Amspacher Accepts Bassett's Jan A. Schultes Memorial Award

Cooperstown, N.Y. — The Jan A. Schultes Memorial Award was recently presented to Bassett technical histology specialist September Amspacher, during National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week. This annual award is given to a member of Bassett’s Clinical Laboratory staff by his or her peers in recognition of professional excellence and enthusiasm in clinical laboratory sciences.

The award honors Judith A. (Jan) Schultes, a former Bassett medical technologist, who died in a car accident more than two decades ago. At a recent celebration, attended by Amspacher’s peers as well as her parents Sue (who works at Community Health Center in Cherry Valley) and Gary Schaffer, Bassett’s chief pathologist Samantha Davenport, M.D. presented Amspacher with the award.

Peer comments about Amspacher, who lives in Cooperstown, included “positive upbeat attitude” and “outstanding technical skills” as well as “role model.” Amspacher began at Bassett Medical Center in 1997 as a certified nursing assistant and then completed the histology program at State University of New York at Cobleskill. She left to pursue work as a traveling technician, but returned to Bassett in 2008 as a technical specialist in histology. A histotechnologist prepares tissue samples for microscopic examination and helps look for signs of change or abnormality in cell structure. Amspacher is also the laboratory chemical hygiene officer, maintaining a chemical hygiene plan and hazardous chemical inventory list annually.

National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week celebrates the important role laboratory professionals play in medical decision-making. Practitioners of clinical laboratory science perform and interpret medical laboratory tests, which factor greatly in the clinical decisions doctors make about a patient’s health, from diagnosis through therapy and prognosis.