Auxiliary Pledges $100,000 to Hospital
The administration of Duke Hospital
held its annual recognition dinner and
reception for members of the Hospital
Auxiliary on Wednesday evening, April
24, and after the dinner an unusual
announcement was made.
Dr. William G. Aniyan, vice president
for health affairs at the university, said
that the 154-member volunteer
organization had pledged $100,000 to the
building fund of the medical center's new
"Duke Hospital North."
The gift, which will be made over a
four-year period beginning this year,
represents one of the largest sums ever to
be donated by a hospital auxiliary in the
United States at any one time.
"I cannot tell you how deeply grateful
my colleagues and I were to receive
notice of the pledge, and we are utterly
delighted with the generous contribution
to our new hospital," Aniyan told the
asserpbled volunteers, a group which he’
called "a part of the solid matrix of our
operations for many years."
Aniyan said that the money would be
applied toward the more than $30 million
The Medical Center Laundry processes
enough sheets in one day to cover the
area of almost seven football fields.
Located off the Duke campus in a
modern two-story building on Wilkerson
Ave., the department processes over
18,000 pounds of laundry a day. This
figure is monumental when you consider
that a normal home washing machine
holds anywhere from eight to 16 pounds.
As a large operation, both man and
machine work in close unison to serve the
laundry needs of patients and personnel
in the hospital.
Behind the hum of the machines
which begin operation in the early
morning hours, 70 laundry workers are
4^'''
GOWER Cf/?r/F/fD—Lawrence W.
Gower, manager of hospital laundry since
1973, recently received certification from
the National Association of Institutional
Laundry Managers (N.A.I.L.M.). This
association, which began offering
certification in 1968, has over 500
members who are highly versed in
laundry management procedures and
techniques. Gower has been in the
laundry business for the past 17 years and
prior to his arrival at Duke, he served for
nine years as the assistant manager of
eight laundries within the North Carolina
Department of Corrections System.
Duke needs as equity on which to borrow
another $60 million for construction of
the new facility. Work is expected to
begin on the new hospital by January of
1975, and occupancy is scheduled for late
1978 or early 1979, he indicated.
A plaque to be erected in a specific
area of the new facility will
commemorate the gift.
The Auxiliary's contribution toward
the new hospital represents only a part of
the organization's on-going efforts to
insure better patient care and patient
satisfaction at Duke. This year, as in the
past, the Auxiliary is contributing dose
to $40,000 in the form of new equipment
for wards and clinics, scholarships for •
needy and deserving students in the
schools of medicine and nursing and
various funds to be used at the discretion
of the recipient areas. •
The carefully chosen gifts, too
numerous to' mention in detail, range
from books for the nursing library and
televisions for patient usage to funds for-
maternal education films and specialized
equipment for eye surgery.
involved in the washing, drying, pressmg
and packaging of linen and garments.
When a truck load of soiled linen is
brought to the top level of the laundry
building, it is weighed, sorted and
classified as flat work (sheets) or dry
work (bath towels, patient gowns,
blankets, etc.), labelled and put into
chutes.
These chutes lead into four.600-pound
washer-extractors and one 100-pound
cotton-polyester washer-extractor for
permanent press garments.
Aside from heavy duty laundry
detergents, all linens are treated with
fabric softners and a sour rinse which kills
bacteria and soap.
After washing, all flat work items are
damp dried and pressed and folded in one
of the two flat work iron machines which
can process 16 sheets a minute. All towels
and other dry work articles are placed in
400-pound capacity tumble dryers. For
permanent press items and smaller work,
loads, the laundry department also has a
50-pound steam heated tumbler.
In addition to the two flat work iron
machines for sheets, individual press irons
are used to press uniforms which are sent
back to the hospital on hangers.
Once articles are cleaned, ironed, and
folded, they are brought to the clean
linen room where they are sorted out
according to departments and wards,
labelled, wrapped in bundles, weighed
and put in baskets for pick up. All items
returned to the hospital are received in
the uniform and linen room which is
staffed by eight laundry personnel.
Aside from the job of cleaning and
ironing articles, if a garment requires
mending, it is brought to the sewing room
where workers are on hand to patch up
tears and restore items for reuse.
Commenting on the present operation
of the laundry, laundry manager
Lawrence W. Gower noted that last year
(Continued on page 2)
One recent gift, consisting of three
instruments and costing more than
$5,000, was requested by Dr. John T.
Garbutt, an assistant professor in the
Division of 'XSastro-Enterology. He said
that the devices which the Auxiliary
contributed give physicians a safe and
efficient means for removing small benign
tumors from the large intestine without
the need for major surgery and therefore
"are of both clinical and financial benefit
to the patient."
In addition, and perhaps more
important, are the services which the
auxilians provide. The two snack bars and
"Pink Smock" gift shop which the
volunteers staff each day are convenient
for both patients and hospital employees
alike as well as furnishing the revenues
which are returned to the hospital in the
form of annual projects.
Shop and library carts which visit
wards daily make reading material and
toiletries available to non-ambulatory
patients, and volunteer guides conduct
patients to labs and clinics. These guides
are especially helpful when an out-patfent
returns from having a test performed and
is unable to locate a family member.
While hospital employees have little time
to scour the hospital looking for a "lost"
relative, the guides find this one of their
most requested and appreciated duties.
Recreation therapists count on "pink
ladies" to assist them in creating as
pleasant an environment as possible for
children who are In the hospital. The
youngsters, often very ill, respond well to
the volunteers who play games with them
on the wards or in the pediatric
playroom, filling the lonely hours when
parents must be away at their jobs.
Another service initiated by the group
has been the Junior Volunteer Program
for high school students ranging in age
from 14 to 18. Each summer, these
young adults who often have an interest
in health-related careers work alongside
auxilians in the snack bars, the gift shop,
the playroom, on the wards and in the
dirties and fill the ranks when regular
members take their vacations.
Last year, junior volunteers spent a
total of 3,552 hours in the hospital.
Who are the auxilians, and why do
they give of their time so freely? Mrs.
James B. Wyngaarden, president of the
organization, explained that the group
which was founded at Duke in 1960
consists of "all kinds of people who share
a common desire to be of service to
others."
The majority of the volunteers are
women from Durham and surrounding
areas, she said, but men are welcome to
join as well. Many of the women are
affiliated with the university in one way
(Contim/ed on page 2)
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VOLUME 21, NUMBER 17
APRIL 26, 1974
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLIN
18,000 Lbs, of Laundry per Day
Now Here’s a Good Clean Story
FROM THE FACTORY TO THE CUSTOMER-CuiXomer Margaret Caudle,
administrative secretary in radiation therapy picks up a bundle of cliean linen for her
department from linen room attendant Margaret Cozart. Clean linen brought to the
hospital is received and checked in the linen room, located in the sub-basement of the
hospital. All ward linen is taken directly to the wards as well as individual bundles for
the Operating Room and Central Supply. Uniforms for doctors and nurses, lab coats
and excess linen for the wards is kept in the linen room for individual pick up. Both
the linen room and the uniform room which issues new uniforms, alters old ones, and
hands out clean ones for hospital employees, are considered a part of the medical
center laundry department. (See layout of pictures on page 3). (Photos by Dale Moses)