Our newly reinstated branch was given approval at the recent Regional Meeting in St. Maarten held in May 2017. There has been a heightened and renewed increase in membership with active recruitment still ongoing. Our newly elected Council members are as follows:

• Chairperson - Grant A. Lambert
• Vice Chairperson - Adrian Patterson
• Secretary - Alecia Clarke
• Treasurer - Regina Decoteau
• Public Relations Officer - Kimby Felix
• Floor Member/Signing Officer - Arlene Archibald

Our first general meeting following the 2016 Biennial was held in the SGU training unit at the General Hospital on Saturday, December 03, 2016 where an update was given on what ensued at the Biennial meeting. The turnout was a good one although every member was not present. CASMET constitution booklets were distributed as well. At the end, we prescheduled another general meeting for Saturday, January 14, 2017.

On January 14, 2017 we met for general meeting in the same location with a few members being absent. We discussed the need for more organization within GAMET and as a result, an executive body was formed from the members’ present. We also agreed as a group that Arlene Archibald should be awarded for her Outstanding Services in the Medical Technology Profession. In this meeting, we brainstormed ideas for the upcoming Lab Week, April 23 – 29, 2017. Continuing Education (CE) forms were distributed and we agreed that GAMET should seek Branch status from its parent Association in order to better control its operations.

We had two localized Continuing Education (CE) sessions but encouraged members to also complete same from webinars online. The first was held on January 18, 2017 entitled Risk of Sickle Cell Disease and Novel Approaches to its Treatment at St. George’s University. The second was held during Lab Week 2017 within the SGU Training Unit on Thursday, April 27, 2017 entitled A Plead for Campy. A number of members turned out and CE forms were signed and submitted.

Lab Week 2017 was a fairly good one although we were not fully able to execute all that we had planned. A few activities were rescheduled for later in the year for feasibility. The activities successfully executed were the Sunday service, Thursday lecture, Friday T-shirt day and the Saturday social. Based on our interaction within the week, the daily radio announcements and church service were ways of reminding the communities of who we are as an association and what we do. With continued efforts and overall awareness, it is our sincere aim to continue to wave the banner of the contributions of Laboratory, while Teaming Up For Patient Care on a daily basis.

The week was reviewed by the Council members and plans for next year’s celebration were suggested.  

We held a Cake and Ice-cream sale on March 31, 2017 in preparation for Lab Week 2017. It was well supported and indicated that future fundraisers will be successful. In keeping with same, the previously planned Barbecue and Raffle for the week was held on July 07, 2017; distributed from the Laboratory lunch room. The support was superb and we had a lot more demand than supply. We will continue to have periodic fundraisers as well as group bonding activities for our members.

We facilitated the procurement and donation of a Blood Donation Chair to the General Hospital as part of our week of celebrations.