Bartlett reaches his 30-year mark at Physio-Control | PICTURES

Published 4:25 pm Thursday, August 15, 2013

Herb Bartlett’s first job at Physio-Control in the summer of 1983 was working on a sub-assembly line.

From there, he went on to help train other incoming assembly line workers before moving into the mail room about 15 years ago, where he has been working as a mail clerk ever since. In addition to distributing mail throughout the company’s Redmond campus, Bartlett also serves as Physio-Control’s unofficial “Chief Cheer Spreader” and works to bring a smile to everyone he comes across throughout the day.

“He lives in the moment and is excited at teaching us that moment,” said Martin Abbenhouse, who works as an engineering services supervisor at Physio-Control.

He said whenever he is having a difficult day, seeing Bartlett will put him in a better mood.

“Herb is a pretty balancing force at Physio-Control,” said Abbenhouse, who has been at the company for 22 years. “He really centers this place.”

He added that Bartlett is a great dresser and “does an excellent Elvis impersonation.”

Physio-Control — a company that focuses on the development, manufacture, sale and service of external defibrillators/monitors and emergency medical response products and services — recognized Bartlett Tuesday at a quarterly barbecue lunch for the 30 years he has worked at the company.

“Yes, it is a really long time,” he said, acknowledging his long career.

Bartlett, who loves Westerns, was also presented with his very own Stetson (below).

Sonia Reid, international communications manager for Physio-Control, said Bartlett was hired in 1983 as part of a program called Enclave, which was implemented as the first “supported employment program” in the country. She said the aim of the program was to transfer handicapped persons from federally subsidized programs to work at Physio-Control. Bartlett, 58, has Down syndrome.

“There were eight Enclave workers here at the beginning of the program,” Reid said. “Herb is the only one still working here.”

Mail center coordinator Gail Cash (left, with Bartlett) has worked with Bartlett for 12 years and said he is an inspiration to others. She said she has learned more from him than from anyone else in her life.

“I see my own challenges differently,” Cash said. “When focusing on someone’s (disabilities), you will overlook their uniqueness, beauty and abilities.”

She said her favorite part of working with Bartlett is his uniqueness and his ability to make her happy, even when she’s having a bad day.

“His purity and innocence and lack of worry, anxiety, stress and doubt is something we should all strive for,” Cash said. “All of us at Physio have so much to learn from Herb.”

In the three decades that he’s been at Physio-Control, Bartlett said he enjoys the company of his co-workers, saying, “people are nice” and likes making other people happy. He also just enjoys what he does and looks forward to going to work.

“I’m happy, most importantly,” he said. “And I like my job.”