- By Ben Widmer -
Have you ever wondered how your soiled sheets, towels and other linens are picked up and redelivered “squeaky clean” in just a few hours? This reporter did a quick inspection with the Laundry Manager, Esthiza.
The residential workload Monday through Friday is divided by buildings, North and South. Villas are considered two buildings. The laundry processes two buildings per day involving 70 to 80 bags daily. The first step is to check the contents of the bag with the laundry ticket and make sure each item is identified with an address. The next step is to separate the white and colored linens.
The laundry is loaded into six sophisticated washing machines. The laundry bags, marked by building and room number, and the laundry tickets are put on carts and moved to a holding area. As the laundry comes out of the four large dryers, the appropriate carts are moved to a sorting area. The flat sheets are ironed in a mangle; the fitted sheets are folded. They are then placed on the appropriate shelf on the carts. The items are rechecked with the tickets, wrapped in plastic and put into the appropriate bag ready for delivery.
The non-resident laundry is another big job. Restaurant linens are picked up and delivered four times a day. Towels from the swimming pools, exercise rooms, therapy rooms, and the Health Center are processed. Assisted Living has a laundry bag daily for each room occupied.
There are two laundry shifts per day from 6:30am to 3:30pm and from 3:30pm to 11:00pm.