Would you ever hire someone to do your laundry?

Many of us would answer Yes! Of course! — IF we had the money. A big IF!

I suspect, however, that most of us would say no, knowing that washers and dryers make it easy to get the family laundry done, even if we dislike the task.  Further, we all think we know how to get our clothes clean (short of occasional coffee and ketchup stains). Even if we feel laundry-challenged, it doesn’t seem to be enough of a problem that we would actually pay someone else to do it.

However, last week I met a gentleman, Mr. Santello, who had just hired a woman named Gloria to do his laundry. It turns out that finding someone to wash, dry, and sometimes iron his clothes was more of a challenge than he expected. He said he called 11 different people before finding Gloria, and even then, he had to agree to her “exorbitant prices.”

Why was it so hard for Mr. Santello to find someone to do his laundry?

And how does that apply to patient advocacy?

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