National Laboratory to Improve Health in the Caribbean

A new public health facility in Barbados that will serve other parts of the Caribbean celebrated its grand opening last Friday. It is a joint initiative of the US Department of State (PEPFAR program), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Barbados Ministry of Health. Page Associate Principal and project architect Lou Krupnick, Principals and senior lab planners Malena Aquino and Chris Cowansage attended the celebration along with the Barbados Minister of Health and the US Ambassador to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean and the OECS.

Lou Krupnick gave a presentation during the ceremony, explaining that the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory in Bridgetown consolidates three facilities into a single modern entity that has the capability to test for a number of public health issues, such as mosquito-borne and infectious diseases. It is designed to support work in hematology, serology, molecular biology, tuberculosis bacteriology, chemistry and pathology.

The facility also includes a Biological Safety Level 3 suite per CDC standards. This is typically assigned to laboratories that can work with both indigenous and exotic microbes that can cause serious or potentially lethal disease through transmission such as TB or HIV. The facility’s design also incorporates resilience and it has the ability to withstand a category three hurricane.

Page/SST Planners provided complete lab planning services for the building which was designed by Lou Krupnick when he was with Swanke Hayden Connell Architects. Page/SST Planners lab programmers and designers are Malena Aquino and Chris Cowansage.