2012 Caring for People: Team Fairchild members voice ideas on how to improve base

Published May 1, 2012
By Airman 1st Class Earlandez Young
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Nearly 50 Airmen and family members gathered at the base chapel April 27 to participate in Team Fairchild's 2012 "Caring for People Summit" forum.

The event kicked off at 9 a.m., when Col. Paul Guemmer, 92nd Air Refueling Wing commander, spoke with members of Team Fairchild encouraging participants who were divided into groups, to put forth their ideas to improve the quality of life for the people who live and work on base.

The colonel was briefed on all the issues that would be brought before the CAIB for action. Some of the issues addressed involved clinic appointments, recreational transportation for single Airmen on base, military and family programs and information flow.

Guemmer returned to the chapel at the end of the summit to address participants, starting off by asking participants if the day was a productive one, with the audience replying with a loud "yes." The colonel explained how the entire process of the summit works and how the issues will be handled through major command and beyond.

"Thanks for taking your time to come out and put forth ways to better Fairchild," Guemmer said. "You have my word that your ideas, issues and concerns will be closely observed and completely thought through on how to improve them."

The groups consisted of a facilitator, subject-matter expert and a recorder. The recorder documented the top three initiatives for Melissa Still, the event coordinator. Still, then used the information to brief wing leadership at the end of the event.

Alejandra Locke, a financial accreditation intern at the Airmen and Family Readiness Center and a facilitator at the event for the single Airmen, known as the "yellow team" said she's completely satisfied with the way individuals worked together to improve quality of life at Fairchild.

"I feel all participants were able to express their ideas and concerns," Locke said. "I made a point to acknowledge each participant's views, ideas, experiences and personalities; this created a collage of great ideas focused on our main goal -- to better serve our single Airman. Overall we worked well as a team."

After brainstorming things they would like to see improved at Fairchild, the groups narrowed down the top three initiatives. The five groups prioritized their ideas, briefed them to the other groups and then consolidated their proposals.

"I don't believe there were any surprise issues," said Christopher Marble, A&FRC chief. "We usually anticipate concerns with housing and child-care, and rightly so because we are talking about people's homes and their children, which are two extremely important topics in a person's life.

"Fairchild is very fortunate we have a highly functioning Integrated Delivery Service Team. The Summit facilitators and subject matter experts are very experienced professionals. They too, are passionate about the support they provide to the Fairchild community. The summit staff is always willing to listen to customers and improve the processes."

Guemmer explained the base's Community Action Information Board will receive all the feedback to take action on the items that fall within Fairchild's scope keeping in mind the best use of resources, time and money.