May | 2020
THE MONTHLY SKOOKUM SKOOP
Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste
Fort Lee, Virginia
The Coronavirus pandemic has been a challenge for everyone, and we certainly wouldn’t have chosen this path. However, while we were hand-washing, wiping, masking, and generally trying to stay away from people, the Fort Lee team was also finding rapid solutions to long-standing problems, and developing creative solutions to new problems caused by Coronavirus. Here are a few examples:

The health/safety issues associated with COVID-19 required rapid communication of work “rules of engagement,” personal protective measures, and safety “hot spots” on Post. Operations and IT staff quickly came up with a communications system that sent out text messages, e-mails, and web-based document links to provide real-time feedback to shop personnel and daily summaries of COVID-related work order delays/cancellations to the government. 

Additionally, prior to COVID-19, the business process used to confirm payroll data required over 100 shop personnel to converge upon work control every two weeks with signed time sheets – not the best situation for people trying to stay away from each other and avoid touching things. In response, finance, IT, and operations staff quickly came up with a new business system that sent automated confirmation links to the employees’ handheld mobile devices so they could confirm their payroll data with the touch of a finger.

Finally, during this time, the Fort Lee team’s creativity has showed no bounds. When the supply system could not provide any hand-wash, the response was “no problem, we’ll just mix up a batch in the roads and grounds shop.” Also, the grounds enhancement crew quickly formed a tiger team to wipe all the Skookum spaces twice per day to keep everyone safe.

This is just a small subset of the Fort Lee team’s creativity and ability to adapt to ever-changing requirements and challenges caused by the Coronavirus. However, perhaps the biggest shout-out goes to the shop personnel who adapted to dozens of new rules and worked together as a team to support our customers and stay safe during this unprecedented time – an awesome show of initiative, creativity, and teamwork!
Continued Excellence at Joint Base Lewis-McChord

JBLM Janitorial received high ratings on their annual CPAR (Contract Performance Assessment Report). We appreciate the Army’s trust and partnership in our company and our diverse employee work force. The successful services provided by Skookum are in part due to the great communication and follow up with our onsite government partners. The goal of our employees is to provide the highest level of customer satisfaction every day. We would also like to recognize the Skookum Home Office team for the support they give every day allowing our staff to concentrate on their tasks at hand and continue to provide excellent service.

Due to the ongoing situation with Covid-19, the government asked Skookum to provide barracks service on a Saturday. This building has 158 rooms with 72 restrooms, all needing services. We pulled a team together quickly and completed the requirement. A big thank you for the five employees that gave up their weekend: Angel Channoi, Linda Hiler, Mary Amendarez, Tina Schippers and Tracy Kilman . To reward our employees for their tireless janitorial, floor and fire hydrant servicing, we had a good old fashion BBQ (with social distancing and hand sanitizing). Fun was had by all!
Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, MD
"Yesterday the base-wide outage went very well from our perspective. This was in no doubt due to the excellent planning done by the Skookum team here. Throughout the day it felt very controlled and any challenge was discussed collaboratively to reach the best path forward. It was great seeing such an integrated effort. We fixed quite a few problems that will allow us to be more responsive in the future as well as uncover some looming ones that will allow us to address them in a proactive versus reactive manner. All in all, it went off very well. Thank You."

-John Adams
Naval Hospital Bremerton
"Thank you to you and the awesome Skookum team for all the extra efforts that you've been putting forward during this pandemic. It has been a team effort (Skookum & Facilities) to get where we are today. Thanks for supporting us in all the ways that your team does. It is noticed and appreciated very much!"

-Brady N. Weisner
JBLE Adapts to a "New Normal"
During this time with COVID-19 happening we purchased bed sheets and  Linda Clifford used the material to start making masks for all our employees. Linda has been very busy ensuring that all employees have received masks and making sure that they are fitting properly. We are so very thankful for the work that she has been putting in. While she was making the masks at the office, Linda took the time to show Ronald Maynard how to operate the sewing machine so he could help too. We were very fortunate that Linda didn’t mind helping everyone out during this hectic time! 

Our team has been operating under limited operations so that is giving everyone a breather before work resumes back to normal. We have been keeping up with all appointments and receiving stock and have been able to get some inventories done in the Central Issue Facility and in the Supply Support Activity. I want to thank everyone for the work that you have done during this time. 
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Mathis Pack , Production Control Clerk, Fort Lee, VA
Nominated By: Kristen Worley

Partnership: Mathis and I work the same shift. He is always there when I need help. He even gives me advice that I sometimes don't want to hear but need to.

Integrity: He always sets out to do the right thing.

Diversity: With me being a civilian and Mathis being former military, I learn a lot. He knows more about this base than anyone I personally know and he helps me understand what goes on in the military world.

Commitment: He is always at work bright and early. He has never been late and is always a lending hand to many employees.

Quality: Mathis is always checking his spelling, numbers in GFEBs, and also checking others’ work to help them. He always makes sure that everything he does is close to perfect. I am not sure if this award will mean much to him, but I do want him to be/feel recognized for the things he does for everyone here at Fort Lee. He is a great guy in general and a good employee to work with.

Ashley Harris, Hector Jasso, Mike Lavery, JBLM CIF, WA
Nominated By: Dwayne Lizama

During his ETS turn-in, a solider at JBLM CIF had a seizure. Ashley, Hector and Mike did an amazing job taking care of him, immediately assessing his airway, breathing and circulation. The soldier was then taken by paramedics and our team made sure his belongings were returned to him. The solider was very appreciative of our folks being so comforting and informing him of what had happened. Thank you to all three of you for your prompt and professional response to the situation! 


We love recognizing our employees! So much so that every week an employee wins the Skookum President’s Excellence Award! Each Excellence Award recipient is selected by our President/CEO and awarded a Skookum Excellence pin along with $100 check prize.
LOGIN TO THE EMPLOYEE PAGE TO REGISTER!

*Available to WA employees only
Skookum proudly operates in twelve states across the nation plus Washington D.C.