BATES TROY HEALTHCARE LINEN SERVICES RECEIVES HIGHEST INDUSTRY ACCREDITATION
National Inspection assures customers that highest quality and safety standards are met. Only one other healthcare laundry provider in New York State and only 26 nation-wide have satisfied the criteria.

Binghamton, NY - Bates Troy Healthcare Linen Services has received accreditation-the industry's highest rating on quality and safety-from the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC).
HLAC is a non-profit organization that inspects and accredits laundries processing healthcare textiles for hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities.

HLAC's mission is to publish high standards for processing healthcare textiles in laundries, and to provide an accreditation process that recognizes those laundries that meet these high standards. The decision to become accredited is completely voluntary.

Bates Troy currently services seven (7) hospitals and nine (9) nursing homes processing over 12,000,000 (twelve million) pounds of laundry per year.

The inspection of Bates Troy's Laurel Avenue plant was conducted by Sonny Wyatt, CHESP, RLLD*, of South Carolina, who submitted a written report to the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council office.

Not only did Bates Troy, Inc received a score of 100% of the "shall" statements on the inspection check list, and a score of 100% on the government-mandated "must" statements but Mr. Wyatt did not find any material discrepancies in Bates-Troy operations, according to Chris Isely, Executive Director, of HLAC. Mr. Isley went on to say, "This is rare, and is a testament to the careful preparations Bates-Troy made for this inspection. Mr. Wyatt wrote to me "They had an outstanding operation and their documentation was the best I have seen."

Even among the 26 other accredited facilities nation-wide, Bates Troy excelled. Only one other laundry in New York State has received accreditation from HLAC.

"Becoming accredited makes us a better company. And its gives our customers peace of mind to know their supplier is meeting the highest standards in processing healthcare textiles," says Tom Singe, Bates Troy General Manager.

"The customers that we serve-predominately hospitals and nursing homes -are used to dealing with agencies, vendors and people who have accreditation," Singe says. "It's the right thing to do if you are in the business of processing and providing healthcare textiles.

The primary benefit of accreditation is that an independent third party has inspected your facility and found that it meets or exceeds the highest standards for processing healthcare textiles.

The HLAC accreditation process was developed with several industry groups, including:

	American Society for Healthcare Environmental Services (ASHES)
	American Reusable Textiles Association (ARTA)
	Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)
	International Association for Healthcare Textile Management (IAHTM)
	National Association of Institutional Linen Management (NAILM)
	Textile Rental Services Association of America (TRSA)

For more information on Bates Troy Healthcare Linen Service, go to www.BatesTroy.com. For more information about HLAC, go to www.hlacnet.org

A.L. Wyatt, Jr., graduate of Eastern Kentucky University as a Registered Laundry/Linen Director, a program developed through The National Association for Institutional Linen Management (NAILM). He is also a Certified Healthcare Environmental Services Professional, (CHESP).

Contacts:

Click on the above pictures for more detailed information

Chris Isely
Executive Director
Healthcare Linen Accreditation Council
tel: 847-328- 3700
email: chris.isely@hlacnet.org

For Bates Troy healthcare linen sales and service please contact Randy Widrick, Director of Sales and Marketing at 1-800-473-5340 or 607-759-6159. email rjwidrick@batestroy.org