Behaviors in Action… Bill Bachellor

It’s often been said that disasters or crises bring out the best people. At Hussmann, we are proud of our team for always leading with our Behaviors for Success – a set of standards of what we stand for and how we act. We know achieving our results is important but how we achieve our results is even more important.

Bill Bachellor, a Hussmann field equipment representative leader, is one example of how our Behaviors guide us both at work and at home. In Bill’s own words, he shares a story of community stewardship to help keep his parents and nearly 600 of their neighbors safe.

“All my life my parents have been there for me. Several years ago, they moved to Minneapolis to be closer to family. In the past several years they have needed my wife and I to help them more and more. 

Three years ago, my dad’s world was rocked with Aspiration Pneumonia. He was such a trooper and fighter and was a huge inspiration for me. My mom has gone through her whole life with physical challenges. She was disabled from polio as a child – the right side of her body has always been weak and she has had to do normal activities different than most. 

My parents are currently living in an independent senior facility, and as time has progressed, they both have needed more assistance. We do our part, but we also have home care providers who are their saviors. 
  
As the current health care crisis hit our country, my family prepared for the impact on our daily lives as every person has had to do. We experienced the systematic shutdown of their building. First, their meals were reduced to delivery only… then they limited visits from family… until finally cutting off any visitors who were not essential healthcare workers. Again, none of this is different than anything anyone else has had to deal with, but it was very hard to not be able to visit them and help them.   

We now are relying on the care of the senior home care workers. They are doing their best, but it was evident that their supplies were dwindling down. What first started out to be me just checking on my parents, turned into a larger project of how I could help others as well.   

The workers were running low on hand sanitizer, which was critical because they were going room to room serving clients. They were all over the building and not always able to wash their hands. There was a gap and there was a critical need to close that gap.  

I remember seeing a news article about a local distillery that had shut down due to the statewide orders. They decided that, rather than shut down entirely, they would convert their business into making hand sanitizer because they had the necessary ingredients. Many distilleries across the country were doing this. They utilized a recipe that was posted by the WHO (World Health Organization).  

I thought at the time how great it was to see companies thinking outside the box and doing their part. It didn’t really register with me at first that they could be a solution that I would use. It was only after I contacted the senior helper manager that I realized I might have a solution for them. They were in desperate need of hand sanitizer. Their corporate headquarters had advised them that they would have supplies in the next two weeks. Their workers were running around trying to find their supplies, but there were shortages everywhere. By this point we knew we had community spread in Minnesota, and two weeks for me was two weeks too late. I asked if I could help. How could I help? That’s when I realized I had a solution. I told them I would contact this distillery I heard about and see what I could do.  

On March 26, I contacted the distillery (Norseman Distillery). A day later I received a reply – they advised they would provide 30 personal bottles of hand sanitizer and two large refills ready to be picked up the following Monday. Wow! That was not expected!  

I also came to find out that they were providing all of this to hospital workers and health care providers throughout Minneapolis through a GoFundMe account. Everything was free. The turnaround was incredible. I picked up the supplies and delivered to the facility on Monday, March 31.  

I am writing this so everyone can see that one tiny action can impact so many lives. I also think that Hussmann’s Behaviors are so critical right now, not just in the workplace but in our everyday lives. We need Team Players, Personal Accountability, Solution Driven, Owner Mindset, Respectful Courage, Customer Focus, Challenge and Change, and most of all Stewardship. 

Look around you in your communities, go into action and help where you can.”