For Hayes Clinical Laboratories, there’s a person attached to each laboratory sample. That philosophy enables Florida’s largest independent clinical laboratory to offer some of the industry’s most sophisticated testing while providing high-quality, personal service to its clients.
Hayes, a family-owned and operated business, was founded in 1999 in Delray Beach, FL by Kentucky native Shelby Hayes. With a background in medical technology, Hayes moved to Florida in 1962 with his wife, Judy. He worked at St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach and Bethesda Hospital in Boynton Beach from1962-1974, where he gained knowledge of the lab industry.Seeing a community need for an independent laboratory, he opened his first lab in Boynton Beach in 1974. As things got busier, he brought in a partner from Canada, Gora Aditya, who purchased half the lab. The partners expanded, and over the years joined forces with larger labs and several corporations, until they mutually agreed to dissolve the corporation in 1997 due to changes in Medicare testing regulations.
“Some clients remained on board as we worked with other laboratories, and encouraged us to re-open another lab,” said Shelby Hayes, the company’s CEO. In 1999, Shelby and Judy Hayes opened Hayes Clinical Laboratories in Boynton Beach. Two years later, Gora Aditya, who had sold his lab in Toronto, joined the board as Chairman, bringing his vast laboratory experience to Hayes.
Today, the entire Hayes family is part of the laboratory operation. The Hayes children, Tami and Trent, who grew up in the lab, have brought their science and business expertise to the company. Tami, COO, who has worked alongside her parents for 31 years, operates the lab; brother-in-law Chad, is president; Trent is senior vice president, and sister Tia works in sales. Shelby continues as CEO, but sadly, his wife Judy, who had served as CFO, passed away last year. Dr. Norman Sudduth, formerly chief pathologist at JFK Hospital in Lake Worth, brings his expertise to the lab as a science consultant.
Hayes is known for its high-quality, personal service. “We have no automated phones, and all our clients who call in can reach an owner anytime,” said Trent Hayes. “We treat our patients like family. We know that every patient is someone’s father, mother or grandparent, and our staff treats them as if they were their own. Our quality of testing is another huge strength. When a sample is sent to our lab, it is tested promptly and done with top ranked machines and instruments.”
Today, Hayes stays ahead of the curve in providing some of medicine’s most cutting edge testing, including advanced cardiac tests that will help practitioners better diagnose, treat and monitor their patients for heart attacks and strokes, and molecular pathology tests.
Earlier this year, Cleveland HeartLab, LLC, a leader in next-generation cardiovascular disease prevention, diagnosis, and management, chose Hayes as one of two laboratories to market its proprietary CardioMPO™ test throughout Florida.
Hayes also performs personalized medicine tests, the wave of the future, which emphasize the customization of healthcare. This involves the use of genetic or other information about an individual patient so practitioners can select or optimize preventative and therapeutic care.
“We are currently doing our own innovative version of testing patients to determine their individual and unique responses to the drug Plavix,” said Trent Hayes. “We call the test PlaviSure, and it tells the doctors about both the genetic state of their patients as well as the functional effect of taking Plavix. In other words, we help the doctors know whether or not their patients are at higher or lower risk from this particular medication. This type of testing is just one example of how we are committed to being at the forefront of true personalized medicine.”
Hayes has long-standing, productive relationships with physicians throughout South Florida. To educate practitioners on the latest tests available in the market, and to encourage them to think “outside the box,” the laboratory offers dinner or lunch programs with speakers from across the country.
Hayes currently has eight laboratories located on Florida’s east and west coast, including facilities in Boca Raton, West Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Lake Worth, Naples, and Sanibel.
“Our expansion plans are to grow slowly throughout the region, while keeping our focus on quality,” said Trent Hayes. “We’re going to stay ahead of testing trends and bring in new tests as they are developed.”
“We’re a medical family and we love our clients,” he said. “There’s no more joy than doing a new test that you know can save lives.”
