LEE COUNTY, Fla - Health care is one of the few fields that hasn't had major struggles because of the economy. One area in particular could continue to be a big boom for new jobs.

"We are the behind the scenes workers processing the samples for you," said Melissa Rose of NeoGenomics Laboratories. Inside their labs in Lee County, technicians carefully study blood and tissue samples, looking for signs of cancer. It's critical work for diagnosing disease, but finding people willing to do it has been difficult.

"In order to recruit anybody, we have to give them a little more money, we have to relocate (them)," Rose said.

"We are the clinical detectives for the physician," explains Steven Shelfer of Rasmussen College in Fort Myers. This summer, Rasmussen is starting one of the only programs in the area to train future medical lab technicians.

"A lot of people are just not aware of it," Shelfer said. "Unless you have somebody in health care, you may not know there's other people besides the doctors and nurses treating you."

There's plenty of work to be had, in part because of an aging population.

"There are more people in this population that are going to develop leukemias and lymphomas," explains John Ross, a Cytogenetic Technologist at NeoGenomics. "So the need for laboratory diagnostic testing is only increasing in this part of the United States."

Rasmussen College also expects 80,000 lab techs to retire nationwide over the next five years, creating even more opportunities for work.

"Its satisfying at the end of the day knowing you've helped a patient," Ross said.

Rasmussen is offering a two-year degree program starting in July. Some labs, like NeoGenomics, ask for four year degrees for many of its workers. All technicians need to be certfied and get a license to work in the state of Florida.