August '09 Contractor of the Month
Ed ArmandThis month's Contractor of the Month was nominated by Mercer's Contractor Advocate, Heidi VanTyle. Here's what Heidi had to say:
First, I want to say we have full permission from the Chipman family to release these details.
This is a moving story of a generous contractor willing to help a fellow Mercer brother in need, as well as a shipper that showed remarkable humanity to a stranger.
On 7/23 Jim Chipman (10961) had a massive heart attack while loading at MEVA Formworks Systems in Springfield, OH. Jim was unable to complete his phone call to 911 and an employee of MEVA rushed over to help. They also had an EMT on staff at this shipper who responded as well. The ambulance took Jim to the hospital where he was taken directly to surgery, bypassing the emergency room and likely saving his life and damage to his heart. Jim keeps a dog in the truck, the owner of MEVA took the dog home with her and the truck was secured on their lot.
That evening, Jim came out of surgery and was doing well in the ICU. The owner of MEVA contacted the hospital to see how he was and was allowed to talk to Jim. She assured him "Scrappy" was ok and later took a trip to the hospital to take Jim his glasses so he would be more comfortable. Jim's wife came in from Pigeon, Michigan and stayed in a hotel that would not allow pets, so the dog remained in the care of the owner of MEVA.
Mercer then began the search for help to get the truck to Jim's home. Ed Armand (10539) was the first contractor contacted and generously agreed to help out. He was on his way home to Cadallic, Michigan, having been out almost a month, thinking nothing about home time or his previous plans for the weekend. He left out Saturday morning in his personal car headed down to Springfield. When he arrived at MEVA, they gladly cleared their dock to make room so he could drive his car on the trailer, saving Mercer the cost of the rolloff that had been arranged to put the car on the flatbed.
The following morning, Ed took it upon himself to find a local rolloff company in Jim's hometown that agreed to take the car off the trailer for a nominal fee- much less than Mercer had been able to find. He left the truck in Jim's driveway the same day he was released fom the hospital.
Each time I talked with Ed he always gave the assurace he would "take care of getting the man his truck" and this he did. Putting in over 1000 miles to do so, never asking for compensation or praise, he took care of his Mercer brother's truck the same way he'd want his treated if anything ever happened to him. Thanks Ed, you are a great example of the Mercer family in action taking care of it's own!
Would you like to nominate someone to be next month's Contractor of the Month? Please contact Johanna Inman @ 502-333-6381 or jinman@mercer-trans.com.