New Orleans site for
Clean Show 

Dates for Clean 2013 in New Orleans are rescheduled to June 20-22, a Thursday-Saturday show.

    "This allows attendees to return home on Sunday to start their work week on Monday, or gives them an opportunity stay and enjoy a day in New Orleans after the show," said David Cotter, chairman of Clean 2013 and CEO of Textile Care Allied Trades Association.

    Dates for the 2013 show originally announced at Clean 2011 were Friday-Sunday, June 21-23. The three-day-show format in 2013, the first since 1981, is in response to exhibitor and attendee feedback. Therefore, the show will run three full days rather than close early on the fourth day.

    Future shows for 2015 in Atlanta and 2017 in Las Vegas were also announced as three-day shows, but Cotter said the show could return to four days if that proves to work better for exhibitors and attendees.

    Clean 2011 in Las Vegas drew 11,200 people, a 13% increase over Clean '09. In addition to attendees from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., Clean 2011 had a strong international presence. People came from 87 other countries, which represents 44% of the world's 196 countries.

    The World Educational Congress for Laundering and Drycleaning, the show's formal name, is the world's largest exhibition of textile care products featuring working equipment. It attracts every facet of textile care and textile rental services -- retail, commercial, coin/card, institutional, and industrial laundering and drycleaning.

    The Clean Show is sponsored by five national industry associations: Association for Linen Management, Coin Laundry Association, Drycleaning & Laundry Institute, Textile Care Allied Trades Association and Textile Rental Services Association of America.   

    For more information on the Clean Show, visit  www.cleanshow.com.    

New Member Special:
Join Now and Get 4 Months Free! 

 njenkins@arta1.com.   

www.ARTA1.com  

The mission of the American Reusable Textile Association is to create greater awareness and appreciation for reusable textiles.

Founded in 1982 by Nathan Belkin, PhD

Mark your calendars for April 5-6, 2012, and plan on joining us at this prestigious hotel for two days of learning and networking with industry peers. 

SAVE the DATES! ARTA will hold its 2012 education seminar next April 5-6 at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tenn. The focus for this meeting is on client education and employee customer service training.

     "With the advent of the Green movement, all

The lobby of The Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tenn., location of ARTA's 2012 Education Conference on April 5-6.

businesses are scrutinizing the environmental impacts of their operations," says ARTA President Steve Tinker. "In the healthcare market specifically, national organizations such as Practice Greenhealth and the Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE) are encouraging members to increase their use of reusable medical textiles as an effective means to minimize waste.

    "The challenge is that most nurses, doctors and healthcare workers have only used disposable items throughout their careers. It's up to our industry to provide the education and in-service training that can help healthcare workers increase their use reusable textiles in an effective and nonthreatening manner."

     ARTA's 2012 meeting in Memphis is open to members and nonmembers, as well as all sister associations. In addition to sessions featuring information and tools on client in-service and employee customer service training, the conference will provide updates on technical and production issues that affect the marketing of healthcare specialty textiles.

     Stay tuned for more information on speakers and accommodations later this fall. Questions? Contact ARTA Executive Director Nancy Jenkins at njenkins@arta1.com or log on to www.arta1.com.  

You can download PDF files now from www.ARTA1.com

• The Business Case for Greening the OR
• Greening the OR Checklist
• Implementation Modules
• Case Studies 

One CBS TV affiliate in Boston investigated the implications of healthcare workers wearing scrubs in public. Here's an excerpt of what they found. . . 

Last year, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) recommended that all surgical (OR) scrubs be laundered professionally. Not addressed, but a growing concern, is the issue of healthcare workers wearing scrubs in public and laundering them at home.  

    One CBS television affiliate in Boston investigated the implications of healthcare workers wearing scrubs in public. The following is an exerpt from that report. For the complete story, click the link at the bottom of the page.

    "Massachusetts is rich in hospitals, and any time you're near one, you'll see hospital employees walking to and from work wearing scrubs or lab coats. You'll even see them at restaurant counters and tables. Since many hospital employees come into direct contact with patients, some people are concerned that the scrubs and lab coats they wear can be contaminated with bacteria and germs.

    '"It's a danger for patients and for the public,"' says Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D., the head of the non-profit Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths in New York. She sees two problems: '"One problem is that they're spreading bacteria from patient to patient within the hospital and they're also taking [hospital superbugs to outside the hospital],"' she says. 

What the CBS Informal Study Found 

The CBS station checked five of Boston's largest hospitals and found strict clothing rules for staff who work in operating rooms and other sterile environments. The hospitals stated that employees must use freshly laundered scrubs and not wear them outside of the operating room. 

    However, the study found that most other hospital staff can wear the scrubs in and out, to and from work. In these cases, hospitals look at scrubs as street clothes and employees are responsible for keeping them clean.

    '"I don't think there is a major public health issue or concern,"' says Dr. David Hooper, the chief of infection control at Mass General Hospital. He says the main focus at hospitals is on hand hygiene since that's how most contact takes place.

   Hooper said [hand hygiene] is extremely important. '"We track that carefully. And if there's a risk that clothing could be contaminated, the employee must take action. Then extra [isolation] gowns are worn and taken off and discarded [or sent to the laundry] after use,"' he says.

    But critics say that's not enough. '"The solution is that hospitals should be providing laundered attire for hospital personnel,"' say McCaughey. While some hospitals in other parts of the country are doing that, others say research isn't showing a clear problem.  

    For example the American Medical Association recently studied possible clothing contamination, but told us the findings were "inconclusive." The AMA says the issue needs more research.  

    To view the complete story, visit CBS for the story.  

Bryant Dunivan of Energenics Elected President  

The Textile Care Allied Trade Association (TCATA) has announced its 2012 Board of Directors. Bryant Dunivan, vice president of sales

TCATA 2012 President Bryant Dunivan takes office next April.

and marketing for Energenics in Naples, Fla., was elected to a two-year term as TCATA president beginning April 2012.

Dunivan has been active in TCATA for a decade and has served on its board since 2007. He and his wife Theresa have three grown children.

     Roger Komins of Package Supply in Avon, Mass., was elected Treasurer. Komins has served on the TCATA board since 2008 and currently serves as chairman of the membership committee.

    Vice presidents elected in the other two membership categories are David Tingue of Tingue, Brown & Company of Skokie, Ill., representing the Supply Manufacturers Group, and D'Arcy McConvey of Dalex Canada, Inc., Concord, Ontario representing the Distributors Group.

    In addtion, the following members were elected to serve two-year board terms:

• Trade Journal Group: Charles Thompson, American Trade Magazines
• Supply Manufacturers Group: Alexander Seitz, SEITZ, GmbH

Re-elected to two-year terms:

• Machinery Distributors Group: Kevin Lawson, Tri-State Laundry Equipment Co.
• Supply Distributors Group: Jeff Allen, The E. J. Thomas Company
• Machinery Manufacturers Group:
  -- Phil Hart, Kannegiesser USA
  -- Edward Kirejczyk, III, The EDRO Corporation
•  Supply Manufacturers Group: Steve Pedelty, M & B Hangers

    Retiring from the TCATA board are Fred Schwarzmann of A. L. Wilson Company and Leslie Schaeffer of National Clothesline. For more information, contact David Cotter, TCATA CEO at info@tcata.org or 973/244-1790.