LEADERSHIP PROFILE Judy Harrington Director of Environmental and Laundry Services Editor’s Note: Following up on our popular Provider Profile series, in which we spotlight new providers, we are introducing a new series to recognize those care team members at PBMC and WCGH who lead by title and job description as well as those who lead by inspiring others. If there is a specific leader you want to see profiled, let us know HERE. CW: This story contains content about depression and suicide. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know struggles with depression or suicidal thoughts, there is help. You can seek assistance by calling the Employee Assistance Program at (866) 799-2485. Licensed professional counselors are available 24/7.
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ard work propelled Judy Harrington from line cook to department head. But it was a strong spiritual sense of purpose that saw her turn personal tragedy into a community fund that covers the cost of the “extras” that children need to fully participate in school. As director of environmental services and laundry at PBMC, the Knox Center and Quarry Hill, Harrington oversees a staff of more than 60 full- and part-time team members who clean and sanitize the facilities, including patient rooms, and provide laundry services at each facility. To learn more about Judy and her work, read on. #
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Describe your perfect weekend. I will tell you about two. The first would be spending time with my husband because we both work really long hours. It could be watching TV, it could be doing yard work, or it could be going out fishing. And if I’m not doing that, it’s scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is my passion, other than my grand babies. If you love scrapbooking, you must have been very excited by the craft table at Random Acts of Kindness Day? Oh, I loved it! I must have made 20 kindness cards. It was a really cool way of making a personalized card for someone and placing it on their desk and then they’re like, “Who sent me this?” It just brings a joy to people. How did you come to the health care field? It actually started at the old Camden Hospital, which was located where Quarry Hill sits now. I worked in the kitchen as a cook. Then it morphed into doing all the things in the kitchen, like employee meals, stocking, baking. When Quarry Hill was built, I applied for an environmental services position. Eventually I was assigned to oversee environmental services and laundry at Pen Bay Medical Center, The Knox Center and Quarry Hill. Did you have any expectations early on that it would evolve into such a large role? No! I just did my job the best I could.
If you were to bump into a friend you hadn’t seen in a long time, how would you describe your job to them? It’s very rewarding, and it’s very complex. On the surface, we clean the rooms after a patient is transferred or discharged, and we do daily room cleanings and provide laundry services. But what we really do is contribute to providing patients and residents with the best quality of care possible. My job is to help my teams at each organization grow and develop. What I tell job candidates during interviews is that our staff is the foundation of helping our patients and residents. They’ll need to look at the room when they’re done cleaning it and ask themselves, Is it clean and presentable? Would I want your loved one in that room? In terms of laundry services, Have we supplied the clean linens that people need to do their job? That takes a lot of empathy. Where does that come from? I think that it definitely came from my parents. My mom especially. My parents divorced when I was young. My mom did whatever she could possibly do to help us out in life and to make us better human beings. Her hard work definitely rubbed off on me. There have been other things in my life that make me want to help people. Can you tell me about those things? My youngest son committed suicide in 2013 when he was 14. His name was Laken. He was just going into high school. At the time, he was taking money from our safe to give to his less fortunate friends for gas, food, books, and things that they needed but couldn’t afford on their own. When he passed away, the ripple effect touched everybody. So we set up the Laken Harrington Memorial Fund. It pays for sports equipment, prom clothes, sneakers, school lunches – whatever a student needs but might not be able to afford. The fund covers the local school systems. That fund actually came about because the local schools raised money for us when
Laken passed. We wanted to do something meaningful with the money. My husband and I talked about it and came up with the idea of the memorial fund to help students in need. It captures the spirit of Laken so perfectly. We also established a 5k road race to help raise money and awareness about suicide prevention. Depending on what happens around COVID-19, we’re hoping to run as part of Warren Days in June. That money goes to the Laken Harrington Memorial Fund, and there is a booth with literature about suicide prevention. We call the race The Monkey Butt 5K. Laken’s best friend’s parents would call him that. His best friends’ parents called him Monkey Butt? Yeah, they called him that and it just stuck. We decided to use it for the race because it put a positive spin on a topic that most people were afraid to talk about while raising money for the fund. You’ve endured so much and yet you remain so full of hope. Where does that come from? It comes from way down deep. When I took this job, people asked how I would transition from overseeing environmental services for just one organization to three organizations. I said that if I am not in a padded room because of Laken passing away, then I can handle anything. Laken’s choice was Laken’s choice, and he would not want it to affect me. Of course, it does affect me. It’s always going to affect me. Laken passed away August 21 of 2013. I tried to work on his birthday once but I was no good to anybody that day. So now I take it off because I need to take care of myself. But I do still find hope and joy in life. Way down deep inside I believe I was put on this earth for a reason. Raising awareness about suicide prevention, helping people less fortunate than me – that’s part of who I am. That’s part of why I’m here on earth.