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that’s one of our on-going goals – to make
sure that we are identifying any cooperative
healthcare laundries out there that would
qualify for membership, that are not mem-
bers, because we want to make them aware
and certainly let them hear the advantages of
membership. Part of our philosophy is that
cooperative laundries are much better run in
the interest of the hospitals if there’s a per-
son that reports directly to the board of di-
rectors. As opposed to being managed by a
management company, where linen and ser-
vice is not their main priority.
BW: What sorts of things are on your
agenda going forward that you want to ac-
complish? What factors are out there that
people in your position need to be aware
of ?
LARK:
No. 1, I want to grow the orga-
nization. I want to make sure that we are
connecting with those qualifying healthcare
cooperatives that are out there, and making
ourselves known to them, so that they have
the ability to take advantage of what our or-
ganization offers. I want to continue to el-
evate the level of education to our members,
making sure we’re keeping up with trends in
the industry and changes in laws. Another
thing I want to do is start having more and
more collaboration with the vendors in the
industry, whether it be equipment, textiles,
chemical vendors or service providers that
are specific to our industry, so that their re-
search and development is addressing what
we’re concerned about.
BW: How will the industry look differ-
ent five years from now?
LARK:
I think there’s going to be a lot
of downward pressure to continue to reduce
costs, gain efficiencies. Again certainly with
the healthcare act, it’s yet to be seen. We all
know that’s going to bring some changes.
More and more of the cooperatives are go-
ing to be certainly accredited by the HLAC
– the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation
Council. I think that’s a trend that we’re go-
ing to continue to see grow. I think it’s go-
ing to become more and more of a demand
by the hospitals, that the cooperative doing
their linen and laundry service be accredit-
ed. I think those are some trends we will see
changing.
