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The PMC Safety Commitment2011: The Year in ReviewBy: Bill Farlow, Safety Champion and Executive Vice President

April 2012Volume 6, Issue 1

Inside this issue:The year 2011 began with a challenge

from our President to take Safety to a new level at Puckett Machinery Company. While Safety has always been important at PMC, Hastings challenged us to increase our focus, awareness and work practices to ensure that Safety is one of our highest priorities at PMC now, in the future and on a daily basis. As PMC strives to have the BEST TEAM at work, we will not be able to accomplish this vision unless we first become a Safe Place to Work.

With this in mind, we undertook four major initiatives in 2011 to take PMC’s Safety Program to a higher level. They were as follows:

1) Appoint and Train Branch Safety Officers,

2) Implement a New Employee Safety Training Program for both New Hires and our current employees,

3) Engage the services of Caterpillar’s Safety Services Consulting Team, and

4) Conduct DOT Driver Training for all PMC Commercial Vehicle Drivers

Each of these four initiatives is essential for PMC becoming a Safe Place to Work. Our first initiative last summer was to identify Branch Safety Officers to lead our local Branch Safety efforts. These Branch Safety Officers spent a day in Hattiesburg training for these new duties and responsibilities. Each one was given a Branch Safety Officer manual to guide them in their branch safety responsibilities.

Our second initiative was to formalize a New Employee Safety Training Program. This program was designed for all new employees who come to work in our Rental, Parts, Service and Transportation departments. The purpose of this training is to assist them in becoming orientated to PMC’s Safety Program from DAY 1. This training takes place on a new hire’s first day and encompasses a safety tour of our facilities, the viewing of a PMC Safety PowerPoint and taking several on-line CAT safety courses to expose them to safe work practices in our industry.

Thirdly, in 2011 we engaged Caterpillar Safety Services (CSS) to assist us in assessing our safety environment and our safety culture. CSS initially conducted Safety Site Assessments at eight (8) of our facilities. As a result of these Site Assessments, CSS made several recommendations to help make our facilities more safety-friendly. John Rand, PMC Environmental, Safety and Facilities Manager, worked with each Branch Manager in getting these recommendations implemented. After the Site Assessments, CSS sent us a Safety Survey which was completed by all employees in August of 2011. The purpose of this survey was to measure our employee’s perception of the safety culture at PMC. In October, CSS’s Safety Consultant came on site to lead our management team in a two-day Management Safety Roundtable event, whereby our managers were briefed on the survey results and trained on how to make improvements to our safety culture.

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The PMC Safety Commitment2011: The Year in Review

2011 Safety Survey Results

PMC’s Safety Report Card

Wellness Heroes

2011 Branch Safety Awards

Safety Tips for Your Workout

How to Find a BCBSMS Provider

Spotlight on PMC Drivers

Company-Wide Employee Opinion Survey

Targeted Selling Campaign a Sell Out!

Michael Shelby is Our Hero!

(Continued on Page 2)

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Our fourth initiative involved our conducting DOT Driver Training for all PMC Commercial Vehicle Drivers and Supervisors. This training was led by Sal Rabito, our Safety Consultant with Arthur Gallagher Insurance Company. He instructed our team of drivers on the new federal DOT regulations (CSA 2010) that were going into effect in 2012 that would now track DOT violations both corporately and individually going forward. Sal also led us in a valuable Defensive Driver Training session. Representatives from the Mississippi Department of Transportation Enforcement division were also on hand to instruct us on proper load securing and tie down requirements including an important discussion concerning violations they look for when they inspect commercial vehicles. After each session the floor was open for questions and answers. Several of our employees presented some very good questions to the Officer’s and to the Safety Consultant which resulted in a more in-depth understanding of the new regulations. Many of our vehicles were on site at this training class and walk around inspections were conducted for the entire class.

2011 was the mark of a new era for Safety at PMC. It will require our diligence to maintain and develop Safety as part of our culture.

