Abbott Announces Labs Are Vital(TM) Facebook Scholarship Conte...( Social Media Recruitment Effort En...)

Social Media Recruitment Effort Energizes National Medical Laboratory

Professionals Week

ABBOTT PARK, Ill., April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- In conjunction with National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week (Lab Week), Abbott today announced the winners of the Labs Are Vital(TM) Facebook Scholarship Contest. Designed to engage and recruit young people to the clinical laboratory profession, the Facebook initiative and scholarship contest proved successful, reaching 2.9 million people, including nearly 1.8 million students interested in science.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080424/AQTH038)

Summary Facts:

-- Labs Are Vital launched a Facebook group and scholarship contest to

inform students about career opportunities in clinical lab sciences

and to recruit students into the profession.

-- High school and college students competed to win scholarships valued at

up to $2,500 by submitting videos, advertisements, or T-shirt designs

that encourage others to consider careers in laboratory medicine.

-- Student scholarships were sponsored by Labs Are Vital partners American

Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS), Association of Public

Health Laboratories (APHL) and Blood Systems, Inc.

Labs Are Vital is a multi-pronged, multi-year education and awareness program sponsored by Abbott that is designed to highlight the critical role laboratory professionals play in healthcare and to address the issues facing laboratories today. Clinical laboratory professionals play a leading role in monitoring health, diagnosing diseases and assessing the treatment of patients.

Because of the workforce shortage of laboratory professionals in the field, recruiting the next generation of laboratory professionals is one of the many goals of the Labs Are V
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