At a time when Spectrum Health Lakeland was on the brink of having only a few days worth of supplies of personal protective equipment for critical care workers, and running into 30 or 40 dead ends every single day trying to procure more, a miracle happened. Whirlpool called Dr. Loren Hamel at his St. Joe office and asked what they could do to help the community that has helped them for more than 100 years. The result has been nothing short of remarkable in every regard.
Standing in a warehouse piled with nearly 100 skids of boxes laden with key medical supplies at their Meadowbrook Road facility in Benton Harbor, Whirlpool’s Vice President Jeff Noel said “This may well be the single largest donation from one entity to a hospital of this size anywhere in the country.” He declined to offer actual counts, opting instead to say, “Let me just give it to you in Kentucky terms, there’s a whole, whole lot of this here stuff on all of these skids, and I think we counted 92 that have come in on seven or eight different planes. There’s a lot.”
In order to help in the fight against COVID-19, Whirlpool Corporation has worked rapidly since the pandemic began to obtain several shipments of medical supplies over the last few weeks for donation to Spectrum Health Lakeland in St. Joseph near the company’s Global Headquarters. There have been nine shipments to date with tens of thousands of medical masks, goggles, gloves, thermometers, and hospital gowns.
Liz Door, Senior Vice President of Global Strategic Sourcing for Whirlpool teamed up with Congressman Fred Upton to get the job done, saying, “Wherever we can help the front line responders during this difficult period is what being a part of a community is all about.”
Whirlpool Corp’s procurement and supply chain organization was able to use its unique set of skills and global connections to procure the much-needed medical supplies. Door says, “During a crisis like this, we realize that time is of the essence,” and adds, “That’s why we worked quickly with our supplier community, our Whirlpool North America and Whirlpool China colleagues.”
Christy McMunn, Director of Transportation, Domestic and International for Whirlpool Corporation, says, “We were able to leverage our procurement and supply chain expert knowledge and partner with suppliers to expedite these critical shipments where they’re needed.”
The majority of the supplies are being donated to Spectrum Health Lakeland, as well as the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office.
Jeff Noel added, “This is a great opportunity to understand how communities come together. The coronavirus without a doubt is testing our very core. I’ve never seen a community come together like this one has in Michigan’s Great Southwest. We have got to take care of the heroes who are on the front lines every day. I want to thank all of the nurses, all of the technologists, the doctors, and anyone associated with healthcare and all of those like first responders. We as a community have an obligation to make sure that they have the tools to take care of all of us. How in the world can we ask you to take care of us in times like this if we don’t help you in the process.”
Dan Hopp, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Spectrum Health Lakeland, said today, “For those of us who know Whirlpool, we know that it’s not a surprise. Since the company was founded here over 100 years ago, they’ve always been a supporter of the community, indeed as a corporate citizen around the world, Whirlpool supports its communities. We are thankful that a company with the resources and expertise and the heart is in our community helping us every day. The actions of Whirlpool to donate these supplies will in fact save lives in our community. Fred Upton and his staff have been instrumental in getting these supplies here for us.”
Dr. Loren Hamel was extremely grateful, saying, “On behalf of the healthcare providers in the trenches, in the line of fire in this COVID-19 battle, thank you so much to Whirlpool for this unbelievable gift of protection. Even though I’m surrounded by these boxes, it doesn’t feel like I’m surrounded by cardboard, it feels like I’m surrounded by love, and I really appreciate that not only does Whirlpool live its values in the products it produces, it lives its values in our community in so many ways. They picked up the phone and called us and asked what can we do, is there any way that we can help? To the leadership of Whirlpool, thank you so incredibly much. From the Lakeland Family to the Whirlpool Family, than you from the bottom of our hearts. We love you back.”
Hamel says, “These donations are incredibly important as we continue to face this global pandemic,” adding, “With the help of Whirlpool, we’ll be better prepared to fight the spread of COVID-19 in Southwest Michigan, as the virus is expected to reach its peak in the U.S. in the next couple of weeks.”
Whirlpool Corp’s procurement team worked closely with U.S. Congressman Fred Upton’s office to make these shipments a reality.
In making the formal presentation today, Liz Door said, “On behalf of Whirlpool, I’m honored to be able to make this donation today. Our employees, our friends and our family members and neighborhood communities are just really grateful for the front line responders and what they’re able to do for all of us.” She added, “I’m particularly proud of our Whirlpool employees in supply chain and purchasing that were part of this. They used their unique skills and capabilities to be able to bring these goods to bear that are in front of you. We leveraged our global supply chain network, and our supply chain organization to do this, and there were many barriers and it took thoughtful planning in order to bring these into the United States and through customs. What I’d really like to do is to thank Fred Upton because he assisted us in bringing these safely into the United States, but also assisted us in securing the goods in a timely manner, so thank you Congressman Fred Upton.” 
For his part, Congressman Fred Upton says, “It was probably a couple of weeks ago at 6:30 in the morning, my phone rang and it was Dr. Loren Hamel wondering if I had heard from Whirlpool. About 30-minutes later I did hear from them, as Marc Bitzer and Jeff Noel called and told me about this wonderful idea that they had and wanting to know how we could get the supplies from overseas to here.”
Upton immediately swung into action, saying, “I called the Vice President. I called the White House, and we have a very good contact there, to help facilitate deliveries like this. There were a couple of different ideas about how this was going to come about, but I suggested doing it the right way to get the materials delivered right directly here.” He notes, “My next door neighbor in the Rayburn Office Building in Washington, D.C. happens to be the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee and they have jurisdiction over customs. So I reached out to him, as well. Once they heard about this wonderful gift, they dropped everything to make sure that it happened. We got it through within an hour of when it landed at customs. These supplies here, and I do know the number, it’s amazing and it’s going to help big time.”
Hamel says, “The work that Liz and her team did was just unbelievable. They went to the source, with the right connections, with the right documentation and got the job done, and that’s something that very few organizations anywhere around are capable of doing. We absolutely applaud the efforts of Liz and her team to bring these to Lakeland in an unbelievable effort.”
Pointing to the stacks of gear in the warehouse today, Jeff Noel said, “This isn’t all of it. This isn’t the first of it. It has come in in multiple shipments. It’s continuing to flow through. There are companies bigger than ours that have been around a long time that wonder how she (Liz) was able to do it. She worked night and day talking to every one of our suppliers until she was able to get the right people lined up. Her tenacity made this happen. She absolutely delivered.”
Upton concluded, “The spirit of our community has always been about working together for the common good of all,” adding, “It was great to see the talented people within Whirlpool and Spectrum Health Lakeland find an innovative solution to their needs that will truly help save lives in our community.”