Thanks again to each of you who strive to work safely each and every day! You are our most valuable asset. Let’s make 2012 another year of improvement as we work toward making our company a Safe and Great Place to Work.

2011: The Safety Survey Results

As a result of the Caterpillar Safety Survey, which all employees took in August 2011, we were able to gain some valuable information regarding our Safety Culture at PMC. Overall, PMC’s score from this survey was 76.3. In other words, 76.3% of our employee responses on the survey pointed toward a positive safety culture present at PMC. The average score on this same survey from other Caterpillar dealers in 2011 was 73.2%. Thus, we surpassed the average Caterpillar dealer score, which helps solidify our reputation as an excellent dealer. During our Caterpillar Safety Services (CSS) Management Roundtable Event, CSS informed us that scores above 70 were considered good and scores above 80 were considered great. CSS also calculated a score for each of our stores. We had five (5) stores whose score exceeded 80 and all of our stores exceeded 70. This news increased our confidence level that we are striving to be # 1 in Safety.

CSS also collected your responses on the survey and shared with us our higher scoring categories and our lower

The PMC Safety Commitment2011: The Year in Review(Continued from Page 1)

scoring categories. Our higher scoring categories were as follows:

1) Management Credibility, 2) Substance Abuse, 3) Hazard Correction, 4) New Employee Safety Orientation, 5) Incident Analysis and 6) Support for Safety

It was great to see such strong scores in categories as important as these.

Our lower scoring categories were as follows: 1) Recognition for Performance, 2) Employee Discipline, 3) Safety Inspections, 4) Safety Awareness Programs, 5) Employee Involvement and 6) Goals of Safety Performance

We agree with our Employee’s assessment - that these categories really are and should be our lowest scoring categories. We do have some work to do in several of these areas to further enhance our Safety Culture and its acceptance at PMC. Several of our 2012 initiatives will be targeted to improve our performance in these lower scoring categories. Many thanks to each of you who completed a survey! Your input was extremely valuable and right on target! We are committed to making the necessary changes from this survey to make PMC an even Safer Place to Work in 2012.

2011: PMC’S SAFETY REPORT CARD

Until last August, we had never shared PMC’s Safety Report Card with our employees. We will now be sharing it with each Branch Manager on a quarterly basis going forward and they will be sharing it with all our branch employees. Our Safety Report Card is comprised of several components including:

1) Number of OSHA Recordable Accidents or Incidents involving our Employees,

2) OSHA Recordable DART rate calculation, 3) Number of Lost Work Day Cases, 4) Number of Lost Work Days by Employees, 5) Lost Work Day DART rate calculation, and 6) Worker’s Compensation Claims expenses.

Each of these are critical measurements that we must track, calculate and report to various third parties. These measurements are shared with Caterpillar, our Workers

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Compensation Insurance Company and with various publicly held companies which we do service work for. Caterpillar uses these numbers as part of their annual Dealer Excellence formula. Our Worker Compensation Insurance Company uses these numbers to determine the annual insurance premium we must pay. Publicly held companies use these numbers to qualify which contractors that they will allow on their plant sites to do service work. Each publicly held company has minimum Safety Standards that Contractors, such as us, must meet in order to gain access and work on their jobsite. Therefore, it is important that our Safety Report Card results meet and exceed their requirements in order that we can continue to service their equipment needs and not be disqualified as a service provider of theirs.

During 2011, company-wide, PMC had 15 OSHA Recordable Accidents (verses 19 in 2010). Of these, five (5) were Lost Workday accidents (verses 6 in 2010). Our Recordable Accident DART rate (the lower score wins) for 2011 was 3.55 (verses 4.87 in 2010), while our 2011 goal was 4.5 or less. Our number of Lost Workdays in 2011 totaled 113 days (verses 446 Lost Workdays in 2010). Our Lost Workday DART measurement (remember low score wins) for 2011 was 1.18 (verses 1.54 in 2010), while our 2011 goal was 1.1 or lower. Additionally, our workman’s compensation claims expenses for 2011 should end up around $90,000 in 2011 (verses $371,196 in 2010). Therefore, you can tell by these numbers and measurements that our Safety results for 2011 were much improved over 2010. Thank “You” for making this happen!

