MOULTRIE, Ga. — A new laundry business has been created here with a two-part goal: to serve area healthcare institutions and to provide jobs to local residents.
Georgia Linen Services opened in December in a 17,000-square-foot facility on four acres. Jim Matney, CEO and president of Colquitt Regional Medical Center here in Moultrie, came up with the idea for the new business.
Concerned about the expense of sending linens to faraway facilities—an expense he says totaled about a half-million dollars a year—he decided to partner with local residents on a plan to create an independent laundry business that could serve his institution and others facing similar laundering challenges.
Mel Harrill, president of Georgia Linen Services, says Matney approached him about running the laundry.
“[Colquitt Regional Medical Center] didn’t have the room on-site to build it,” Harrill explains. “They didn’t have the experience, either.” He says he has more than 40 years of experience in the laundry business, mostly “on the equipment side.”
Georgia Linen Services employs 14 people and can process 4-5 million pounds of linen per year, mostly for Colquitt Regional facilities and a few other area medical institutions. The company plans to bring additional business onboard every few months.
Harrill hopes to employ 30-35 people as business expands. He stresses that all employees are local residents, some of whom secured employment through Easter Seals, a nonprofit organization that works to find job opportunities for individuals with disabilities. These employees are given tasks like hand-folding and stacking.
“Any job we can [give to] a local from Easter Seals—that’s what we want to do,” says Harrill. “It’s something good for the community. Moultrie needs the jobs.”
Equipment in the facility includes two Braun 450-pound washer-extractors, one B&C Technologies 100-pound washer-extractor and three American Dryer Corp. 170-pound dryers. Flatwork equipment includes a Braun spreader-feeder; a two-roll, 32-inch steam ironer by Braun; a Lapauw two-roll, 32-inch thermal ironer; two Braun folder/crossfolders with stackers; and two Braun small-piece folders.
The laundry also purchased a Hurst boiler with a stack economizer, a Kemco hot water system and a Kibler water softener, among other equipment.
Harrill says the facility has the space to add equipment as necessary.
Both Harrill and Matney are pleased with the partnership and the employment opportunities it has offered area residents.
“I talked Mel into doing the laundry, and it’s been a real success,” says Matney. “I think it’s a wonderful idea for a lot of hospitals to do.”
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