From running her own laboratory in Zimbabwe to leading patient-centred care in regional NSW, Patricia’s journey to NSW Health Pathology’s Lithgow Hospital Laboratory shows how dedication and technical excellence can transform patient lives and provide a fulfilling career.

Patri­cia Macken­zie has spent more than three decades work­ing in pathol­o­gy. Her work is guid­ed by a sim­ple mot­to: every patient could be some­one you love.

Cur­rent­ly Sec­ond in Charge (2IC) at NSW Health Pathology’s lab­o­ra­to­ry at Lith­gow Hos­pi­tal, Patri­cia has been part of the Lith­gow team for eight years, fol­low­ing almost six years work­ing at Nepean Hospital.

“What I enjoy most about work­ing at Lith­gow is the inter­ac­tion with patients,” Patri­cia says.

“I’m very big on patient-cen­tred care. My mot­to is that every patient who comes through our doors could be my moth­er, father or child. I always want to give the best ser­vice possible.”

Work­ing in a region­al lab­o­ra­to­ry brings a unique con­nec­tion to the com­mu­ni­ty. In Lith­gow, Patri­cia and her col­leagues often know patients by name, rein­forc­ing the impor­tance of the work they do.

“Our work goes far beyond pro­cess­ing a sam­ple. We share in patients’ joys and some­times their sad­dest moments.

“That’s why car­ing from the heart real­ly mat­ters and makes a difference.”

Patri­cia began her career in Zim­bab­we, study­ing at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Zim­bab­we from 1987 and qual­i­fy­ing in 1992 as a Med­ical Lab­o­ra­to­ry Tech­nol­o­gist, spe­cial­is­ing in Haema­tol­ogy and Blood Transfusion.

In 1996, she took the brave step of open­ing her own lab­o­ra­to­ry in her home­town of Kwek­we. Start­ing with just her­self, a recep­tion­ist and a dri­ver, the lab­o­ra­to­ry grew quick­ly and with­in six months, Patri­cia was man­ag­ing a team of lab tech­ni­cians, col­lec­tors and mul­ti­ple col­lec­tion rooms.

A hol­i­day to New Zealand in 2002 was the start of a huge change to her career path. After vis­it­ing Welling­ton Hos­pi­tal lab­o­ra­to­ry, Patri­cia was encour­aged to apply for a vacant role, with her mor­phol­o­gy skills par­tic­u­lar­ly in demand.

What began as a short tri­al turned into a decade long career in New Zealand. Even­tu­al­ly, she sold the lab­o­ra­to­ry in Zim­bab­we and set­tled ful­ly into life over­seas with her family.

In 2012, Patri­cia made anoth­er move, this time to Aus­tralia where she began work­ing at NSW Health Pathology’s Nepean lab­o­ra­to­ry. After almost six years at Nepean, Patri­cia took up a role in our Lith­gow lab­o­ra­to­ry. While Wellington’s cli­mate helped pre­pare her for the cool­er con­di­tions of Lith­gow and the upper Blue Moun­tains, it was the sense of com­mu­ni­ty that made Lith­gow home.

“There’s less traf­fic, a more relaxed atmos­phere and peo­ple are incred­i­bly wel­com­ing,” Patri­cia said.

“Liv­ing and work­ing in a region­al town also means the patients we care for are often our neigh­bours and friends.”

For Patri­cia, pathol­o­gy is as much about peo­ple as it is about science.

“Every sam­ple rep­re­sents a real per­son and a fam­i­ly,” she said.

“Com­bin­ing tech­ni­cal excel­lence with human aware­ness is how we best sup­port our community.

“While we may not always see patients face-to-face, our work plays a crit­i­cal role in their diag­no­sis, treat­ment and peace of mind.”

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