that run more types of tests. That's especially true since she and other veterans of the Hutch hematology lab became part of the Alliance lab. After years of focusing on hematology, they've joined a team that does everything, including blood chemistry and urinalysis.
Welcome advances
Limon welcomes the advances in technology. Not only do they make the workplace safer, but they also allow the lab to keep pace with demands that has grown exponentially over the years, she said.
"We are extremely busy," Limon said, noting that doctors expect lab results for each patient in 30 minutes. "There's nothing we can put off for tomorrow," she said. By the time her shift is over, "I just want to relax and have a cup of tea."
Despite - or perhaps because of - the hectic pace, members of the hematology department are unusually close-knit. They laugh a lot and rarely leave for other jobs.
"It's a very friendly atmosphere," said Limon. "We're very happy here. That is why everybody stays so long. There is not much turnover - in fact, there is no turnover. We are like family!"
In the early days, Limon remembers getting to know patients personally. That doesn't happen anymore, but the lab staff still takes great interest in each case, she said.
"We get their blood every day, and we see the progress of what's going on every day. It's so rewarding to know that what we do here makes people well."
