With Black Hawk landing, Medline in Northfield puts a spin on typical workday

Work was more exciting than usual at Medline Industries in Northfield on Tuesday morning.

Nothing like a visit from a military helicopter to break up the workday.

The Black Hawk landing highlighted a special event for the medical-supply company in an effort to celebrate the servicepeople and military veterans among Medline’s workforce.

Medline’s program MVet, which organized the event, works to support its military-connected employees. Company officials said Medline employs more than 19,000 people in the United States and more than 1,000 of them, some in Northfield, have self-reported as military veterans.

While the Black Hawk was the main draw, the event also featured military ground vehicles, active members of the Illinois National Guard and organizations promoting their veteran programs.

“How many times do you have the opportunity to step up to a Black Hawk and engage with it? Our employees really enjoy that,” said Stu Schneider, Medline’s executive sponsor of the special day. “(The event is) to honor our veterans and provide some awareness to the resources that are available to them and for our non-veteran community, to get an appreciation for the equipment and the service the veteran community has provided to them.”

The Black Hawk helicopter arrived shortly before 10 a.m. and drew a large crowd as employees flowed in and out of Medline’s office building.

Three National Guard members talked about the helicopter as well as their military service before employees had an opportunity to explore the powerful machine.

Members of the Northfield Fire Department also stopped by for a look.

“Medline feels our military veterans are a critical part of our workforce,” said Schneider, who added that many skills developed in and prioritized by the military are also of value at Medline. “… We think it’s a great place for veterans to further their career.”

Chad Harris is one of Medline’s military employees. Harris, who works at the company’s Northfield campus, also serves as a company commander in the Illinois National Guard and helped connect his coworkers with his fellow military members.

He called Tuesday a symbiotic event.

“Why I think it’s awesome is … we’re trying to show how veterans are important to the organization and how much we can do with the untapped potential we have and how we can bring more veterans into our organization,” Harris said. “Events like this are great because the National Guard is such a friendly piece of our community.”

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