Local Labcorp Lady Sets the Bar High

When I first walked into the LabCorp in Peddlers Village (Lahaska PA), I thought I was in the wrong place. It was so warm and welcoming with bouquets of flowers, vibrant nature art all over the walls, precious twinkly decorations here and there, and a big snowy tree covered in pink and red hearts for Valentine’s Day.

I had brought my senior client in for a blood test. When we were called back, a lovely woman with purple hair, smiling eyes, and flowers on her shoes greeted us and was so incredibly kind throughout the entire process that I again wondered if I had entered some parallel universe. This was not your average medical office experience. She noticed in the chart that the patient had a birthday coming up in a few days and wished her a cheerful Happy Birthday. She joked with her as she was getting ready to draw blood and asked with a clever laugh, “Would you believe today is my first day?” Actually Valecia Vanderlick has been working at this Labcorp for twelve years and before that, she was a cardiac technician at Doylestown Hospital for seventeen years and a part time EMT for a local ambulance squad. Her skill and expertise was quite evident as she delivered a quick and easy experience for the patient with little to no pain whatsoever.

When she told me that she is the one behind all the amazing décor, I told her that I had never seen an office quite so beautiful. Perhaps medical corporations feel that empty, cold, and gray is somehow a safer environment than bright, uplifting, and colorful or that it can’t possibly be decorated and safe and sterile at the same time. Well, this place disproves that theory in every way. It's as clean and sterile as any other medical office you’ll visit.

Why does Valecia do all this? In her own words, “Because I care.” When she started working here, it began with fresh flowers but gradually grew into much more. She changes the decor seasonally and does all the major holidays. People who do not even have an appointment have brought their children in just to see her Halloween decorations each year. She noted that she was once forced to take everything down when one of her superiors visited the facility and decided it wasn’t “appropriate”, but there was such backlash from the patients and the community that LabCorp reversed their decision and asked her to start doing it again. She does all of this after hours and completely at her own expense.

For many patients she adds a special red handmade bow to their bandage after the blood test. For children, she gives them lollipops and designs colorful bee stickers so the children stay focused on which bee they will choose to put on their bandage afterwards rather than focusing on the needle or the test. This is not only brilliant psychology; it also makes for many happy, anxiety free patients. That’s worth so much. And yet…I asked if the company has ever given her any kind of bonus for all this hard and heartfelt work. Not surprisingly, no, the $22 billion company has never given her a penny for what she does for these patients day in and day out, year after year. That’s why I wanted to tell her story. Because Valecia deserves to be seen.

We’re living in tough times. So many people are stressed and scared and sick and in need of faith in human kindness. Here is a woman who has quietly, humbly been providing a beautiful and safe space for people to feel loved and welcome in the midst of whatever issue they are facing that brings them to this testing facility in the first place. Labcorp, if you’re listening, you don’t know how lucky you are to have her.