Despite our improvement in 2011, if you examine our Safety Report Card over the last four years, you will find a disturbing trend. Our pattern has been one of having a bad year followed by a good year followed by a bad year followed by a good year. In other words our Safety performance has been inconsistent. When third parties see our four (4) year Report Card and look at our trend, they view us as a very inconsistent company when it comes to safety and this is not good. Worker Compensation insurance companies would rather see consistently average safety records rather than a company who is “all over the board” with their safety performance. Therefore, we need to change the perception of how we are viewed by third parties by consistently stacking several good or great years together. If we do this, then we can significantly reduce the worker compensation insurance premiums that we have to pay. Let’s continue to work towards being a consistently great company when it comes to safety. I encourage each of you to make safety a priority in 2012 and the years following, so we can prove to third parties that we indeed can become a consistently great company when it comes to employee safety.

Wellness Heroes Shed a Total of 83 Pounds!

In 6 months Fred McNair, PMCJ Parts Warehouse, Phillip “Gooch,” PMCJ Parts Warehouse Lead, and Anthony Grant, Transportation have dropped 83 pounds collectively.

Their Wellness weight loss tips:Fred – “Cut out the sugary drinks”Gooch – Use Splenda instead”Anthony – “Drink a lot of water and go to the gym”

Kudos to Sherry Patterson, PMCJ Wellness Champion for “coaching” these guys!

Phillip Gooch and Fred McNair - lookin’ good and feelin’ good!

Anthony Grant showing everyone that eating right and exercising pay off in a big way!

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Congratulations to PMC Brookhaven, Puckett Rents Biloxi, Puckett Rents Hattiesburg, Puckett Rents Jackson, Puckett Rents Meridian and D-M McComb for a perfect Safety record in 2011! Each of these stores worked the entire year with no recordable workplace accidents, no lost work days and with no worker compensation claim expenses incurred. Congratulations to all!!!!!!! Each of these stores were recognized in February with a “Perfect” championship banner, a lunch or cookout of their choice and all employees were presented with a special Cat hat inscribed “Perfect in 2011”.

Congratulations also goes out to PMC Meridian and PMC Hattiesburg, These two stores had Zero Lost Work Days in 2011. These stores were also recognized in February with a “Zero Lost Work Day” championship banner, a lunch or cookout of their choice and all employees were presented with a special Cat hat inscribed “Zero in 2011”. Way to go Meridian and Hattiesburg! Keep up the good work!

PMC Jackson also was an award winner in 2011 as they beat their DART Safety goals for 2011. Their OSHA Recordable DART rate was 3.86 (goal was 4.5 or less) and their Lost Work Day DART rate was 0.64 (goal was 1.1 or less). Way to go PMC Jackson! As a result of their Safety performance in 2011, PMC Jackson was awarded with a “Beat the DART” championship banner to fly in their shop. Congratulations!

Special recognition also goes out to our PMC Brookhaven branch which has now not had a recordable workplace accident in over 4 years! Way to go Brookhaven! Special recognition also goes to our PMC Meridian and Puckett Rents Biloxi branches which have not had a lost workday in over 4 years. Also, special recognition needs to go to our entire Puckett Rents division as four of their five stores had Perfect safety records in 2011 and the entire division only had one (1) OSHA Recordable accident in 2011.

A special thanks to each of these branches for showing us the way and leading us in going from Good to Great in Safety!

