The health risks associated with the transfer of laundry from HSN to Hamilton do not seem to have been fully understood, nor taken into account by our hospital administrators.
Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) have been known to stem from inadequate laundry processing of dirty linens for many years. HAIs present in other Ontario hospitals can be brought into Sudbury on the “clean” linens due to even minor errors in disinfecting the rims and internal operating systems in the laundry machines.
We’re being told that there is no documentation of risks with this specific provider. There is ample research showing the real outcomes elsewhere.
The worst that can happen to a commercial operator is a fine and a reprimand. That’s only if anyone discovers the direct connection and a Sudbury family can afford to sue.
Private companies must keep costs low, deeming “minimal” risks acceptable if money can be saved. The local laundry operates knowing that any mistakes it makes affects its own people.
Not only will transportation of linens increase opportunities for cross-contamination, but HSN will be putting many more heavy vehicles onto our highways. Back in 2008, Stanford and Berkeley researchers found a direct cause-and-effect relationship between increased carbon pollution and deaths from cancer, respiratory diseases and heart conditions.
These findings have been replicated 18 times since then. Should HSN, or any hospital, have the right to knowingly contribute to the very diseases our tax dollars pay for it to treat?
There will also be an added cost to HSN for the additional linens required when the highway south is closed more and more often by increased snowfall as Georgian Bay remains ice-free longer. Ironically, HSN’s trucks will contribute to this increased snowfall.
These issues go far beyond the lost jobs to our economy and HSN’s bottom line, which does not include the full costs of health effects. We are talking about the lives of the very people our tax dollars pay our hospitals to serve, and the climate changes we all must adapt to.
Chris Nash
Sudbury