Through a variety of fundraising efforts, the employees of Diagnostic Laboratory of Oklahoma (DLO) provided 310 food baskets and 213 turkeys to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) to feed families for Thanksgiving this year.

"The employees of DLO have partnered with DHS for many years now to provide meals for families at Thanksgiving time,” said Jim McKissick, DLO’s chief people officer. “This is entirely an employee-driven inspiration and event. Our employees hold fund raising events at our facilities from bake sales, breakfasts, lunches, and craft sales to some highly creative funding activities. They have great fun and try to outdo each other each year to increase our support over the previous year.”

Through the employee fundraising efforts, DLO staff purchased much needed Thanksgiving foods such as canned goods, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and dessert items.

Just before going off to purchase the food basket items, DLO received a call from DHS with a plea for turkeys. A company that normally donates 175 turkeys to go along with DLO’s food baskets was unable to provide their usual donation. Since DLO’s fundraising was already allocated to purchase food basket items, Tabitha Guyton, DLO’s human resources associate generalist, and Tina Moore, DLO’s customer support manager, visited several Oklahoma City metro Walmart and Sam’s Club locations to ask for turkey donations. Through their efforts and the generosity of Walmart and Sam’s Club, DLO was able to supply 213 turkeys to go along with the 310 food baskets.

“Our employees understand how privileged we are and want to share with those in need,” McKissick said. “And although they do have fun, the most joy they have is when they see the mountain of food being loaded onto the trucks and headed out to feed more than 300 families who need and deserve a good meal during the Thanksgiving holiday season.”

Finding the right candidates with the necessary skills and personality for health care positions can be a challenge. In order to improve recruiting and retention efforts, Diagnostic Laboratory of Oklahoma (DLO) has connected with Rose State College in Midwest City, Okla., to expose students to job opportunities available with DLO through tours at its Core laboratory in Oklahoma City. Carlo Ledesma, a DLO lab supervisor who also serves as the medical laboratory technology program director at Rose State, arranged the tours to give students additional insight into the day-to-day operations of a laboratory.

“It is a win-win situation for both the Rose State students and DLO by providing the students the exposure to the laboratory operations and giving DLO the opportunity to sell our job opportunities and benefits programs that can be available to them upon graduation,” said Ledesma.

Providing lab tours is just one of a variety of strategies DLO has instituted to improve its recruitment of key technical positions, such as medical technologists, phlebotomists, and specimen processing staff. DLO recently hired its first ever medical technology training and education manager to help create a program to support current and future needs for skilled technical employees at its laboratories across the state.

Rachel Davidson has worked at DLO for more than 14 years, starting as a specimen processor in Microbiology in 2002. During her time, she has also been a medical technologist and group lead in Microbiology, and most recently was the quality assurance specialist for DLO. Davidson will assist Kim Holloway, DLO’s chief operations officer, and Human Resources in the development of a new recruiting and training program.

“I am excited to take on this new challenge to help Oklahoma’s leading diagnostic laboratory,” said Davidson. “DLO’s success is a direct result of the highly skilled staff and quality standards we achieve for the patients and physicians of Oklahoma.”

Davidson, along with DLO’s HR and Marketing departments, will review current job descriptions, produce digital and print media for recruitment events, increase social media and job site postings, and examine the current hiring process for technical positions. The group also plans to produce a series of videos to educate individuals who are considering a health care career on the various job duties and required characteristics needed to be successful.

“Evaluating all aspects of our recruitment and hiring process will enable DLO to employ the right people to serve our patients and providers, reduce turnover, and create a wonderful work environment for all employees,” said Davidson.