This profile also appears in the Summer 2026 edition of Medlines, an in-house newsletter for Medline employees.

Name: Samantha Agnew-White
Title: Warehouse assistant, sterilized water production facility
Current location: Arlington Heights, Ill.
Started with Medline: September 1991 with Hudson RCI, later acquired by Teleflex in 2004 and Medline in 2022

THREE COMPANIES, MANY ROLES: “I started at this location almost 35 years ago with Hudson RCI assembling breathing circuits and heaters and packing bottles, then moved to working in the warehouse picking customer orders. I was a lead for eight years under Teleflex and became warehouse supervisor when we transitioned to Medline four years ago. This facility is a little different than others because we do both manufacturing and distribution here, not just one or the other.”

WATER WORLD: “My expertise is in making sure the production side of our operation is supplied what they need throughout the day, throughout all three shifts, to keep the machines going. At this facility, we produce the sterilized water that’s used with nebulizers for respiratory treatment, packing it in kits with adapters that we receive from Mexico. My crew of three handles daily shipping of these kits, which are made overnight by employees on other shifts. We send these kits to our nearby Medline facility in Mundelein, which ships out domestic orders. Adapters in international orders are required to be sterilized, so we send those away for sterilization once a week. When they come back to us, we kit them with the sterilized water and then ship those kits to Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Germany, France, Canada — many different countries.”

COMMON MISCONCEPTION: “People sometimes think warehouse receiving is easy. But it’s not just putting product away — it’s getting the product in, inventorying the product and maintaining that inventory in the system and making sure it stays in good standing. You have to enter everything. It all has to be uploaded and processed accurately. Now we’re starting to use radio-frequency scanners, and that’s helping. But the system can be complicated.”

PRODUCTION WITH A PURPOSE: “We take great caution in how we handle a product, because when you think about it, you could be on a respiratory machine at some point. You might need it, or a family member might need it. What we’re doing affects people’s lives.”

FROM RESPIRATION TO RECREATION: “My husband and I live on the West Side of Chicago. When it’s warm, we take walks to Lake Michigan. It’s calm watching the water. We also like to go to concerts or, if we don’t have any plans, just relax at home and sit out back and enjoy. I have two granddaughters I spend time with, although the oldest is 17 now, so she doesn’t have time for Grandma anymore [laughs]. But the 14-year-old still comes over on the weekends.”

UP HER ALLEY: “I love bowling. I’m not good enough at it to get those high scores, but I love to get in a couple of games. We’ll get together as a family, all of my sisters and the nieces and nephews and my kids and my grandkids, and we’ll make it a family event. Like, five lanes.”

BIGGEST LESSON IN 35 YEARS: “To always be attentive, be productive, listen to your peers. Communication is key. That’s my biggest thing — communication.”

Interested in becoming part of the Medline team? Visit the careers section of Medline.com to learn more about the roles and opportunities available.