Mary Petricca worked her last day at the Buffalo General Medical Center Blood Bank on November 3, 2023. She retired after 45 years of service within various Kaleida Health facilities.
Mary graduated from D’Youville College in 1979 after interning in the Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Medical Technology Program and immediately began working in the Blood Bank there.
As the years turned into decades, Mary’s experience deepened while the field underwent vast changes. She became extremely proficient in the most challenging areas of transfusion medicine, including problematic antibodies. Mary was able to solve these problems, making the blood products compatible. The process became second nature to her and she readily shared this expertise with colleagues, medical technology students and medical staff. Those who worked with Mary describe her as reliable, dependable, and compassionate. She also built a good rapport with co-workers, managers, directors, and nursing staff.
Eventually all Kaleida Health Blood Banks were merged, and Mary's knowledge of established processes substantially helped everyone transition to the new way of providing safe transfusions to our patients.
Mary will be relaxing during retirement, knowing that she doesn’t need to travel to work during snowy weather, and she will be spending more time with family, but not chickens!
Congratulations Mary on your 45 years of dedicated service to Kaleida Health Laboratories.