News Photo by Barbara Woodham A patient waits in their vehicle to enter the new pre-procedure COVID-19 collection clinic located in the former Pennzoil building next to the auto wash on Chisholm Street in Alpena on Tuesday.

ALPENA — Dealing with biohazards can be a dangerous business, but it’s all in a day’s work for the nearly four dozen lab employees at MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena.

“That is what we signed up for,” Jon Kortman, senior technologist at the lab, said.

Forty three employees work in the lab performing testing for COVID-19 as well as routine illnesses, all in the hopes of keeping patients safe and healthy.

MyMichigan recently opened a new pre-procedure COVID-19 collection clinic in the former Pennzoil building on Chisholm Street in Alpena aimed at making testing easier for patients going in for surgery,

Patients with a pre-arranged appointment, pull up to the garage doors and drive through for testing, while remaining in their vehicles.

According to Mariflor Ramirez, lab manager for the hospital, this is a much better option than the previous location in the hospital parking lot, where weather became a serious issue. The location is specifically designed to test patients before they have any procedure done at the hospital or other MyMichigan facility, and is not open to the general public for basic COVID-19 testing.

“The test is done 48 to 72 hours ahead of the procedure and the patient is then told to quarantine until the time of procedure,” Trevor Davidson, a senior technologist at the lab, said.

Davidson and Kortman described their days as a constant challenge to keep the lab stocked with necessary personal protection gear, tests, tubing, and other materials they use on a daily basis.

“It takes a lot of teamwork,” Ramirez said. “We try to keep two to three weeks ahead of the game.”

Davidson said he and his team have managed to keep the lab stocked by ordering early and even borrowing from other facilities, when necessary.

“It has been a struggle from day one,” Davidson said. “We are not excluded from the supply chain shortage. We are constantly monitoring every day.”

Kortman said these have been the most trying times of his career.

He said team members are grateful for the support they have received from their families and support systems at home after long, stressful days in the lab.

Dealing with biohazards every day can be dangerous, but team members said they are trained to be very careful. During the pandemic, team members said they have perfected those skills even more to make testing outlets like the pre-procedure clinic possible.

“The clinic is a way for our providers to do a deep study to make sure that a patient is COVID negative,” Ramirez said.