The recent newspaper article about the revitalised Central Laundry at Tygerberg Hospital in Parow, had one reader and former employee at the laundry reminiscing about the olden days.
TygerBurger reported on the revitalised Central Laundry and its Water Treatment Plant on Wednesday last week (“Wassery opgeknap”, 6/2). The facility is located on the grounds of the hospital and was paid an inspection by Prof Nomafrench Mbombo, the provincial minister of health and wellness.
“Few people know the actual facts,” Michael “Mickey” Finn, the reader, said.
History of the laundry
Finn is the former Deputy Director at the Cape Provincial Hospital Department: Laundry Services.
“Tygerberg Laundry in fact started operating in 1967, as the workshops, laundry and boiler house were functional by that date, before the hospital was built and commissioned in 1970.
“At that stage the Central Laundry was servicing Karl Bremer Hospital, Paarl Provincial Hospital, Stellenbosch Provincial Hospital and Hottentots Hospital in Somerset West,” he said.
The Principal Laundry Manager in charge was John Simpson.
“One amusing incident that happened was when the new washer extractors were started up for the first time and normal washing powder was used, the machine started spewing soap suds all over the washhouse floor. Luckily, Mr Simpson, who was a very knowledgeable gentleman, instructed the staff to mix a solution of oxalic acid and water and use it to suppress the suds which were a few feet deep at that stage.
“The firm Hudson and Knight were approached, and they made inquiries to their principals in the United Kingdom and a new detergent was formulated and marketed in South Africa as LSD AQ (low sudsing detergent),” Finn recalls.
During the visit to Central Laundry, TygerBurger interviewed one of the long-service employees, Freek Lot, who was also the project manager during the upgrade. He told the newspaper that he had been working in the industry for 40 years.
“Freek was one of my trainee laundry managers many years ago,” Finn said, who also trained as a laundry manager at the Central Laundry Pinelands and Tygerberg in 1969 to 1971.
Multi-million rand investment
According to the Department of Health and Wellness the Central Laundry was originally built in the 1970s. “Prior to the upgrades, the facility was experiencing aging equipment and infrastructure that was at risk of failing. For this reason, the department made the decision to overhaul the Central Laundry and it is now considered the most advanced of its kind in the country,” the department said in a statement.
The revitalisation project comprised of two upgrades: R126 million for equipment, and R11 million for infrastructure.
“The investment into these pieces of infrastructure is not only about ensuring that our facilities become more efficient, but also about ensuring that they become greener and ensure that we can deliver healthcare without harm, Mbombo said.
