I have worked at KDH for more than 20 years. I was born at KDH and had both my children here, so when the job opportunity came about, I jumped at the chance to work here.

The Laundry department is essential to the everyday functioning of the hospital. We receive twice-weekly deliveries of both general laundry and sterile laundry for the ORs. When the clean laundry is delivered, the soiled laundry is picked up. In addition to the regular laundry, my department also launders personal patient care items and clothing as well as the mammogram gowns and other hospital owned specialty items.

During COVID-19, we have been laundering all the isolation gowns in-house. We require up to 300 gowns per day and that doesn’t include the gowns needed by the OR department. At this time we launder them all in-house to ensure we have enough. The washers and dryers are running 24/7, and I couldn’t do it without help from the Environmental Services team.

A few years ago, I was part of the team that helped procure “Alice Gowns” for palliative patients. These special hospital gowns were sewn by one of our volunteers in soft, multicoloured fabrics with just one string at the top to make them more comfortable for our patients at end-of-life. I carefully launder these Alice Gowns in-house.

I get great satisfaction when I see the smiling faces of patients whom I have helped in some small way. I also like to help my coworkers with their departments’ needs.