In Memoriam: Beatrice Elloise Warmington

Beatrice Elloise Warmington passed away at the age of 73 on February 17, 2022.

Bea, as we all know her, as well as “Ms. Bea” and “Mama Bea”, was the Senior Phlebotomy Coordinator in Lab Support Services Central Phlebotomy. Bea passed away after a short illness surrounded by her family at her home in Boston.  

Born in Kingston Jamaica on July 3, 1948, Bea immigrated to the United States and attended the Gadsden State Junior College in Alabama where she received her Associates in Science Degree on March 5, 1981. After relocating to Boston, Bea started her career here at MGH on February 1, 1988. Throughout her career here at MGH, Bea worked as a phlebotomist and had advanced to Assistant Supervisor and later Senior Coordinator.  In addition, Bea also  worked in all the areas of Laboratory Support Services thought the years including 4LABS, billing, report printing, transport ,point of care testing and so much more! But phlebotomy was where Bea was best known!  We estimated that through her long career as a phlebotomist, Bea collected samples on more than 250,000 patients! During her first ten years, Bea was a senior phlebotomist and was one of the floor coordinators when we had our inpatient phlebotomy team. During the changeover to nursing for inpatient phlebotomy between 1996 and 1999, Bea was one of the instructors that participated in the three year project to convert from a centralized inpatient team to nursing phlebotomy.  Beatrice was an integral part of our phlebotomy training program. New employees, after completion of the month long basics program, would be released to the unit coordinators for continued training in difficult collections, specialty collections and off site collections. Bea placed great emphasis on education, training and seeing staff grow in their positions.

As testimony to Bea’s dedication to the world of the phlebotomist, it was Bea who led the efforts to establish phlebotomy certification to the phlebotomy team at MGH.  Certification was a new concept in 1988 and most facilities were not yet even considering this. But MGH was the first to embrace certification and Bea helped lead the efforts for the multiyear project. Bea was the first phlebotomist certified at MGH. Through the years, Bea supported the team and has trained countless members of our organization