Paris (AFP)

In the shade of the units of the Parisian hospital of Pitié-Salpêtrière, a hundred launderers sort, wash and dry tirelessly yellow sheets, white coats and green mattresses "potentially contaminated" by Covid-19 or by any other infectious agent .

"We treat 33 tonnes of dirty laundry every day: 23,000 sheets, 10,000 mattress pads, 10,000 pillowcases, 18,000 work clothes, 8,000 patient shirts ...", says Jean-Charles Grupeli, director of the logistics and technical pole on which the laundry depends Central Public Assistance - Paris Hospitals (AP-HP).

At the entrance to the "dirty area", hundreds of large orange, blue and red bags from 38 different hospital sites await their turn.

Inside, pants, blouses, shirts are equipped with a chip allowing their identification.

They will find their owners in less than 24 hours on average.

But before that, all the laundry will follow a health course, finely orchestrated by nearly 120 people and as many machines.

Five days a week, 6.30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The laundry room opened in 1898 where the nuns were active, convalescents or relatives of the sick, has given way to industrial treatment chains.

It all starts with the "sorting workshop".

About ten agents, equipped with gowns, masks and charlottes, separate, to music, the yellow blankets from the blue blouses, green mattresses and a few pink clothes "from the mater".

"We do not work by dirt but by article", explains a launderer, protective glasses on the face.

In the large room, the air is constantly renewed, a sanitary imperative which at the same time avoids any smell of dirty socks.

Covid or not Covid, "we consider that all linen is potentially contaminated", explains Cédric Martin, director of the linen function.

- "Clean zone" -

During the first wave, the virus had a major impact on the workforce.

In mid-March, "we had to fill a third of the positions with volunteers, who came in large numbers, from the cinema, financial administration, catering ...", says Jean-Charles Grupeli, who remembers the "good atmosphere" but also to have had to "withdraw all that the conviviality has of nice" like "have a drink or eat together", to protect the personnel.

At the height of the crisis, the demand for hospital linens fell as non-Covid people deserted the hospital, but the volume of work clothes increased by 25%.

And it was also necessary to set up a specific circuit to wash the gowns, supposed to be disposable, in the face of the shortage of equipment.

Above the sorting workshop, four "washing tunnels" that look like large metal wagons pass all the laundry in baths at 60 degrees (against 40 before the arrival of the Covid-19).

Once out of the spinners, he obtains his entry ticket for the "clean zone" where a hypnotic ballet is orchestrated in a slight smell ... of cleanliness.

"I put the sheets in and the machine sucks them up to hang them up and direct them to the machines that dry and fold", describes Angela Couchy, a laundry agent for 15 years.

To alternate the use of the right arm and the left arm and not to stay all day in the same position, the teams rotate on all the positions, the entry, the spread, the installation on a hanger, the packing. ..

Suspended in the air, yellow sheets and green mattresses cross each other as they unfold in the bends, before being swallowed by a new machine and coming out well folded.

The "stack transporter" then takes care of sending them to the packaging.

All in a deafening noise.

"When it stops, we're happy," admits Angela Couchy.

A little further on, the clothes, suspended on hangers, are also entitled to their final scene: in a movement of well-oiled rails, blue pants, white blouses and green shirts invade the space, go left, right, a stop, separate ... to finally come to a standstill, tidy "by establishment, service, carrier and size", comments Cédric Martin.

© 2021 AFP