Open letter to employees, technologists, professionals and physicians of the Optilab laboratory medicine clusters in Quebec

We, the medical and clinical-administrative directors of the Optilab laboratory medicine clusters in Quebec, sincerely thank you for your hard work and dedication. In the extremely challenging context of COVID-19 for laboratory personnel, you put all your expertise and energy into serving Quebecers every day to provide reliable laboratory analyses that are essential to care.

Thanks to you, millions of molecular virology COVID screening tests have been performed in microbiology departments. Your work has enabled the development of sophisticated new assays using next generation gene sequencing in the molecular genetics departments. These analyses are now available to the Quebec population for personalized cancer medicine. Thanks to you, thousands of detailed examination of tissue and their characteristics, on which most treatment decisions depend, are made every day in the pathology services. In addition, sophisticated coagulation analyses are made in hematology services for the management of people with hemophilia and high-throughput tests of pharmacological molecules are completed in biochemistry services. Furthermore, through the analyses performed in the transfusion medicine departments, you allow decisions to be made that are sometimes vital in emergency situations.

These examples represent a small fraction of the procedures performed every day in the clinical laboratories of Quebec hospitals. None of this would be possible without you. You are this network and we are immensely proud and honored to work alongside you.

We thank you for all the work you do in the laboratories of Quebec hospitals, for your willingness and your talent. We wish you and your loved ones happy holidays and a Happy New Year!

Dany Aubry, René Bergeron, Mélanie Bernard, Normand Brassard, Enzo Caprio, Dr. Christian Carrier, Martin Coulombe, Dr. Jean-François Dermine, Dr. Jean Dubé, Dr. Linda Lalancette, Bruno Lamontagne, Dr. Emmanuelle Lemyre, Dr. François Lessard, André Lortie, Dr. Daniele Marceau, Zied Ouechteti, Dr. Jean-François Paradis, Geneviève Plante, Annie Robitaille, Dr. Benoît Samson, Dr. Alan Spatz, Sylvie Thibeault, Sophie Verdon, Dr. André Vincent, Dr. Ewa Barbara Wesolowska