Plaque at Cortland Renzi Health Campus Honors 45 Years of Lab Service

A career that spanned 45 years was honored recently at the Guthrie Cortland Renzi Health Campus.

A new plaque bearing the name of Robin A. Puzo was unveiled in the lab space at the facility, located at 4057 West Road in Cortland, N.Y. Puzo spent the duration of her professional life with the laboratory in Cortland’s hospital—now Guthrie Cortland Medical Center.

Her husband, Joe Puzo, provided financial support for the honor—which he kept secret from his wife until the unveiling. His contribution to the Cortland Memorial Foundation was made toward The Guthrie Clinic’s Here. For Good. campaign.

In his remarks, Puzo noted his wife’s commitment to her job and her community.

“The dedication that Robin made to the Cortland hospital is truly exceptional,” he said. “She worked first shift, second shift and third shift; wherever there was a need to ensure that customers — in this case, doctors and patients — would get the lab results that they needed in order to get the best care possible.”

Joe Puzo, who also serves as Chair of the Guthrie Cortland Medical Center Board of Directors, noted how increasingly uncommon it is to stay with one entity for so many years, and observed that Robin’s last role as Quality Systems Manager left a solid set of systems and processes from which the lab still operates.

Jennifer Yartym, President of Guthrie Cortland Medical Center, echoed this statement when she said that regulating agencies have rated the lab as exemplary.

“That speaks volumes to the dedication and hard work of everyone here,” she said. “And that’s what the Here. For Good. Campaign is all about. We truly want to be here for our patients and our community.”

Addressing Robin Puzo, Yartym added, “And you have done that for 45 years, leading by example and always putting the needs of our patients and caregivers first and foremost. Nurses and physicians get a lot of credit, but we couldn’t run our hospital without the lab.”

The plaque dedicated to Robin Puzo serves as a small reflection of her decades-long commitment to her work, Joe Puzo said. “I hope that as patients come into the lab, they see this, and they recognize an individual who really made a difference here.”