Brothers and Sisters:
It isn’t very often I come across something that stops me dead in my tracks. This is a story about something that did just that.
The following email was sent June 20, 2022 to Schindler Area North by Territory Vice President Jennifer Bowen. It is reproduced here with permission of Schindler and the technician referenced.
Team,
Last Thursday night at 5:42pm one of our Cleveland technicians took a call from University Hospital in Cleveland with a very urgent request. The only elevator that serves Angie’s Garden, a rooftop garden at the hospital, was down. Unfortunately at the time, there was a family of a child with a terminal illness who wanted to spend their last evening together watching the sunset from the garden. Understanding the situation, the technician rushed to the hospital and was able to support getting the family up to the roof to spend their last moments together.
The next morning, our Cleveland team received the following message from the Executive Director of Facilities at University Hospital:
“I would like to recognize (the Schindler technician) for his exceptional service this evening. Car 69 in Horvitz Tower went down after hours. I received a phone call from Palliative Care that they had a family with a terminal child who wanted to spend their last evening together watching the sun set from Angie’s Garden on the rooftop of Horvitz Tower. Car 69 is the only access to the space. After an effort to expedite emergency response, your technician reached out to me and immediately dropped everything and drove from home to resolve the issue. He arrived within 45 minutes and had the car running in less than 10 minutes. I cannot express enough how appreciative I am of his service and empathy for a family at such a difficult time.”
I’d like to take this moment to personally thank our field technician for his effort in supporting our customer last week. I would also thank all of our mechanics and employees who put the same heart and soul into their work every day. This is a profound reminder of why what we do is so important.
Jennifer Bowen | VP, Territory Operations
I immediately knew the grief of the parents wanting one last moment with their child. My thoughts also went to the mechanic who was involuntarily thrust into sharing the deeply personal moment.
The email made me think for a long time about how what we do can make an impact on those we may never meet and how those we do can impact us. It’s possible, with a slight variation in timing, the on-call mechanic would have gone to the job, fixed the problem and never encountered the family. The progression of the child’s final moments could have played out differently and the players, again, never meet.
Instead, the encounter happened and lives were altered.
After September 11 the nation began to honor first responders, a practice which continued strong for 20 years into and through the darkest days of the pandemic. For everyone who went to work on that fateful day it was just Tuesday until history intersected their lives and thrust them into the roles they never asked to play. The world calls them heroes but, to a person, everyone I have ever heard interviewed says they were just doing their job.
They made a difference by doing what they do best, so do we.
Perhaps this email is the thank you to all of us who, knowingly or unknowingly, make a positive impact on the world around us and allow the boundless joy and agonizing sorrow necessary to temper our souls to take place, without our knowledge, by just doing our jobs.
Until next month,
Work safe, work smart and slow down for safety.
Don
DKnapik@windstream.net
International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 17 