Local Businesses Step up to improve lab services for HFC patients

Expanded on-site lab services will be coming to the HealthFinders Clinic in Faribault this fall. After adding blood drawing services at our Faribault Clinic thanks to Allina Health’s partnership and the volunteer services of Certified Lab Tech, Kathie Smestad, HealthFinders will be further expanding our services this fall due to a grant from Heart to Heart International and the assistance of several local businesses. Since HealthFinders’ beginnings in the basement of Little Prairie United Methodist Church, we have relied on the generous in-kind donations of lab and imaging services provided by our health system partners, Allina Health, Northfield Hospital & Clinics and Mayo Clinic in Faribault. The addition of on-site point-of-care testing at our Faribault Clinic will both improve health care access for our patients and allow us to utilize our partner resources more judiciously. The Heart to Heart grant will supply all the equipment and supplies necessary for the point-of-care testing, but we needed to comply with some facility specifications. In order to meet the grant requirements, we needed to add more counter space, a sink, and several more electrical outlets, which is where local businesses came into the story to help make these expanded services a reality.