ASCLS-IL members Toula Castillo and Yolanda Sanchez were present to promote ASCLS and the CLS profession at the Illinois Science Teachers Association on November 12-13 in Peoria, Ill. 

The Chicago branch had expressed their desire to the state board of directors to send members to help promote CLS/CLT programs as well as the profession.  Both Castillo and Sanchez were happy to talk to all the teachers about Clinical Laboratory Science as a profession and also as a career opportunity for their students.  Sanchez said that many of them had no idea what CLS was or the level of education that we are required to have as laboratory professionals.

Sanchez said that while she and Castillo bombarded them with statistics on the current and projected workforce shortage, they also encountered many who were familiar with CLS, having been one themselves before turning to teaching or having a family member who works in profession. Sanchez said that one of the best highlights of the time there was being approached by the President of ISTA, Gwen Pollock, who stated she was once a Medical Techologist and was very happy to see us there. 

Pollock asked if they would write an article for their newsletter, as well as recommending that we also send representatives to exhibit at the Illinois Health Occupations Student Association’s conference in Decatur in March 2010. 

Castillo said that the ASCLS video playing, A Life Saved, generated by ASCLS used to illustrate the vital importance of the clinical laboratory in the diagnosis and treatment of disease was a tremendous impact when visitors to the booth stopped to watch.  They provided flyers talking about the profession and a list of schools in the state of Illinois that currently offer degrees in CLS/CLT.

Anh Strow, program director of the CLT program at Illinois Central College and President-Elect of ASCLS-IL, provided Castillo and Sanchez with a PowerPoint presentation that her students designed and burned onto CDs.  The presentation went into the different areas of the clinical laboratory and showcased the path of the specimen through the different areas of the laboratory.  They also displayed this and the science teachers thought it was very innovative.  Strow also provided them with a number of copies of the PowerPoint that we distributed to the science teachers that visited the booth.

Castillo noted that as [they] spoke about the profession, the overall tone and reception was a positive one.  A few instructors knew who we were and what we did mainly because they had family members in the field, while the rest really had no idea what a medical laboratory scientist did and that it was even a career opportunity.  As we elaborated about the different areas of the laboratory, most instructors agreed that it was a worthwhile career and agreed to take the information back to their students and career counselors. 

Overall,  both Castillo and Sanchez had a very positive experience and hope that [they] at least scratched the surface and spread the knowledge of the wonderful career option of Clinical Laboratory Science.

CLS, CLT, ISTA, membership recruitment, promotion of the profession