Burke Primary Care’s gift helps WPCC students train like pros

Original article published in The Paper

By SANDRA WILKERSON QUEEN

August 30, 2025

Burke Primary Care’s new state-of-the-art clinical chemistry analyzer is doing more than just helping patients. It’s assisting future medical professionals and enhancing a powerful community partnership.

When the clinic upgraded its lab equipment, it didn’t just discard the old, still-working machine. Instead, it donated the instrument to Western Piedmont Community College’s Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) program.

The analyzer, which is about the size of two large copy machines, provides an assessment of blood chemistry, delivering results for tests like glucose levels, and cardiac, liver, and renal panels.

MLT instructor Laura Marley-Trotter said the donation will significantly enhance her department’s ability to train and prepare students for their future careers in a laboratory.

“Having access to this advanced equipment provides our students with invaluable hands-on training opportunities that closely reflect the tools and technology they will use in the workforce,” Marley-Trotter said. “If we were to purchase this new for the program, it would cost more than $260,000.”

The generous donation came at the suggestion of a WPCC MLT graduate. Alison Edwards works as a lab technician at Burke Primary Care. It was her idea that the practice give the analyzer to the school where she was trained.

Standing in the well-equipped MLT teaching classroom at WPCC, Edwards looked around, taking in the sight of blood-draw stations, microscopes, centrifuges, and finally, the clinical chemistry analyzer, quietly humming in the corner of the room.

“A lot of this was not in this room when I came through,” she said. “Laura has added a lot.”

Marley-Totter said her fall semester students will be the first at WPCC to use the new equipment. She will be able to train them in the use of the machine.

“My current students are just itching to get their hands on it,” Marley-Trotter said.

During previous semesters, MLT students had to analyze lab specimens manually. According to Marley-Trotter, her pupils didn’t see a clinical chemistry analyzer until they began their clinical internships, during their final semesters.

“Those are the things they are going to have to do in an actual laboratory setting,” Marley-Trotter explained.

“Providing the opportunity to do what they (students) will do in the field is huge,” said Ava Yamouti, dean of health and public services at WPCC. This will actually allow us to use the same machinery that’s used out in the field, so they’ll be better prepared for the workforce.”

Members of the Burke Primary Care staff said the decision to donate the machine was a simple one.

“Most of our medical lab techs are Western Piedmont graduates,” stated Practice Manager Gia Xiong. “So, when the idea (to donate) came from Alison, we thought this would be a good way to give back to the community. It was a unanimous decision.”

But the analyzer is not the only contribution Burke Primary Care makes to the WPCC lab. They share unneeded supplies and even donate specimens for students’ use as they learn how to read blood tests.

“Thanks to the generous donation of a chemistry analyzer from Burke Primary Care and the ongoing support of our clinical partners, our students gain access to the tools and experiences that strengthen their education and, ultimately, patient care in our community,” said MLT Program Coordinator April Jones.

WPCC President Joel Welch said the donation is a perfect example of the cooperation the local college has seen from Burke County businesses and organizations.

“When I look at this, I see the partnership we have in the community,” Welch stated. “At the end of the day, we want folks to be able to go out and have great careers, and to have great careers, you have to have really good skills.

“And we want to be able to build on those skills,” he added. “To build the right skills, we have to know what the industry is using.”

For more information about the MLT program, visit wpcc.edu/mlt.

Sandra Wilkerson Queen is the arts & entertainment editor. She may be reached at 828-445-8595, ext. 2002, or [email protected].