Denman Linen Service, an institutional laundry company based in Quincy, will add more than two dozen employees to its workforce after securing a major client.
Denman will process the linens of 16 facilities across central and northern Illinois that are part of or affiliated with OSF HealthCare, an integrated health system owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, of Peoria, Illinois. The largest hospital in the OSF system is St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, a 609-licensed bed teaching center.
The contract will add 8.5 million pounds of linen a year to Denman’s output, bringing the total amount of linen processed annually at the company’s 60,000 square foot plant on North 43rd Street in Quincy to 21 million pounds, an increase of nearly 70 percent.
Thirty full-time equivalent positions will be added to Denman Linen’s current team of 87. The positions include plant personnel and truck drivers. Those interested in learning more about Denman Linen Service jobs should go to jobs.blessinghealthsystem.org. Denman Linen Service, its parent company, Denman Services, Inc., and other divisions of the company are part of the Blessing Health System.
Richard E. Kempe, president/chief executive officer, Denman Services, Inc., says a recent equipment upgrade allows the company to meet the demand of the new contract.
“In 2016 we invested nearly $4 million in a state-of-the-art tunnel and sort-on-rail linen processing system,” he said. “It significantly increases the capacity we can handle and automates the entire process. The system increases our capacity, quality, consistency and efficiency through less water usage, reduced utility consumption, lower chemical costs, and increases employee safety and productivity.”
“It takes a team to run such a sophisticated piece of equipment, and the Denman Linen Service’s team is the foundation of the company’s growth since it opened in 1995,” Kempe continued. “We help healthcare providers care for their patients by meeting a basic need better than anyone else, by providing a supply of clean and safe linen. You can’t stay in a hospital bed without sheets and a pillow case that are clean and sanitized. In addition, the reimbursement healthcare providers receive today is based on the quality of care and customer satisfaction they deliver. Our employees take their work very seriously.”
In addition to its Quincy plant, Denman Linen Service operates distribution centers in Springfield and Decatur, IL and Cape Girardeau, MO, to meet customer needs across the region. A distribution center will now be opened in Peoria to meet the needs of OSF Healthcare.
Denman Linen holds the Textile Rental Services Association’s (TRSA) Hygienically Clean certification. The certification acknowledges a laundry organization’s effectiveness in protecting healthcare operations related to the handling of textiles containing potentially infectious materials. Denman Linen Service is also accredited by the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC), demonstrating that it processes healthcare textiles based on the highest standards for patient safety and infection prevention.
In addition to the services it provides to the healthcare industry, Denman Linen Service processes linens for the hospitality industry and rents and launders floor mats used at the entries to businesses.
Other Denman Services, Inc., divisions include medical equipment and supply stores in Quincy, Pittsfield, Macomb and Hannibal, MO; Adaptive Mobility System, providing people with customized products including power wheelchairs, ramps and lifts; and Denman Biomedical, marketing, maintaining and repairing sophisticated medical equipment for healthcare providers throughout Illinois, Missouri and Iowa.