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Navigating through COVID-19 continued from page 7

“A positive I’ve seen is having more interaction with people in social person; I like the interaction with designers, field ops,
other studios,” she said. “Especially since Food and Beverage clients, vendors, and subcontractors. Video conferences can
is in a separate building, my main pool of interaction was the get you so far but it’s still hard to make a connection… that
people I sit near within my studio when I work in the office. Since has been my largest struggle. It’s hard to make a personal
working from home, it’s just as easy to call someone from my connection with someone via a Zoom meeting.
studio as it is to call someone in another studio so I’ve been “For the past 15 years I spent 25-40% of my days on the
taking advantage of this time to learn more from team members road. Being home for breakfast, lunch and dinner with my
outside my studio.” wife and daughter is not something I would ever want to give
“One thing I’ve learned is that you have to learn to adapt no back. I’ll take facetiming with a subcontractor over [having to]
matter the circumstances,” said George Donkor. “You have to facetime with my wife and daughter. The best part of working
learn to stay motivated and work through the difficult moments remotely is you can schedule your day as opposed to your day
with whatever tools you have available.” scheduling you.”
Tim Sandberg has found some aspects of his new work Team members all around Gray have embraced the necessity
environment to be challenging, but he’s also enjoyed being of working from home and practicing social distancing in
home during this time. their jobsite responsibilities. A few have found remarkable
“Design-build is an inherently collaborative and interactive ways to give back to people working on the frontlines in our
8 work environment, and those who work well with others thrive communities: healthcare workers. As worry over personal
protective equipment shortages were being reported around
while those who run alone get trampled,” said Tim. “I am a
the country, the BIM team and A/E Operations in the Lexington
Office decided to use their 3-D printer to make face shields. The
group produced around 70 face shields that were donated to
hospitals and doctors, including those working at the University
of Kentucky; the University of Louisville; an Emergency Room
in Nashville, Tennessee; and two local dentist offices. The face
shield recipients said they were greatly appreciated by both
medical staff and patients.
We’re still not sure when the COVID-19 pandemic will be
behind us, or when we’ll be back to a “new normal.” One
thing we do know is we’re impressed and thankful for all of our
team members for rising to the occasion. Together, we will get
through this.

Clockwise, from left: Team members practice social distancing on the Diageo jobsite.
Terry Filter has the cutest little co-worker. Chris Elder with Gray Ohio Valley shared
this images of a table with COVID-19 preparedeness instructions and materials on
the Agtech Scientific project. George Donkor gets some work done while keeping his
11-month-old cozy and nearby.