“Technology has impacted the volume of samples we can prepare and the number of issues pathologists can identify. When I started in this department in 1999, a busy day saw us creating 1,200 tissue sample blocks. Now that’s a slow day. On a busy day, we’ll process 2,600 blocks.”

“Thankfully, the demand for what we do has just grown and grown. I think people understand the value more. We’re always trying to do more, to go faster, striving to be better.”

“I’m used to working on shaky ground; the trick is having a good foundation,” Francene Starko jokes. She’s comparing her recent home-building experience to a uniquely long career at DynaLIFE.

“So I knew that being a lab technologist would let me do it in a way that worked. Plus, I loved science. I knew in high school that I wanted to work in the medical lab. DynaLIFE supported me through university, and now I get to do some of that for others.”

“I found a home here. That’s something I think many people don’t realize about DynaLIFE. It’s a real community, with an extended family type of atmosphere. That’s always been very important to me,” she says.

Greg leads DynaLIFE’s Facilities and Materials Management team, which is like the organization’s vital organ. If his departments aren’t pumping – buying, stocking and distributing materials to their many facilities across the province – critical lab work isn’t flowing.

“DynaLIFE is truly interested in making sure people in our community have the tools and resources to enter the workforce, and have a good quality of life,” Heintz says. She speaks with energy and conviction that is controlled but cannot disguise her passion.

Litwin’s passion for learning got him where he is today, in a position that demonstrates the value of education and training for the entire DynaLIFE team.

As Cairney tells it, DynaLIFE’s ability to serve patients during such challenges is only possible because of the unparalleled compassion, sacrifice and determination of her team and the DynaLIFE family.