HOUSTON — Providing linen services for the Memorial Hermann Health System in the Houston area is a monumental task.

The Linen Services team provides essential items — including towels, surgical gowns, scrubs, and even sterile surgery packs — to 14 major hospitals.

Operating six days a week, their behind-the-scenes work ensures surgeons are ready to operate, nurses are equipped to care for patients, and patients remain safe and comfortable.

Earl Smith has been working in the system’s laundry service for more than three decades, and today is director of the entire operation. He and his team of employees work hard at maintaining high standards of quality and ensuring the health system’s facilities always have clean linens in order to be fully operational.

“I’m fortunate that I have a very good team,” he says. “They are very supportive of me, very supportive of the system. Our goal for the system is, this is our laundry. This is for Memorial Hermann, and everything we can do to make a patient comfortable in their stay, we’re going to do it.”

“The importance of our Linen Services team, led by Earl Smith, truly cannot be overstated,” says Malisha Patel, senior vice president and CEO of Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital and Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital. 

“While their incredible work often happens behind the scenes, it is fundamental to every aspect of our hospital operations, from infection prevention and patient comfort to the seamless execution of critical medical procedures.”

Over the more than three decades Smith has worked for the health system’s laundry, he’s seen plenty of changes to which he’s had to adapt.

“The linens have stayed pretty well the same,” he points out. “We have a lot of cotton-rich linen, and we buy most of our linens through Standard Textile. We have a good partnership with them, using their linens and their programs. They have a very strong support team as well.

“Processing, we’ve gone from steam ironers to thermal ironers, and that’s helping us on energy savings, that type of stuff. Of course, tunnel washers are very efficient, labor-saving, utility-saving as well. The hospital has invested in that, and because of that, it’s allowed us to keep our costs down to the hospital.” 

Smith has also seen improvements in linen utilization over the years.

“That’s one of the big focuses,” he says. “We work closely with our housekeeping departments here. I have two account managers who are always at the site and talking to the end users about their usage, trying to control that. They do a pretty good job. 

“The tracking that we use is this: the hospital orders on-site every day, and then we use the Standard Textile ControlTex^® for monitoring usage and inventories.”

One thing Smith can’t control is the Houston weather, and sometimes the laundry has to adapt to major, potentially catastrophic events, such as hurricanes.

“We do have some other laundries within Houston that we all support each other in those types of situations,” he shares. “Usually with hurricanes, you have advanced notice so that you can kind of get your affairs in order and get set up, order extra linen in. You know, making ‘stat runs’ to the hospitals, picking up soiled linen.

“Our main objective is to get all of the soiled items to us and get them delivered clean back to the hospital before the hurricane arrives. Our goal is to have at least four days’ par level in each hospital when a hurricane arrives, and sometimes we have to buy linen to support that.”

Smith and his laundry team have made a lasting impression at the Memorial Hermann Health System.

“Earl and his team are the unsung heroes who enable our physicians, nurses, and staff to have the sterile environments and essential supplies they need to deliver the highest quality of care every single day,” Patel says. 

“Their dedication, especially during unprecedented times like the pandemic, exemplifies Memorial Hermann’s commitment to our community and our patients. We are profoundly grateful for their tireless efforts.”

And it seems the system will have Smith directing its laundry operation for the foreseeable future.

“I enjoy what I do. I can’t really imagine doing anything else,” he says. “This is what I’ve done all my life. Of course, I’ve taken vacations, snow skiing, water skiing, or whatever. But, you know, when I’m not doing that, this is where I’m at. This is just in my blood. 

“I have enjoyed working here at Memorial Hermann. They have been, the hospital system itself, very supportive of us.

“I’ve been blessed, and when I say blessed, I mean it. I’ve been blessed with good managers and good maintenance staff. They’re all knowledgeable. They’re all good at what they do. I tease them a lot about they’re the ones that do the work. I’m just a pretty face. 

“It’s a combined effort of all of us. I’m very proud of them.”

Click HERE for part 1 about Memorial Hermann Linen Services’ operation and its veteran director. 

Read part 2 HERE about Linen Services’ secret to its success.