Humans of St. Charles - Beka

“It’s worth it when you have a kid that’s leaving with a smile on their face, and they’re showing people out in the waiting room, like ‘I was brave. Look what I got.’ As opposed to walking out of here sobbing. It makes me happy, because they’re leaving here with a positive experience. This wasn’t just coming to the lab and getting poked. It adds a lot to how they feel about their visit.”

-Beka, phlebotomist, on the extra effort it takes to create cute animals out of bandage wrap for kids who have their blood drawn at St. Charles Bend. Beka has been making "coban creatures" every work day for several years, including elephants, pandas, giraffes, porcupines and other, more exotic animals. She even takes requests, and she tries to fulfill them all.