Page 45 - BWM March 2013

March 2013 | Business World Magazine | 45
thing of a cumbersome, if not costly, aspect
of operations. Hospitals, nursing homes and
similar centers of care have found it easier
and wiser to focus on the providing of care
by entrusting laundry services to specialty
providers, saving money and headaches in
the process. Naturally, all of this was keenly
understood by Blaufuss. He decided to pay a
visit to the laundry, prompted not only out
of professional concern for this important
vendor to the nursing home, but also person-
al concern indicative of neighborly customs
in the way of life in rural America. The laun-
dry employees were on the verge of losing a
job and a historic business was on the verge
of closing its doors. Blaufuss determined to
acquire the business and he credits the sup-
port of a small community bank, Superior,
Wisconsin’s, National Bank of Commerce,
with providing the financial faith and sup-
port necessary to complete the deal. It took
some three years for Blaufuss to implement
all the improvements needed for the opera-
tion, which included adjusting the business
model to solely focus on healthcare needs.
Yet again, in servicing health care, there are
standards governing cleanliness that are far
more demanding than that typically encoun-
tered by other commercial laundries.