Race against time: Delivering hope to a transplant patient in need

Scott Stephens is accustomed to time-sensitive delivery requests. As a distribution operations supervisor at Thermo Fisher Scientific, he oversees a busy facility in Australia that serves as a distribution hub for that country and New Zealand (ANZ). His team is often tasked with expediting shipments of products bound for customers in the region.

So when Scott’s manager informed him that a package was due to arrive at the Scoresby site the next morning and needed to be immediately shipped to the customer for a same-day delivery by 4 p.m., he figured it would be a routine process. It turned out to be anything but that.

Scott learned that the product was an antibody test that needed to be shipped to a hospital in Adelaide – some 500 miles from Scoresby – in advance of an organ transplant taking place early the following morning.

The surgery could not continue without this test being conducted first.

Realizing the magnitude of the situation, Scott contacted all local transportation services, only to find that his usual partners were unavailable within the tight timeframe. He needed another solution.

"I said to my manager: ‘The only way we're going to get it there [in time] is if someone jumps on a plane and takes it there,’” he said. “When I realized this was going to be the only way, I thought, well, it's going to be up to me."

From left to right: Domenic Stranieri; a former colleague; Scott Stephens; and Jo Broughton

Scott's swift actions led to a flurry of activities to secure necessary approvals and make immediate travel arrangements. “It was truly inspiring to see how he jumped into action, formulated alternative plans, and then went through with the decision to personally move patient-critical product,” said Scott’s manager, Ben Joy, distribution and logistics leader.

 

After booking a flight, Scott embarked on a race against the clock. With no time to wait for a taxi, he drove himself to the airport, battling peak rush-hour traffic on a Friday afternoon and endeavored to maintain his composure.

 

“I was stressing, [wondering] am I going to make this flight?" Scott said.

 

“It was truly inspiring to see how he jumped into action, formulated alternative  plans, and then went through with the decision to personally move patient-critical product,”  said Ben Joy, ANZ Distribution and Logistics Leader.

Quotation marks
“It was truly inspiring to see how he jumped into action, formulated alternative plans, and then went through with the decision to personally move patient-critical product.”
Ben Joy
Distribution and Logistics Leader
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Australia & New Zealand

He did, but once on the plane, the pressure was still on because he knew he still had to navigate the logistics of getting the test from the airport to the hospital. He could take a taxi, but he wasn’t sure exactly where to deliver it.

 

"The hospital team was actually waiting at the door and I was definitely relieved that I had delivered it on time and that the customer was happy.

 

Scott and his team later learned that the organ transplant had been successful, and the medical staff expressed their gratitude for the timely delivery of the test.

 

While Scott’s decision to go beyond the call of duty to support a customer and a patient in need,  he said the true heroes are the medical teams who save lives every day.

 

“I was doing my job. That's the way I looked at it,” Scott said. “That's just what we do to serve our customers.”

 

Ben noted that Scott’s initiative is a prime example of Thermo Fisher’s mission.  "These actions are about integrity or, more specifically, trust,” he said. “This was an act in line with our company's commitment to serving communities, customers and in this case, an individual. This is a  wonderful example of where an individual’s core beliefs collides with our company purpose to create an incredible outcome for a person in need."

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