Baby Boomer Cover Doesn't Reflect Generation

To the Editor:

Being a Baby boomer myself, I was interested to see what the article "What Baby Boomers Want" [Koehler A. 2009;21(9):10-11,13] would say about my generation. A few things I think you hit right on the head.

We are worried about our impending retirement or if we will even be able to retire at all.  We do want more flexibility in our schedules. We want to feel appreciated and utilized to our fullest potential. We just want to be valued.

Our generation has seen massive changes to the way laboratory work is done, the way hospitals are run and the way healthcare is managed. We'd like to think we have paid our dues and now would like to reap a few rewards for that, such as flexible scheduling and the end of pulling night shifts.

There is one thing I must take exception with and that is the image of the woman on the front cover. Maybe that is because, as you say, we baby boomers tend to think of ourselves as 10 years younger than we really are. Maybe it is because boomers think of themselves as young and hip, not old and done.

This woman looks a bit older and dresses the part of an older woman. We boomers would never wear a garden party hat, pearl earrings, makeup (especially cherry red lipstick) and our brand new outfit outside to work in our garden. It's more like our favorite faded jeans and a T-shirt from our latest vacation. Makeup, if we wore any at all, would be earth tones or naturals.

The woman on the cover gives us more of a feeling of the generation before ours-the generation of June Cleavers. And if there is something the boomer generation is not, it is a generation of June Cleavers.

So airbrush your cover, fade the jeans and put some dirt on her gloves. We boomers are an active, "go get 'em" generation not soon to be put out to pasture.

--Eileen Smith, MT(ASCP),
Senior medical technologist,
Hematology laboratory,
VCU Health System,
Richmond, VA 

Gen Y MT Values Boomer Relationships

To the Editor:

I read the article "What Baby Boomers Want," and also the letter from Paula Perry in the May 18 issue, "Boomer, Gen Y Relationship Is Essential." I thought you might also like to hear from a Gen Y laboratorian.

I have been working in the clinical lab for more than 3 years now. My first step into a "real lab" was at the age of 19, when I began my clinical rotation or internship at a moderately-sized hospital lab. At that time I was bursting with excitement, and I was so anxious to begin using all the skills I had acquired in school. However, I was also terrified.

I am so thankful for the wonderful relationship I soon formed with the baby boomer generation. I was eager to glean any advice I could from them. To me, they were masters of a trade, and I was a young, inexperienced apprentice, ready to soak up all new information like a sponge. These wise techs took me and other Gen Yers under their wing, and made sure we didn't get left behind.

At my current job, I still look at these wonderful people as mentors. Many of my coworkers are old enough to be my parents, but we all get along great. They are incredibly patient with me. I still get excited when I see something rare or amazing, and they will humor me by patiently listening or looking at my great "discovery" (aka pseudo-parasite, artifact, etc.)

I want them to impress their wisdom upon me, because I know they possess knowledge I can't acquire by all the studying and reading possible. Their experience is worth more than that. They taught me everything about the lab that you can't learn in school. Most importantly, we all respect each other.

I am so glad the baby boomer generation is so willing to patiently teach and foster a relationship with the Gen Y generation. We need your support and your experiences to help us become the best laboratorians we can be! Thank you!

--Melanie Le Blanc, MT(ASCP),
Generalist,
Cullman (AL) Regional Medical Center
 

One Certification Will Clear Up Confusion

To the Editor:

I had to respond to the letter to the editor entitled "Are MTs Represented By the Wrong Group?" [Palamidis E. 2009;21(7):7].The author of that letter complained the power is with ASCP. She said it is an organization represented by individuals who are not part of the field, and yet she supports ASCP by using the MT(ASCP) certification at the end of her own letter.

In order to support an organization for clinical laboratory scientists, we all need to use a certification administered by clinical laboratory scientists in all of our correspondence and publications. Currently that certification body is NCA, although unification of the certification bodies is in progress.

Hopefully, the unification of these two bodies will combine the best of both while allowing for certification "of the profession, by the profession." One certification body should help to clear up much of the confusion about our profession.

--Sharon Strauss, MS, SM(NRM), CLS(NCA)