This lab tech has been on the same job for 50 years — and isn't about to slow down

Richard Nixon was president of the United States.

A first-class stamp cost 8 cents.

That same year — 1972 — Pheloicsa "Phlo" Bostick went to work as a medical laboratory technician at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne.

Richard Nixon announced his resignation on Aug. 8, 1974. The U.S. has had nine different presidents since then. A first-class stamp is now 58 cents, 50 more than 50 years ago.

And speaking of 50: Phlo Bostick is still working at the hospital with no desire to slow down.

Yes. Let that sink in. Fifty years with the same employer, working in a lab where she's highly respected as a disciplined mentor who's devoted to patient care.

'It kind of slipped up on me,"  said Bostick, a Palm Bay resident. "I didn't aim at making 50 years and didn't even think about it. Even when I made 45,  I just didn't think about it."

Her employers, however, think highly of that milestone — and especially, of Bostick.

At Health First, "we’re evolving to be more focused on healing well and living well," said Paula Just, chief experience officer.

"People like Phlo Bostick, who won’t settle for slowing down, are role models for us," she said. "Her longevity is an inspiration to us in the Health First community, and we’re thrilled to celebrate right alongside her."

Bostick was born to the job, it seems.

Born in Georgia and a member of a large family, she was raised from a young age in Florida and graduated from high school in Jacksonville. As a young woman, she wanted to be a research scientist, she said, but after two years of college, eventually segued into training in Orlando, as a lab technician.

After getting married, her husband's job moved them around Florida, eventually to Brevard County. In 1972, recommendation in hand, she wound up interviewing at Holmes.

"It was kind of small, but I met the pathologist ... we got along," she said.

"They needed somebody."

She, it's obvious, was that somebody.

Times changed over 50 years.

Technology changed.

Along the way, Bostick raised three children, faced the loss of her husband and became grandmother to eight.

Her devotion to being part of those changes never wavered. She revels in continued education, such as that technicians go through every two years for license renewal.

"When I first got there, a lot of testing was manual. We had some semi-automation but it was a lot of manual testing," she said.

"And so, over the years we upgraded as time went along, to almost full automation now ...  it took me longer to adapt to the automation than the young people born into it, but I love it. I learn from them and they learn from me."

Bostick, 78. perseveres.

She loves the work, the challenges, being part of a team devoted to patient care in basically the same spot where she started decades ago.

Becky Rebola is a clinical laboratory manager in laboratory services for Holmes. She's known Bostick since 2017, when Rebola became her manager in the Core Lab.

Lab employees' care with patient data is very similar to how a bedside nurse must care for a patient, Rebola said.

And Bostick, who has about 30 colleagues she works beside, is definitely the mentor and expert in her field, Rebola said — she’s treated like a leader.

"A patient’s outcome depends on care from the laboratory, just as it depends on clinical care," Rebola said.

"Phlo is an extraordinary lab scientist who has evolved with the technology, the practices and equipment we have here in the lab. One of the things that’s become absolutely critical to excellence in our field is accurate reporting. We process and test specimens rapidly and generate results electronically. So we must be more careful and very diligent about data and reporting. Phlo has demonstrated great care and accuracy when resulting precious data."

The hospital celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1987 and its 75th in 2012.

Day after day, year after year, decade after decade, Bostick shows up.

The early wake-ups don't bother her.

"I'm so used to doing it, I don't even need an alarm clock," Bostick said. "I get up at 4:30 a.m., I'm out of here at 5:30 and I'm at work at 6."

Bostick, her colleagues said, lives by something she often says. "Try to see the best in people."

"The quote from Mahatma Gandhi, 'See the good in people and help others,' is the true nature of Phlo Bostick," Rebola said.

And about that celebration: Colleagues planned punch and cake for Bostick on Sept. 23.

She did not, Bostick said, "expect a party."

Helping others is just what she does.

Fifty years.

Just think about that.

Fifty years.

Contact Kennerly at bkennerly@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bybrittkennerly Facebook: /bybrittkennerly. Local journalism like this needs your support. Consider subscribing to your local newspaper. See our current offers.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Holmes Regional lab tech's been on the job in Melbourne since 1972