LifeLabs

Go to a different LifeLabs if possible. The workers at the Oakridge LifeLabs are simply not competent in handling the volume of being next to so many medical offices.
One of my particular experiences involved booking an appointment online ahead of time for 3:25pm.
Upon arriving at 3:15, with about 4 people in the clinic already, I registered at the desk and was told to sit down. At 3:30, I mentioned again that I had an appointment, and was told I was in queue. At 3:45, a new person came in to register. They sit down, and immediately get called up. I go up and ask why I haven’t been called yet, since there is now no one else around, and their response is ‘oops’.
If incompetence had a physical home, it would be LifeLabs Oakridge.

I hate phlebotomists. But what can I say. I make an appointment online as not to wait. However there still is the time it takes to enter the info from your requisition into the computer. Hopefully as technology progresses one day their will be no need for these requisition forms that seem to be a problem. People forget to bring them, they have to be entered into the computer, why can’t my doctor electronically submit the requisition? It would save so much time and hassle. Another problem, but this is more the doctor… when they forget to tell you to fast, your if they want the «first morning sample».
I can see that continuing to be a hurdle and more a requirement of the patient to ask and be clear with their doctor what they form says and why they are going. I have had the ladies ask me about what my doctor wrote on the form, ask for my address repeatedly, which doctor is supposed to be CC’d on results. I usually cannot wait to get out of there.

I’m a pansy when it comes to needles. No idea why. Throw me off a bridge attached to a large elastic band or down a river full of rapids… no problemo. But come near me with a tiny needle and I shall be a shaking, whimpering woman-​child for the next 30 minutes.
However, sometimes life requires needles and after finding out I was due for some blood work, and after a rather eventful last experience (i’m a fainter — classy right?) I was more then a little nervous.
There was absolutely no wait — which helps with the «anticipation» nerves and the nurse who took my blood was just excellent. When I told her «I’m not good around needles» and «mmaayy have fainted in the hallway the last time» — instead of being overly touchy feely or rolling her eyes, she started telling me stories about other people who had done the same, cracking jokes about the day and asking me about work, etc. She didn’t make a big deal of it and that started to put me at ease.
By needle-​time, I was ten times better off then my last go round.
But like I said, i’m a pansy — so after, when I got a bit dizzy and that tell tale white-​faced, clammy hands syndrome set — she got me an ice pack, a glass of juice… heck she even fanned me. Never making me feel like the large woman-​child I knew I was being. It made the whole experience much less embarrassing/​nerve-​wracking then my last few.
I still hate needles. But when I need to go down that road again — I will definitely go back to that place. Plus — it’s in Oakridge Mall so when you survive getting blood drawn, you can reward yourself with shoes and a $ 7 juice smoothie…