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JBLM opens more services

Gyms, library, overnight stays and more

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Only a handful of positive cases remain at Joint Base Lewis-McChord said Lt. Gen. Randy George. I Corps and JBLM commander, therefore, beginning Monday, more services will open on the base.

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The following are opening.

• All warrior restaurants will allow for inside seating to 50 percent capacity and table sizes restricted to five diners.

• The Warrior Zone will open for outdoor seating with table size limted to five people.

• The library will open with indoor capacity at 50 percent.

• Barber shops will open to all with access.

• 50 mile travel limit extends to 250 miles with overnight stays limited to no travel to Seattle or Portland.  Suggest to avoid Yakima as well.

• PT as a fire team or crew is now authorized.

• Indoor swimming pools will open to unit training only.

• Leisure travel services is opening.

• The photo lab is open to all services.

• PCS/TDY - effective immediately the first general officer in chain can now approve exceptions to policy. Both locations have to approve the exception.

• The gyms will open to active duty and reserves on active duty beginning June 9th limited to 50 percent occupancy.

• Madigan hopes to open Legacy Pharmacy to same day ER and appointments in the middle of the month.

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• (From McChord) Due to COVID-19, the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Annual Kids Fishing Derby won't be held this year, but families can still fish at Carter Lake. Families are invited to bring their kids to Carter Lake June 6-7 to fish for free, no license required! After June 7, any properly licensed angler or unlicensed youth 14 years old or younger may fish in Carter Lake. Daily catch limit is five trout of any size. Fishing will be done with a single hook. Treble hooks are prohibited. Find more details about fishing on McChord Field here, https://jblm.armymwr.com/programs/hunting-fishing.

In other news this week …

Airmen and leadership of the 62nd Maintenance Squadron (62nd MXS) at McChord integrated a new schedule and framework for conducting home station checks (HSCs).Home station checks occur every 180 days for a C-17 Globemaster III, during which the aircraft undergoes a thorough safety and functionality inspection. If they are not completed on time, the aircraft can be grounded. 

When the wing went to minimal manning, the HSC maintenance flight, along with accessories and fabrication flights, integrated a new schedule and personnel framework to comply with social distancing and limit the potential spread of COVID-19 while ensuring no loss to the mission. 

“The main thing that’s changed since the base went to mission essential is the number of days and hours,” said Airman 1st Class Brockway Blodgett, 62nd MXS crew chief. “Usually we work five days on and two days off, the two days would be the weekend, but now it’s switched to four on four off, it doesn’t matter what days of the week.”

The schedule features a two-team approach where each team is assigned an aircraft to work on so there is no overlap of the two teams. 

“The HSCs are scheduled back-to-back, which has allowed for a consistent workload and cut down our workforce per shift by 50 percent, limiting our Airmen’s exposure to the virus,” said 1st Lt. Kristina O’Sullivan, 62nd MXS flight commander. “We have 139 individuals and are the largest flight within 62nd MXS, so limiting our exposure presented a more difficult challenge. However, the original plan had us completing one or two HSCs a week and now we complete an HSC every four days.” (62nd AW PAO)

Madigan Army Medical Center has thousands of staff members and hundreds of clinical rooms. With all of that comes cloth. From scrubs to privacy curtains to bed linens, it all adds up to untold yards of cloth to maintain. The Environmental Services Branch within the Logistics Division takes care of them all.

When the order went out recently from the commander for everyone on the Madigan campus to cover their face whenever they are in public areas and cannot guarantee six feet of distance from others, one seamstress took it upon herself to create face coverings for her colleagues.

“(Hwan) Peveto has continued to do an outstanding job doing her regular duties during this pandemic and then stepped up to ensure that not only the Environmental Services Branch had masks available, but Logistics as well,” said Chris Roberts, the chief of the Environmental Services Branch which oversees Peveto’s Linen Section.

Recognizing that some coworkers on the linen staff found breathing challenging with the various disposable masks they’d tried, Peveto figured she could engineer a covering that would work better for them.

With fabric from old uniforms and lab coats, twist ties that come with trash bags to form a nose bridge and a bit of elastic, a suitable, and

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