2011 Branch Safety Awards

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When you decide to get in shape and begin a workout routine you are usually thinking about shedding unwanted pounds and burning calories rather than exercising safely. Being safety conscious is important if you want to get the best benefit from your workouts. Sprains and strains can be big distractions in a successful, long-term routine. In fact, injuries are a leading reason people stop participating in physical activity altogether. Be smart and take some preventive steps in order to reduce the likelihood of workout-related injury:

Get the right gear. Wear comfortable clothing and well-fitting shoes designed for your type of exercise. Remember to dress for the weather. Fabrics that absorb sweat and remove it from your skin are best. In colder weather dressing in layers is recommended. Never wear rubber or plastic suits or belts. These prevent your body from dissipating heat properly and can lead to serious health risks from overheating and dehydration.

Don’t forget the protective gear: helmets for biking or high-contact sports; knee and elbow pads for skating; reflective clothing for evening exercise; sunglasses, sunscreen, and hats for outdoor exercise to minimize your risk for skin cancer.

One important piece

of gear for all forms of exercise is a water bottle. Keep one close since it’s very important to drink water before, during and after exercise. This will help you avoid dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Additionally your muscles release toxins as you exercise, and staying hydrated helps this process.

Warm up and Stretch. Prepare your body for exercise by going through a 5-10 minute warm up of low-level aerobic activity. This will get your blood flowing, increase the temperature of your muscles, and start you breathing faster which will help your body adjust to the demands you will be placing on it during exercise.

Stretching should follow the warm-up period. You can injure yourself if you try stretching cold muscles. By limbering up your muscles, you make them more flexible and adaptable to the strain of exercise so you will be less likely to pull muscles. And, if you have a history of previous injury to certain muscles or joints, warming up and stretching these areas is important in order to prevent repeat injury.

Start Slowly and Pace Yourself. Trying to go from couch potato to marathon runner overnight is a prescription for problems. It’s important to work your way up gradually to higher levels of intensity, frequency and duration.

Safety Tips for Your WorkoutBy Anne Lampton, Wellness Coordinator

Strained muscles, torn ligaments, and sprained ankles, shoulders, knees, wrists and backs are common injuries that result from trying to do too much, too soon.

Allow your body to rest and repair. Working out is important, but so is rest. Tired muscles can be an invitation to injury. One day on and one day off is a good rule of thumb. Resting sore muscles can be the best way to keep a small injury from becoming a larger one. And always remember to listen to your body. Don’t push through pain. The “no pain, no gain” motto is dangerous. Real discomfort is a signal that something is wrong or that you are asking more from a part of your body than it can provide at the moment.

Cool Down. After exercising it is essential to have a cool down period where you gradually decrease the intensity of your movements. Do not skip this step. Without a cool-down of at least 10 minutes, blood stays in the worked muscles without returning to the heart, which may cause you to become dizzy, nauseated, or even pass out. Cooling down also promotes removal of lactic acid to help decrease muscular soreness.

The cool-down should end with slow and gentle stretches. Never bounce during a stretch or force a joint beyond its normal range of motion. If you

feel any discomfort, you’re pushing the stretch too hard.

After a workout, be sure your heart rate has returned to normal before stepping into a hot shower in order to reduce the stress on your heart.

Follow these precautions to keep your fitness plans from being disrupted by injuries. Preventing an injury is always easier, cheaper and less painful than trying to recover from one!

Cynthia Purvis, Accounts Payable Clerk for PMC did the Wellness Breakfast Challenge, then her completed form was entered into the contest and she won a $100 Gift Certificate to a Sporting Goods Retailer. Now that’s the Breakfast of Champions!

Eat Healthy Breakfast Challenge Champion!

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Puckett Machinery Company’s Medical Plans are administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi (BCBS). We are extremely fortunate to have outstanding hospital and physician participation in BCBS’s Network Provider Program.

