QUALITY SYSTEMS
Pacific Rim Consortium Meets,
Establishes Strategic Priorities
By Tina Su, MPH, manager, Quality Systems
With beautiful Pearl City off in the
distance, the Pacific Rim Consortium
members convened their first in-person
meeting at the Hawaii Public Health
Laboratory March 5-6, 2019. Though
the group had met several times via
teleconference, they wanted face-to-face
time to learn more about each laboratory
and discuss topics such as shared
services, continuity of operations and
future collaborative opportunities.
Participants from Alaska, California,
Guam, Hawaii, Los Angeles County
and Washington presented overviews
of their respective public health
laboratories, created a network mission
statement and participated in strategic
planning to determine the focus of
Consortium activities over the next
one to three years. They conducted an
exercise to determine which projects
to prioritize and their respective
determinants of success. Through
consensus and active discussions, they
landed on continuity of operations,
best practices, purchasing power,
training, funding and shared services.
Paul Kimsey, the director of the California
Department of Public Health Laboratory
and the chair of the Consortium reflected
on the meeting’s outcomes: “Our first
face-to-face meeting of the Pacific
Rim Consortium in Hawaii was a great
example of public health laboratories
coming together for their mutual benefit
and to ensure laboratory services for their
respective states and territories. In the
next one to three years, I’m hopeful that
the consortium will develop a regional
memorandum of understanding (MOU)
and a continuity of operations agreement,
and I am looking forward to a closer
working relationship with our consortium
partners.” n
16
LAB MATTERS Spring 2019
The Pacific Rim Consortium convened an in-person meeting in March 2019 at the Hawaii Public Health Laboratory
Mission Statement
The Pacific Rim Consortium is a network
of public health laboratories established
for cooperation and support for mutual
benefit of members through a collective voice
for technical assistance, training, shared
services, mutual support in emergencies,
and best practices.
In the next one to three years,
I’m hopeful that the consortium will
develop a regional memorandum
of understanding (MOU) and a
continuity of operations agreement.”
Paul Kimsey
It includes the following members:
• Alaska Division of Public Health Laboratory
• California Department of Public Health
Laboratory
• Guam Department of Public Health
& Social Services
• Hawaii State Laboratories Division
• Los Angeles County Public
Health Laboratory
• Oregon State Public Health Laboratory
• Washington Public Health Laboratories
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