74 | Business World Magazine |
January 2014
LARK:
That would be correct. I think the
everyday person doesn’t even know this in-
dustry exists. It's a very niche industry, so
to speak. I think when the average person
looks at the hospital, they don’t think of the
textiles and the linens, and what has to go
to into the process of handling soiled linen,
processing it and getting it back to the hos-
pitals from an infection control and patient
care perspective. There’s a lot of chemistry
involved. There’s a lot of equipment involved
in these large cooperative plants that the lay-
man has no idea even exists. And certainly
it’s a business, it’s a large business. These co-
operatives, I’ll use mine as an example – I
service 15 hospitals, I have 145 employees –
there’s large revenue. These are organizations
that can impact hospitals and patient care, so
all of it is involved in these cooperative laun-
dries. Linen is like any other critical medical
supply – hospitals cannot operate without it.
BW: So if you’re going to choose this in-
dustry, you chose the most complicated,
most difficult portion of this industry?
LARK:
That would be correct.
BW: Are there ever days where you roll
your eyes and wonder why can’t I be do-
ing this for a hotel chain or something like
that, or do you enjoy that more importance
is laid on yours?
LARK:
I’ve been in this industry for 18 years
and I had no idea, when I walked in the front
door looking for a job, about this particular
industry. It’s very interesting, it’s fascinat-
ing, it’s challenging. I guess for those A-Type
personalities out there, which most of us in
IAHTM are, we really enjoy that challenge.
This particular organization is a great value
for me personally and I think to all of our
members, really, because we are such a niche
industry, things are very specific and these
challenges that we all face, we have the abil-
ity to seek each other’s counsel and advice.
BW: Do you think the fact that the indus-
try is as complicated as it is and everyone
shares a similar kind of burden as far as the
regulations go and requirements, does that
make it a more collective industry than
maybe similar non-healthcare related in-
dustries might be? Is there more coopera-
tion here than with the other ones?
LARK:
Yes, I think within and particularly
for cooperative healthcare laundries that are
members of IAHTM, yes, I would say that’s
very, very true. A study of almost all pre-
