Dynacare CEO Vito Ciciretto (centre) cuts the ribbon to open the new laboratory and health services centre on Anderson Way April 4. Vernon city councillors Kelly Fehr (second from left) and Brian Guy (second from right) were on hand for the event. (Vernon Matters photo)

By Pete McIntyre

new facility

New Dynacare medical testing lab opens in Vernon, designed for future expansion

Apr 5, 2024 | 1:15 PM

Vernon’s newest site to get medical lab tests should make it a more pleasant experience for the public.

Dynacare held an official opening and ribbon cutting on Thursday for its brand new laboratory and health services centre at 102-5240 Anderson Way in the Siwoski Dental building.

The collections centre opens to the public on Monday, April 8, and will replace the Valley Medical Lab on 31st Street in the Railway Plaza which closes down on Friday, April 5. Line-ups outside that facility have been common over the years.

Dynacare took over ownership of the two Valley Medical Labs in Vernon (other one is downtown on 30th Ave.) in May 2023 and is re-branding them to the new name.

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Vernon also has one other medical testing centre, operated by LifeLabs, which opened last July in the Polson Mall.

Dynacare operates 170 laboratory and health services centres, eight laboratories and 11 offices across Canada.

New Dynacare collections centre on Anderson Way opens to the public Monday, April 8. (Vernon Matters photo)

The new Vernon facility will have capacity for serving 125 patients a day, using three sample-testing stations, but with the ability to increase that to six stations and up to 300 patients a day, in the future.

It also has lots of parking at that location.

Vito Ciciretto, CEO of Dynacare, who was on hand for the opening, said he expects it will be a good fit in the North Okanagan.

“It’s double the size of the location we have [on 31st Street]. There are six stations here. We can take up to 250 to 300 patients a day in this location [if they get approval for expansion]. There are four people who are staffing it, so yes, we are expecting the patients will really like this location.”

Ciciretto said the centre will provide services not available elsewhere in Vernon.

“We do a non-invasive pre-natal test. Having locations like this allows us to offer that test more broadly,” the CEO told Vernon Matters.

Waiting area at Dynacare Vernon (submitted photo)

Hugo Nunez Angel, regional manager for Dynacare, said the samples will be processed at the Vernon lab and then tested at Dynacare’s main site in Kelowna.

“You can get any blood work — hematology, chemistry and micro-biology — done here, so primarily at this site, we will be running routine blood work,” Nunez Angel told the media during a tour of the new facility.

Patients can also get urine tests there as well.

Dynacare collection station in Vernon (Vernon Matters photo)

The centre has six collection sites, but only has approval from the Ministry of Health for three at this point.

“Currently this Vernon location is licensed for three chairs, and as the patient volume grows, we can apply for additional chairs to put into the service,” Cara Kirkwood, Dynacare’s director of operations for B.C., said.

“We have the room for expansion, so hopefully we will see that patient volume increase and we can expand.”

Kirkwood said the new lab should lower wait times for getting the tests.

“I would hope so. We are walk-in, so patients can go to their doctor and come here on the same day, so there is not necessarily a wait time to get into the lab.”

Dynacare will also offer by-appointment service from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays starting April 10.

The lab will be open for walk-ins from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday, and from 4 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays by appointment.

“It’s a great after-hours service for those that are working. I think it’s going to be really popular,” Kirkwood remarked.

Kirkwood said they will start with 3.5 staff which will expand once the patient load grows.

“We’ve got a pool of 7 or 8 staff in this area, maybe even more, and a combination of them will be transitioning into here. A lot of them work at both sites, so we’ll see different faces from our own staffing pool,” Kirkwood explained.

Vernon city councillors Kelly Fehr and Brian Guy were on hand for the opening.

“As the Okanagan has an aging population that is larger than much of the province, I think that this is well-needed and well-timed, and will definitely serve our community well,” Fehr told Vernon Matters.

Guy agreed with Fehr, saying the population is growing, and getting older.

“The other thing about this lab is that it’s nice and bright. There is lots of natural light and it’s above ground. It just seems like a more welcoming, friendly kind of environment, a more pleasant environment to be in,” Guy said.