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The Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) was cited by the Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) in a statement to a St. Louis television station regarding the integrity of hospital laundry processed in Missouri prisons.
In a statement to KTVI Fox 2, a St. Louis FOX Broadcasting affiliate, DOC Spokesperson Karen Pojmann said, "Missouri Vocational Enterprises (MVE) long has been fully prepared when dealing with hospital laundry. Our process has been approved by the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council. All offenders wear protective gear and have been educated and personally instructed on handling hospital laundry safely and employing techniques to mitigate risk."
MVE is a program of the Division of Offender Rehabilitative Services within the Missouri Department of Corrections. HLAC is a nonprofit organization that inspects and accredits laundries processing textiles for hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities.
The Fox 2 news segment, "Prisons in pandemic; and their connection to hospitals," portrayed what life is like inside prisons during the healthcare crisis. The DOC statement was in response to the comments of one prisoner, who told his father he was concerned about hospital laundry that comes in from all across Missouri into the Farmington prison to be washed.
HLAC-accredited laundries like MVE process healthcare textiles based on the highest standards for patient safety and infection prevention. These HLAC Accreditation Standards - which have been documented, published and professionally recognized - have been developed based on federal regulations and guidelines as well as best industry practices.
HLAC accreditation, which is good for three years, means that a laundry meets HLAC's Standards. Accreditation affirms that a laundry organization that processes healthcare linens has successfully passed an inspection of the following: its facility, policies and procedures, training programs, and its relationships with its healthcare customers.
For more information, visit www.hlacnet.org
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April 15, 2020
Topic Area: Press Release
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