While the first step in preventing linen loss is to work with a professional linen management service, educating your employees about linen management in your healthcare facility is an important second step.
Anxiety is a growing problem in the population at large. In high-stress or uncomfortable situations, like those patients commonly experience during treatment, anxiety can intensify and disrupt processes. Between 11% and 80% of adults suffer from anxiety, and doubtlessly they are patients you see every day.
Winter is coming, and it’s important to be ready. As a leader at your hospital, you’re responsible for the health and safety of your patients and staff. And, unfortunately, cold weather, ice and snow mean more potential health hazards for you to deal with.
Over the years, HandCraft has been committed to working closely with medical associations that support the medical practices we sell to.
This has been a long-held debate for many small- and medium-sized healthcare facilities. While outsourcing has been the norm for many of their larger counterparts, smaller healthcare businesses are still considering whether they need to entrust their linen needs to other companies.
Your hospital has enough to worry about already.
When lives are at stake, it’s difficult to be concerned about something that seems as inconsequential as linen loss. So, chances are, linen loss isn’t high on your priority list. But it should be.
HandCraft Services got its start — and made its name — as a dry cleaner in Richmond more than 50 years ago. But these days, the company’s big business is handling the medical industry’s laundry.
FRANKFORT, Ill. — The Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) accredited its 100th healthcare laundry when HandCraft Linen Services, Richmond, Va., earned the distinction in May, HLAC reports.
“We’re proud to have reached this milestone in HLAC’s history,” says HLAC Chairperson Patti Costello, executive director of the American Society for Healthcare Environmental Services (ASHES). “Laundries voluntarily seeking accreditation demonstrate they understand the importance of continuous benchmarking, process improvement, patient safety, and providing hygienically clean textiles to customers.”
The non-profit HLAC was formed for the purpose of inspecting and accrediting laundries processing healthcare textiles for hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities. Becoming accredited is an entirely voluntary process. HLAC does not have members, but is comprised of a volunteer Board of Directors.
Since it began accrediting laundry organizations in 2006, the HLAC has “seen a growing commitment to voluntary industry excellence and a much greater awareness of the unique role healthcare textile processing plays in national patient-safety goals,” Costello adds. “As the demand for healthcare grows, so too will the need for qualified healthcare laundry providers who are well prepared to handle the increasing needs of its healthcare customers.”
“We’re thrilled to be the 100th laundry accredited by HLAC,” says Keith Nichols, president of HandCraft Linen Services, a family-owned and -operated company that has been in business since 1969 and employs more than 250. “Seeking this independent certification sends an important message to our customers and prospects that we’ve developed a culture of high performance and excellence, which results in a product that consistently meets their needs every day. And it aligns with the ongoing HandCraft legacy of hard work, innovation, and commitment to the laundry industry.”
HandCraft’s state-of-the-art facilities process more than 27 million pounds of healthcare textiles each year and service more than 4,000 hospital and nursing-home beds and more than 450 medical office surgery centers. HLAC Executive Director Kathy Tinker presented HandCraft’s management and owners with the accreditation plaque in late June.
Northwest Health Care Linen, a healthcare linen-service provider for customers in the Puget Sound, Wash., region since 1992, also received accreditation recently.
“When you go into a healthcare facility as a patient, cleanliness is critically important to stopping the spread of bacteria,” says James Hall, CEO of Northwest Health Care Linen. “In this industry, hospitals have no way to measure what you’re doing, apart from the end product delivered. That’s what this accreditation looks at: how you provide the sanitary laundry that aids in the prevention of bacteria spread and infection.”
The HLAC accreditation process includes an evaluation of written documents; a walk-through and inspection of the facility; employee and management interviews; and more. The HLAC standards focus on a number of aspects, with the ultimate goal being the separation of clean textiles from soiled textiles at all times.
“This accreditation gives us a high level of credibility in the industry, setting us apart from those who aren’t currently accredited or who, frankly, aren’t able to meet these high standards,” Hall says.
Converting to an exchange cart program isn’t just a matter of collecting data in separate systems and having the customer service representatives provide monthly reports. In order to move to an exchange cart program, as proposed by HandCraft Linen Services, three key elements are required. Please click on the above link to see what these elements are and to read more on how exchange carts can be a better and profitability service.
