A team story: Nelles Galley and Cpl Michelle Vissers

2Lt Travis Winship, Contributor ~

Despite the reduction of on-site manning around the base, people need to be fed at Nelles Galley.

A team of cooks at the mess are doing what they can in this time of COVID-19 to keep the morale up through tasty, healthy food for members that live on base.

Food services are essential, and given the physical distancing protection measures put in place, the disruption has affected the sense of normalcy.

The constantly evolving situation keeps Cpl Michelle Vissers, Nelles Block shift leader, on her toes, and the entire team is working hard to keep the steam lines open.

She runs the floor, which includes passing information up and down the chain of command for operations, and maintenance of the galley.

The job revolves around a high stress environment with a constant flow of customers, employee management, paperwork, and much more. Her job is critical in that she is “feeding the members that live on base.”

When not at work, she is renovating her home bought last summer by herself and her partner. Since the pandemic, her partner, a service member as well, was recalled back from work in Halifax and has been instructed to self-isolate. This leaves Cpl Vissers to run all the errands while maintaining her work schedule. Even though she follows all the required precautions to stay healthy, she worries that “a careless person can pass germs onto a gas pump, a can of food at the grocery store, anywhere really.”

Everyone is aware of the risk of spreading COVID-19 in the workplace, and that is why they collectively take all precautions possible to keep their work space sanitized. After all, food services is a “no fail mission”, she says.