Vince Zost
“I take the product to the bedside — meet the patient, meet the family — and knowing where my work is going into, and hopefully helping somebody.”
Blood Bank Technology
UT Southwestern, ‘04
Carter BloodCare–Bedford
The Journey from the Classroom to the Lab
Originally, Vince Zost wanted to be a pharmacist, but admits that in school, he had “problems with theory classes. The labs I took, I always got A’s, so I looked around to see if there was a laboratory degree. I’m very comfortable in the lab.” After completing undergraduate work at UT-Arlington, he received his Medical Technology degree at Tarleton State University in Fort Worth, but learned that he did not care for certain subjects, like phlebotomy, while, again, he enjoyed immensely opportunities to work in the laboratory. At the lab bench, the hands-on work required for professions like microbiology and blood bank technology (BBT) beckoned and he quickly settled into a BBT career path.
What is CBC?
Carter BloodCare (CBC), where Vince has worked since 1994, presents as its main goal “to provide transfusions for the whole Metroplex, north to the Red River, east to Tyler, south to Waco and west to Graham.” CBC also serves as a Cord Blood Bank to receive (fresh donated cord blood), and to process (reduce blood and plasma) and store cord blood donations. Vince is quick to add, “We provide other services as well, including cell therapy services and therapeutic services, We’re not ’just’ a regular blood center, we provide more to the different hospitals and facilities around the Metroplex.
Working at CBC
Vince began his 17-year (so far!) career with CBC as a medical technologist in the Reference and Transfusion Lab, where he enjoyed opportunities to “go bedside” to deliver products to Children’s Medical Center, UT Southwestern’s University Hospital Zale-Lipshy and to Cook Children’s Hospital. In 2001, he moved to the Stem Cell Lab where his work included autologous freezing of the patients’ own plasma/blood.
CBC + BBT = Promotion
In 2002, CBC stepped up to pay for Vince to enter the Blood Bank Technology program at UT Southwestern. He continued to work 20 hours per week at CBC while attending classes, and graduated in 2004. By 2006, Vince was promoted to manager of the Stem Cell Lab, where he works with cord blood for pediatric and stem cell transplants. When there are issues with, for example, antibody compatibility, Vince is called in for difficult blood matches.
At UTSW
Vince says, “You can learn a lot more than you might expect specializing in blood banking. It covers everything from recruitment of donors, collection, transporting blood, and how to test and filter the blood, to making sure the blood is safe, labeled correctly and properly given to the distribution department.” So UT Southwestern’s blood bank technology specialization provided Vince and his classmates, “the ability to see the different aspects of blood banking. Working in a single laboratory, I only saw one part of blood banking. UTSW allowed me to widen my focus and see how all the different parts of the blood center interact and work together just to get from the donor to the recipient.
Teamwork Required
Vince supervises a team of three med techs and a lab assistant. The team travels to hospitals like Zale-Lipshy and Cook Children’s to assist with bone marrow harvests; in doing so, Vince interacts directly with the hospitals’ bone marrow coordinators, nurses and physicians. “Teamwork matters,” he says. “If you don’t have a team of techs who can work together and you have a busy day, things aren’t going to get done very well or very quickly.”
Looking Ahead
As older lab techs start to retire it’s creating a void and there is a demand for students in this field,” says Vince. Additionally, as new hospitals are built (such as UT Southwestern’s new University Hospital), they all “need to have staffs for their labs,” he adds.
Knowing You’re Helping
"I get to see the end product, take the product to the bedside, meet the patient and the family—that means knowing what my work is doing and how it will hopefully be helping somebody.”
The Last Word
“When I first started interacting with families, I was a little nervous, because it’s an anxious time for the patient and their family. But it can help comfort them to know that somebody cares. That’s the best part of the job.”