The Goulburn Base Hospital pathology lab’s chief scientist will call time on her 27-year stint in six weeks. But far from being a behind the scenes face she’s often been at the forefront of patient cases.

Like the time doctors were trying to save the life of a man who’d been in a car accident.

“We’d given him 50 to 100 units of blood and we didn’t have any more. I thought we were going to lose him,” Mrs Grice said.

“But the husband of one of the workers here, who was a policeman, arrived at the hospital with more units of blood from Bowral. His car tyres were almost burning. It arrived just in time, otherwise this patient wouldn’t have survived. That was 27 years ago.” 

Mrs Grice was delighted to see the man go on to open his own business and have a family.

The case sparked a change in policy, allowing blood to be transferred from interstate. These days things are a little easier and helicopters regularly transport blood all around the country.

She’s seen it all in her career, from an exploding dye in the old pathology lab in the current Crawford wing, which left an indelible mark on paintwork, to changes in computing systems and structures. Whereas previously the lab had dedicated pathologists like Dr Alan Hazelton and Dr John Docker, now it has a chief scientist and is a Category B facility supervised out of Westmead Hospital.

Mrs Grice was born and bred in Adelaide and pursued a career in science. She was a scientist in the Alice Springs Hospital in the 1980s before moving to Adelaide’s Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science. Stints in Far North Queensland, Woden Hospital and Greenslopes Repatriation Hospital followed.

“I picked up this job because it was close to Canberra where my friends were. I was just passing through and thought I’d pay off my new car. I certainly didn’t intend to stay but then I met and married Bill Grice,” she said.

She described Dr Hazelton and scientist Dr Alistair Stewart as wonderful people to work for and this convinced her to stay.

Every day is different. Mrs Grice starts at 6.30am, firing up machines ready to process blood samples. The lab opens at 7.30am by which time patients are lined up outside for front-line staff to receive. The lab itself has 13 staff who undertake chemistry, biochemistry, Immunoassay tests and haemotology, all in the one space. There’s also a refrigerated area for emergency blood supplies for accident victims and women who bleed heavily giving birth. 

“We get some very sick patients in here who need emergency transfusions,” Mrs Grice said.

Scientists can quickly pick up on abnormalities, like a child’s haemoglobin that was 121 grams per deciliter (the normal range is 95 to 100g/dL). It turned out to be a very rare bone disorder and the girl required a bone marrow transplant. Staff took a personal interest in her case even following transfer to Ranwick Children’s Hospital.

“We are a first line of defence here, sometimes before referral to other hospitals,”  Mrs Grice said.

“I like it when we see someone all the way through, pre and post pathology...The earlier the diagnosis, the better the chance of a good outcome.”

Results are subject to continual checking thanks to a computer system that allows every pathologist in Australia to tap into them.

The pathology lab will remain in its current location in the redeveloped Goulburn Base Hospital but will be connected to the new building via a corridor.

Mrs Grice said it had been a rewarding career. The science had been easy but managing so many “smart people” was harder.

“But I won’t miss getting out of bed two and three times a night to come to the hospital,” she quipped. 

Goulburn Base Hospital has been providing pathology services for over 65 years to clinicians and patients in this city, Crookwell and Yass. 

The team of 13.6 staff includes scientists, technical officers and collections staff. The service operates 365 days a year, testing blood to provide timely results.

The staff diagnose and provide care for a range of conditions, from common bacterial infections to complex diseases such as cancer and live saving blood transfusions. Some 70 per cent of medical decisions rely on pathology and 100 per cent of cancer is diagnosed from blood tests.

Mrs Grice said staff work across two shifts starting at 6.30am daily and ending at 8pm. A scientific staff member is also on call during the night.

“We collect fasting bloods, process them and send them to the doctors. Every bit of profit from outpatient tests goes into offsetting the unusually high price of testing for public patients. About $3.5 million goes back into the Southern NSW Local Health District to offset costs annually,” she said.

Some tests are so rare that they are sent to Royal Adelaide, Melbourne or Sydney hospitals.

Mrs Grice said the turnaround on results was much faster and easier today with computerisation.

However the volume of work has also increased.

“Twenty years ago you might have had 10 people in hospital and 10 in casualty wanting blood results,” she said.

“Now, nearly every single person gets results because the expectation is that everything should be tested.”