Federal Managers Answer the Call of Public Service in that Hour of Our Nation’s Need

Last week, Government Executive reported more than 10,000 federal employees have contracted Covid-19. This news came as overall confirmed positive cases in the United States passed one million. FMA members are doing their part to help stop the spread, while finding and creating ways to accomplish their missions and provide the vital services upon which the American people rely. In the midst of the early stages of a raging pandemic, we wanted to share just some of their stories that have inspired us, and that represent the great work that resilient federal managers are doing in this time of uncertainty and crisis.

FMA Region 4 Director Vince Stamper recently discussed how he and others are utilizing 3-D printing capabilities to produce personal protective equipment (PPE) to help keep workers safe at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) in Bremerton, Washington. In an interview with Federal News Network, Stamper said, “There’s a lot of 3-D print production out there, everything from splitters so that you can use a respirator for two patients, to something as simplistic as a face shield or a face mask that’s reusable.” Stamper offered other ways 3-D printing technology can be utilized: “There’s an attachment you can put on a door so you don’t have to use your own hands to open the door; you can use your foot.” His team modified an existing open-source file to handle industrial-type doors within his facility. FMA Immediate Past President Renee Johnson has seen similar efforts at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, also using 3-D printing.

And Puget Sound Naval Shipyard – among the first places within the United States to see the outbreak of Covid-19 –shared with others. FMA National President Craig Carter, who works as an Assistant Project Superintendent at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNS) in Virginia, noted his counterparts at PSNS gave him information and best practices in setting up policies to combat the virus and continue the workload, maintaining aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. As he pointed out, “you can’t turn a wrench over Zoom.” Aided by insight gained from PSNS’s experience, Norfolk produced its own cleaner fluid and masks to help protect their teams. This sort of teamwork is nothing new for America’s public shipyards. “The four public shipyards share lessons learned on a pretty regular basis,” Carter said.

Elsewhere across FMA, managers have generally shared praise for telework as it has expanded and evolved as a result of the pandemic. Ken Westlake, a manager at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and FMA’s Manager of the Year, described the EPA office in Chicago as a leader in telework, along with a maxiflex schedule. Westlake said, “My staff has inherently portable work, and they’re all high performers, so I’m used to their productivity being very high. They really haven’t skipped a beat now that we’re teleworking full time.” And FMA Region 3 Director Peggy Hatcher and her staff, who work at Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) in Texas, has even achieved major efficiency and processes improvements during the course of the pandemic.

In his 1961 State of the Union address, President John F. Kennedy said, “Let the public service be a proud and lively career. And let every man and woman who works in any area of our national government, in any branch, at any level, be able to say with pride and with honor in future years: ‘I served the United States government in that hour of our nation’s need.’” Without question, the Covid-19 pandemic is one of those hours. We at FMA are proud of all the federal managers answering that call of public service by going above and beyond in this difficult time.