Blue Water Woman--Summer 2020--Interactive

Of course all of this begs the question about her concern for her own
health. Getting sick had to cross her mind, right?
“Yes,” she answered, “but the biggest worry was going into plants
where they were making shields and masks for people that were already
sick and exposing other people. So I didn’t as much worry for myself or
me getting sick, but just exposing other people.”
She said she wore her mask faithfully, made sure she drank plenty of
water and took extra vitamin C to keep up her immune system. She
also made sure she got plenty of sleep. She said they had a symptom
screening at the beginning of each shift upon entry into the plants.
While the volunteer work was fulfilling in one way of assisting in the
fight against the virus, it had the added benefit of providing real world
experience for an engineer young in her career.
“Actually working on the line, running the machine, was a pretty
new experience,” she said. “And it was a good experience because a lot
of what I do at my job as an engineer affects the people working on
the plant floor. It gave me a chance to use my degree and my problem
solving skills.”
VanderHeuvel is back in Michigan, working from home, as a part
of the new Ford Bronco team preparing for the vehicle’s sales launch
in 2021. However, she said if the call came out to take on a similar
volunteer assignment, she would certainly do it again.
“It was a great feeling just to know even if I helped just a little bit for
so many doctors, even if it wasn’t a huge number, that they got the
safety equipment that they needed to do their job, and help the people
that are really sick,” she said. “The first couple of weeks during the
quarantine I hated feeling like I was sitting there and not being able to
help. So being given the chance to do something about it and get to
help others? I am very lucky.”
Lucky indeed.
“
Actually working on the line, running the
machine, was a pretty new experience.
It was a good experience because a lot of what
I do at my job as an engineer affects the people
working on the plant floor.
It gave me a chance to use my degreee
”
and my problem solving skills.
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