Intermountain Healthcare’s Central Laundry is approaching 40 years as being the predominant commercial laundry service in Utah. The laundry facility started operating in 1979, originally serving just five Intermountain hospitals at the time. Now the 70,000 square foot facility in Woods Cross, Utah has grown to become the largest healthcare laundry service in Utah and surrounding states.

The original hospitals served by the laundry included Cottonwood (now TOSH), LDS Hospital, McKay-Dee, Primary Children’s Hospital, and Utah Valley Hospital. The building now serves all the laundry needs for most Intermountain facilities as well as many other medical clinic groups and hospitals in Utah.

The laundry has also been a diversity leader which includes a sponsored work program with The Columbus Community Center in Salt Lake City to help people with disabilities gain vital work skills. Sarah Willhard, who has a disability, has worked for Central Laundry for 12 years and is one of their most productive employees.

“It has been able to improve my work skills,” Willhard said.

The laundry facility also employs immigrants from across the globe - over two dozen different languages are spoken with many inspiring stories from the employees. The Vuong family are refugees from Vietnam and endured hard trials just to make it to Utah. The Central Laundry has provided a stable job and became a beacon of hope for them.

Minh “David” Vuong spent 13 months in refugee camps after being tortured as a political prisoner in his home country of Vietnam. Now, after working at Central Laundry for over 15 years, he gets emotional as he talks about how the job has helped his family. “I appreciate what they have done for me,” Vuong said.

Lubjo Rajcevic came from war-torn Croatia in 1999. He spoke little English, but one day when he noticed one of the laundry machines was broken, he said “I fix.” After that day he has become one of the top maintenance workers.

The Central Laundry services has also been a place where employees like to stay, with an average tenure of approximately 15 years.

Last year, the Central Laundry processed over 20 million pounds of laundry. One day alone, the facility processes 36 tons of laundry – the equivalent of an average family’s laundry done over the course of 40 years.

This is not your typical laundromat. The system is highly automated, ensuring correct processes per fabric type while reducing its chemical footprint. Before 2002, the Central Laundry used 4 gallons of water per pound of laundry washed. After upgrading the systems, they now use 0.6 pounds per pound.

The Central Laundry also has worked to keep costs in check even with the new automation. Comparing between 1990 and today, their costs are only half a cent more per pound of laundry cleaned.

The Central Laundry has also been dedicated to helping communities throughout Utah. This includes no-cost laundry services for the Ronald McDonald House and the Annual Rotary Club Coat Drive.

Intermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based not-for-profit system of 23 hospitals, 170 clinics, a Medical Group with about 2,300 employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians, a health plans group called SelectHealth, and other medical services. Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare through high quality and sustainable costs. For more information about Intermountain, visit 

www.intermountainhealthcare.org.