An INTEGRIS Grove Hospital microbiology lead technologist recently received an award of distinction from Diagnostic Laboratory of Oklahoma (DLO), which is a joint venture between INTEGRIS Health Systems and Quest Diagnostics. Debbie Styles was named 2013 Clinical Scientist of the Year, the highest honor DLO bestows on a medical technologist.
Styles was selected for the honor from nearly 740 technologists throughout the state including managers, supervisors, leads, bench technologists and QA technologists. Employees at the Grove DLO lab nominated Styles, and a DLO senior leadership team chose the winner of the award, which recognizes the importance of the work that is being performed by the employees of DLO.
“I was so excited about being awarded DLO’s Clinical Scientist of the Year because it is an award that is based upon nominations from your coworkers, and that makes it very special,” Styles said. “I sincerely appreciate the significance of this award and will do my best to live up to it.”
Styles began working at INTEGRIS Grove Hospital in 1990 before she graduating from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) in Miami, Okla., in 1991. She began working at the hospital because they agreed to pay her college tuition at NEO if she would in turn work at the hospital for two years. Those two years became 23 years as Styles continued her work in the lab, even as it changed hands to a new employer, DLO. In 2000, just before DLO took over lab services for INTEGRIS Grove Hospital, Styles was named INTEGRIS Employee of the Year. Styles cites this award as one of the most special memories from her years as an INTEGRIS employee.
In her early years at the lab, Styles worked as a general lab technician before becoming a microbiology lead and then the group lead technician in 2002. She has continually drawn strength from her co-workers, and she did not have to look far for a mentor in her profession.
“Connie DuBois was a big inspiration to me,” Styles said. “She was a medical technician and was an influence in choosing my career as well as helping with a lot of my training. She had a great work ethic and was a very positive role model for me.”
These days, her co-workers at DLO look to her for inspiration.
“I just know that without Debbie as the lead and as my mentor, I would have had a much steeper learning curve when I moved into the lab supervisor position here at Grove,” said Joella Hanus, medical technician and lab supervisor. “I appreciate Debbie’s support as we move forward with both DLO and INTEGRIS Grove hospital. She is the lab’s head cheerleader and my voice of reason. I am proud to have Debbie as my lead and partner in the journey here at Grove.”
In her free time, Styles enjoys spending time with her husband of 37 years, Larry, their children and their grandchildren.
Their son, Matthew, and his wife, Heather, live in Jefferson City, Mo., with their two daughters, Paige and Payton. Matthew, a Major in the Missouri Army National Guard, is scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan. When he still lived in Grove, Matthew spent many years delivering supplies to the INTEGRIS Grove Hospital from Vans Printing.
The Styles’ daughter Casey and her husband, Chad, live in Neosho, Mo., with their two children, Carter and Callee. Casey, who worked part-time for the late Dr. Ron Forristall while attending school, now teaches second grade in Goodman, Mo.
Mitchell, their second son, lives in Pea Ridge, Ark., and works as the marketing and communications coordinator at Ozarks Electric in Fayetteville, Ark. Like his brother, Mitchell made deliveries from Vans Printing to the hospital for several years.
Styles continues to serve the hospital and community in her capacity as group lead technician at DLO.
“There have been many changes during my career,” Styles said. “The name of the hospital and the name of the lab has changed. A lot of friends and coworkers have come and gone. The thing that has remained a constant is the desire to provide quality care for our patients.”
“Time goes by so quickly,” Styles continued. “Somehow I have gone from the youngest, newest face in the lab to one of the few ‘older’ ones of us left. I hope to influence these younger faces to make good ethical decisions and provide quality care when I’m no longer here.”