Instructor interviewed for national television program

Seminole State College’s Medical Laboratory Program Director Perthena Latchaw was interviewed for Public Broadcasting Services News Hour with Jim Lehrer that aired recently on Oklahoma Educational Television Authority, Channel 13.
The topic was “Tanzania Moves to Build Laboratory Capacity” and focused on how African hospitals are forced to wait months for necessary supplies to run common medical tests.
Shawnee resident Latchaw has traveled to Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Lesotho and Nigeria as a Global Outreach consultant through the American Society for Clinical Pathology.
The outreach program analyzes certificate level schools of medical technology, in 14 countries worldwide, and helps re-vamp and expand their curriculum. Many of these schools are poorly staffed, underfunded and lack adequate modern, automated equipment to handle the increased workload.
ASCP Global Outreach’s purpose is a five-step accreditation process to strengthen the health systems and improve patient care on the continent.
Latchaw was part of a group of three women who trained about 30 of Tanzania’s best lab professionals on how to train others on her fourth trip to Africa in 2006.
In August 2009, she and two other consultants re-visited Tanzania and presented a professional development workshop for the certificate level teachers and principals.
After a year of working with the county to develop new curriculum, each school was given a laptop computer and projector to use in their classroom.
She assists and observes the national laboratory training team as they train their own lab professionals throughout different cities. Latchaw has traveled to Tanzania eight times since 2005.
When interviewed by PBS, Latchaw said she feels that increasing the number of trained staff in Tanzania is a must.
“It is very difficult for those people, especially in faith-based hospitals where the lab technicians and technologists may also be the instructors. They are doing double and triple duty,” Latchaw said.
She mentions that she has already seen improvements in Tanzania’s labs during the last few years. She has seen expansion on the menu of tests they can offer and feels that accreditation will build on that.
“Life is far more than personal fulfillment. I have been given this amazing opportunity to use what I have spent my life learning, to find the purpose for the rest of my life,” Latchaw said.