After several years of organization and planning, One Brooklyn Health Brookdale Hospital has debuted its new, state-of-the-art laboratory automation system in partnership with Beckman Coulder Diagnostics.
The new machine, called the DxA 5000 Laboratory Automation System, works to streamline and automate laboratory samples to test them more efficiently and with a shorter turnaround time to ensure that patients and their doctors get their health results as quickly and as accurately as possible — something that hospital staff said had been “a long time coming.”
Since the installation of the DxA 5000 on Nov. 9, the hospital has already seen improvements in laboratory turnaround time — samples that used to take several days are now returned in just one day, and the hospital can process three times the number of samples as before.
“Our state-of-the-art DxA 5000 laboratory automation system supports our mission to provide greater access to high quality medical care and keep our communities healthy,” said Interim CEO of One Brooklyn Health, Dr. Sandra Scott at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the tech on Wednesday. “Because of the collaboration between Beckman Coulter and our expert laboratory team, One Brooklyn Health has realized a dream.”
The partnership between Beckman Coulter and One Brooklyn Health was born out of a necessity to enhance clinical, operational and financial outcomes for the health system. The collaboration is focused on providing practical and tailored solutions for the hospital system through utilizing Beckman Coulter’s tools for diagnostic and laboratory operations, which Brookdale hopes will help it serve its largely Black and brown community. Brookdale is one of the largest teaching hospitals in Brooklyn, and one of the oldest in the borough.
“The whole hospital system was old,” Dr. Alex Rovt, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at One Brooklyn Health told Brooklyn Paper. “So finally we were able to get the money to purchase the [new] equipment and today is a beautiful day. We got this right. So now the whole community can have the lab analysis on the same day.”
This sentiment was echoed by some of the elected officials who also attended the ribbon cutting ceremony, including Council Member Charles Barron, who attributes Brookdale for saving his life when he contracted COVID-19 during the pandemic.
“I was the first person diagnosed with COVID at Brookdale Hospital and [at the time] most people didn’t even know what it was about,” said Barron. “I was able to walk out of this hospital to continue my work because of you and I am eternally indebted to you. This is an honor for our community because this kind of 21st century technology is deserving for a 21st century community.”
State Sen. Jabari Brisport also expressed his excitement about the new laboratory automation system, calling it a “great sign of the investments that we’ve needed for so long in Black Central Brooklyn.”
“We vocally advocate for funding to upgrade our safety net hospitals every year in the [state] budget,” Brisport said. “We never get everything we’ve asked for but that doesn’t mean we stop fighting for it.”
Last updated Dec. 14, 2023 at 4:17 p.m.
