Laundry Recovers Patient’s Lost Wedding Bands

Commercial or central laundries that pride themselves on customer service often will tell visitors about how their soil-sort staff turned in cash left in a pants pocket, lost cell phones, etc., but seldom do these stories attract attention from local media.

One recent exception concerns HLS, a central laundry in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, which recovered a very special item lost by a 93-year-old patient – his deceased wife’s wedding band (and his own). The man, Karl Steibl, Cornwall, Ontario, had carried the rings in his wallet, which was misplaced when he arrived at the hospital for treatment. His pants were mistakenly included in soiled linens, according to news reports.

Steibl was married for 66 years before his wife, Hilda, passed away three years ago. He was distraught at the loss of the items, and a friend, Catherine Moise, asked hospital staff if they could help recover them.

That led a nurse to do some investigating, which in turn led to the conclusion that the pants had mistakenly gone to the laundry, HLS, for processing with the bed linens. HLS launders roughly 1.7 million pieces of linen a week, so finding an item like a wedding band is no mean feat. However, hospital CEO Jeannette Despatie asked the laundry to look into the issue. Before long, HLS’s Director of Public Relations Krista Hubbard told hospital officials that they’d found the rings and wallet, which were returned to Steibl.

Moise said Steibl was relieved to get the rings back. She commended both the hospital and HLS for their efforts to recover the lost property. Click here for details.