ATM Tour: Industry Issues Align with Congresswoman’s Priorities

Identifying healthcare and the environment as her paramount federal legislative priorities, Rep. Nanette Barragan (D) toured the Medico Healthcare Linen Service plant in her Los Angeles district (CA-44) Nov. 3.

Meeting at the laundry with executives and GMs from the plant’s parent company, American Textile Maintenance (ATM), she indicated her interest in two of our industry’s principal causes:

• Ensuring better protection of healthcare workers by prompting medical facilities to maintain balanced inventory of reusable and disposable PPE. For linen and uniform services, isolation gowns are prominent in this respect, but this could also apply to patient gowns, scrubs and operating room (OR) linens.
• Good-faith efforts by industry operators to prepare for compliance with future regulations requiring zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). Lack of vehicle availability has caused a slowdown by utilities from providing incentives for building charging infrastructure development, Brad Shames, ATM president, told the congresswoman.

While members of Congress face ethical concerns about appearing to accomplish agendas for a particular company, such plant visits enable our industry to demonstrate how linen, uniform and facility services achieve good causes. Rep. Barragan was intrigued with the PPE balance issue, noting its relevance to caregiver morale at a time when so many have left this profession.

She expressed concern regarding the slowdown of incentives for ZEV investment, espousing such rewarding of companies and indicating that a phone call or letter from a member of Congress might “cut red tape.”

In visiting the Medico (South Gate area of Los Angeles) facility, she saw an employer in her district providing employment to a neighborhood where many residents can’t afford their own cars. Relatively few commuters work there; 90 percent of employees are local, many in walking distance. Rep. Barragan invited ATM to participate in the next community job fair organized by her office.

ATM is in its fourth generation of family ownership and management in the person of Greg Shames, operations VP. In his presentation to Rep. Barragan, he noted the South Gate facility opened in 2018, adding about 100 jobs to the area. The 75,000-square-foot laundry was an $18-million-plus investment to create what’s recognized as the most efficient healthcare laundry processing facility on the West Coast.

ATM has poured more than $40 million into plants and equipment since 2009 for the four-plant and three-depot operation covering Los Angeles, San Diego and Riverside. In addition to Medico, the company operates Republic Master Chefs (dietary, F&B, hospitality) locations. More than 750 employees serve 8,000-plus linen rental customers from 170-plus service vehicles.

The operation has TRSA Clean Green and Hygienically Clean certifications; it plans a total of 17 fully electric trucks in 2023.