More than 600 people in Kokomo, Indiana are working for General Motors in Kokomo, Indiana right now to create ventilator machines for COVID-19 patients, according to Indiana GM spokesperson Stephanie Jentgen. Two of them are recent IU graduates Kate Wampler and Alex Combs.
For the engaged couple, who met at IU through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, having their senior year cut short was bittersweet. Originally, Combs wasn’t going to go to college at all but was encouraged by his dad, an Army veteran, to go to IU for the ROTC program. Wampler joined the National Guard and later decided to transfer from IU-Kokomo to IU-Bloomington, where the couple met their junior year.
They chose to use this time to make a difference by working at GM, where they started April 20. Wampler’s brother, who started working with the GM Kokomo Ventilator Project when it started in mid-March, encouraged them to do it, and they both decided to apply.
“For me, it was about taking the leap and not letting this be crippling,” Wampler said. “Not sitting at home made it a little less scary for me.”
The project has hired temporary employees to produce the ventilators. Jentgen said GM is still hiring employees for the program. They plan to hire 1,100 employees by mid-June and make 300,000 machines by the end of August.
GM takes precautions to keep their employees safe while they are there, according to and email from Jentgen. Employees wear masks and use disinfectant often. Before they enter, everyone’s temperature is taken, and they are asked about their daily symptoms. They also maintain social distancing when possible.
Even though the job requires strict health practice and makes life-saving devices, the two said the work atmosphere at GM is fun and laid-back.
“It’s fun because everyone is there for the same reason,” Wampler said.
On a regular day, they get up at 5:45 a.m. to get to work and usually work until 3 p.m. Depending on GM’s supply of parts, workers may have more or less to do on any given day, Combs said. On May 15, Combs stayed two hours late, and he estimated the factory made about 280 ventilators that day.
Both Combs and Wampler work on stations near the end of the 23-station process. The smaller parts come to Combs, who assembles them and then puts on software the machines need. Next it goes to Wampler’s station, where she tests the ventilator with fake lungs to make sure it could run at the highest setting it would need to.
On Comb’s first day working with the machines, he accidentally caused one of the machines to spark while testing, which Wampler teases him about.
“They told me to yank out the power, and I took that literally,” Combs said.
The work has also presented interesting opportunities for them. Vice President Mike Pence visited the floor Combs works on , and Gov. Eric Holcomb visited the floor Wampler is on.
“We each had an eventful day that day,” Wampler said. “We got no work done.”
The couple plans to get married in September before moving to Fort Rucker, Alabama, in November so Combs can attend the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence for flight school.
For now, they will continue to work at GM. Combs feels it’s a good way to help during the pandemic since he isn’t qualified to work in health care.
“I’m not one to just sit around the house at all,” Combs said. “It was a way to get out and help in some way.”
