Let’s get clinical: lab techs keep Fairchild healthy

Staff Sgt. Jessica Portilla, 92nd Medical Support Squadron laboratory technician, draws blood from Gisele Bekemeyer, a patient, in the lab at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., Feb. 8, 2013. Bekemeyer has been coming to the lab since 1965. The laboratory technicians support more than 30-thousand beneficiaries, including active duty, retirees and dependents. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jordan Pollock)

Let’s get clinical: lab techs keep Fairchild healthy

Staff Sgt. Jessica Portilla, 92nd Medical Support Squadron laboratory technician, plates a negative streptococcus swab from a patient to confirm the test results are negative at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., Feb. 8, 2013. The 92nd Medical Group offers strep throat testing for active duty, retirees and dependents on a walk in basis as long as the patient is over 4-years old. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jordan Pollock)

Let’s get clinical: lab techs keep Fairchild healthy

Lana Jones, 92nd Medical Support Squadron laboratory technician, draws blood from Airman 1st Class Tony Tran, 92nd communications squadron knowledge operator, at Fairchild Air Force Base Wash., Feb. 8, 2013. The lab techs either push the blood samples through an analyzer to get quick results, or they observe the blood sample through the microscope for a more detailed analysis. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jordan Pollock)

Let’s get clinical: lab techs keep Fairchild healthy

Staff Sgt. Jessica Portilla, 92nd Medical Support Squadron laboratory technician, looks through a microscope at a gram stain slide to determine the presence or absence of bacteria in a urine sample in the lab at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., Feb. 8, 2013. The lab tech can go through an average of 75 to 100 blood samples and other specimens daily. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jordan Pollock)

Let’s get clinical: lab techs keep Fairchild healthy

Staff Sgt. Jessica Portilla, 92nd Medical Support Squadron laboratory technician, observes a pseudomonas plate in the lab at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., Feb. 8, 2013. Portilla plated this strand of pseudomonas for quality control to make sure the analyzers are working properly in the laboratory. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jordan Pollock)

Let’s get clinical: lab techs keep Fairchild healthy

Published Feb. 19, 2013

USAF. (U.S. Air Force Graphic by Rosario "Charo" Gutierrez)