It smells good of laundry in this large room leaning against the back of the Saint-Charles hospital, in Toul. This fragrant lair is that of the two linen nurses Patricia and Kathia who work there part-time. That afternoon, it was Kathia who “run the shop”. On site, in a first space of about 50 m² reserved for clean laundry, no thread, no clothespin, or the slightest square of fabric that dries. Everything is well organized around two large dryers of 10 and 20 kg, next to two hatches for opening the washing machines of 20 and 40 kg; a row of stainless steel tables are used to fold linen, sewing or fusing machines seem to be biding their time and two filmed carts jealously guard clean, well-folded linen. Kathia shows us around the other side, the one reserved for the “dirty” where bundles of laundry ready for washing and the opening of the two washing machines are piled up on trolleys.
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“Clean sheets, it plays on morale”
The laundry ? It’s a big part of Kathia’s professional life. Before arriving at the Toul hospital center three years ago, she worked for eleven years at the Brabois laundry. Laundry is her part, but she got there by chance… After health and social studies, the 50-year-old turned to industry, in production, on machines. Having gone through an experience in the interns’ self and a long break of fourteen years, she took up the laundry… “And I liked it”, she comments. “I have the impression of being useful, of acting for the well-being of patients. When you enter the hospital, being in clean sheets, it plays on morale! »
Over time, however, the profession has evolved. Today Kathia says she “does a lot of management”. It provides the link with the health cooperation group which, established in Brabois since 2018, washes the laundry for a dozen health establishments in the sector. Bed linen, for example, which represents the largest volume, is cleaned there. The role of Kathia and her colleague is thus to centralize the clean linen needs of the 23 departments of the hospital, the medical team in detention, the two Ehpad – Rion and the Ombelles – to then place an order with this laundry central. Kathia then receives her orders, which everyone picks up from “their” premises. Bed linen represents at least 734 sheets for all Toulouse sites combined, in addition to the washing of towels, staff uniforms and other patient shirts.
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Kathia nevertheless rotates laundry every day, “for specific items, not to be sent for industrial washing or in small numbers”. Such as separation curtains, straps, blankets, small maternity linen and the clothes of nursing home residents upon their arrival to be marked with their first and last name. To remove blood stains, Kathia soaks laundry in bleach and uses industrial stain removers for more difficult stains. And then the two employees who are under the control of Valérie Richepain, also responsible for the economy department, also devote themselves to sewing and mending. Because yes, laundry workers have the art of diversifying their activities.
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