State-of-the-art medical laboratory calls Newton home

A long thought about the idea to build a state-of-the-art medical laboratory came to light in 2014 for Health Enterprises of Iowa.

The nonprofit company that strives to provide select medical services in a community-based manner moved into a former Maytag building at 353 W. Fourth St. N. Suite 100 after about a year of renovation. HEI is jointly owned by a group of more than 20 of the state’s hospitals — including Skiff Medical Center.

“This lab is unique because we are currently doing hospital work for Skiff Medical Center, and then we plan to get reference testing from a number of different hospitals,” Director of Laboratory Services, Deb Corlew said.

Corlew said that a number of Iowa’s hospitals have to go out of state to get testing completed and she envisions her laboratory becoming a regional destination. However, she said servicing the local patients at Skiff and other HEI hospitals is still a top priority.

“(HEI) is always looking for ways to help their member hospitals,” Corlew said. “There are a lot of tests that we will be able to do on a daily basis.”

By forming this lab, she said, they are saving hospitals a lot of money, which has become invaluable as many smaller regional hospitals in the state are looking for more and more ways to cut costs.

Skiff has been no exception to this situation. Corlew said it was part of Skiff’s strategic plan to partner with HEI on this lab. Since the new lab has been functional, Skiff has closed its lab facilities.

“By being close to Skiff Medical Center, we were able to take most of the laboratory services out of the hospital and place them here,” Corlew said. “Right now, we are just doing work for Skiff but a few months down the road, we will have other hospitals that we will be doing work for. We just hope to keep growing from there.”

The lab does all clinical tests involving blood and bodily fluids. HEI has 13 staff members at the lab and three phlebotomists who are still stationed at Skiff. Corlew clarified that if patients needed blood drawn, they should still go to Skiff.

She said the phlebotomists are available 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 7 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.

Corlew said the proximity to Interstate 80 and the available space, for possible expansion, offered at the location helped make Newton a desirable location for HEI to place its newest endeavor.

“Hopefully, it will grow to be a really big and busy lab. That’s the other part about the community interest, we hope to grow jobs here as well,” Corlew said.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at
641-792-3121 ext. 6534
or jpierson@newtondailynews.com