BCBS has a wonderful tool to use if you are ever in need of finding a participating Network Hospital, Network Physician or other Network Services. Simply go to their website at www.bcbsms.com and click on “Find a Network Provider” on the left side of the home page. You will then be taken to a page titled “Find a Provider”. There are several options to choose from at this point. You can search for Network Physicians, Network Hospitals, Network Pharmacy’s, Healthy You Network Providers, Be Smoke Free Network Providers, Network Providers Outside of Mississippi and Other Network Providers (ex. Surgical Centers, Physical Therapists, Mental Health, etc.).

To find a Network Physician you should click on “Network Physician” on the left side of the Find a Provider page. You should then use the following guide to choose the options that will customize the search to suit your needs.

Step 1Select the type of Physician you would like to see. This

search tool will help you identify and locate a certain type of physician (ex. Cardiologist), in your area.

Step 2Enter a Physician’s last name. This search tool is good

to use if you know the name of the Physician and/or you have been referred to a Physician, but you are not sure if they are a Network Provider.

Step 3Enter any of the Location search tools; City, County or

Zip Code/Maximum Distance. If you select City your search will only list Physicians in the city you enter. If you select County your search will only list Physicians in the county you enter. If you select Zip Code/Maximum Distance you would enter your zip code and the maximum distance outside of your zip code that you would like to search for a Physician.

Once you have decided on the search tool and have entered the information, click on the “Search” button. A list of Physicians meeting you search request will be listed. This list will include The Physician’s name, address and phone number. This is a great search tool to use. However, keep in mind that because networks can change daily, you need to check with your provider before you receive services to make sure your provider is a part of your network.

How to Find a Blue Cross Blue Shield of MS ProviderBy Barry Dubuisson, HR Benefits Manager

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Mark Denton is one of our veteran drivers with 13 years with PMC; his motto is R-E-S-P-E-C-T the ROAD! His son, Kent is in medical school at the University of Arkansas, and he is raising his daughters, Victoria (17) and Lilah (12). Their favorite activity together as a family is water skiing.

Mark loves driving because he enjoys PMC’s customers, experiencing new things in the field and being at a variety of places throughout the day. When something happens in the middle of nowhere, “we have to think and act on our own most of the time.” He values his career at PMC because “we are fair and considerate of family members.”

“Safety is an act I have to practice every day,” states Mark. “There is no easy way to stop 140,000 pounds! We are wider, taller and overweight which makes our job a challenge.”

Jason Winstead is our big “Teddy Bear.” He is from Florence and lights up when talking about his sons, Brody (2) and Easton (4 months). In his spare time Jason has served as a youth baseball coach and volunteer firefighter.

Recently we received a thank you note from a citizen concerning Jason. After work hours while attending the Dixie National Rodeo, Jason helped a lady who was stuck in the parking lot during a storm. She learned he worked for PMC and sent him a note of praise in our care.

Jason has a degree in HVAC from Hinds. Before coming to PMC two and one-half years ago, Jason was an OTR driver and hauler; hauling such loads as “windmills to Rockport, MO - a town powered solely by wind power.” He likes his career as a driver because “the scenery changes every day.”

In driving for PMC, Jason reports that safety is the # 1 issue. As his Dad taught him, “my head is always on the swivel, scanning for possible problems from every angle on the road.”

I caught up with our newest driver, Richard Shavers out of Gulfport as he was packing up his family for a vacation to Gatlinburg. They plan to do some hiking in the mountains during spring break. He has a stepdaughter, Kelsey (21) and a daughter, Katie (14) who is on the Honor Roll this year and plays center on the basketball team. They live in Saucier where Richard grew up also.

Richard enjoys his career at PMC because “everyone gets along and you have some independence on the road.” For Richard, Safety as a driver means, “you are on your toes at all times and you had better double check everything before pulling out on the road.”

Spotlight on PMC DriversBy Michele C. Bunch, Director of Human Resources

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Here at Puckett Machinery, the main objective of the Transportation Department is to operate safely, remain in compliance with all DOT Laws and Regulations, and provide excellent transportation services to ensure customer satisfaction. There are a lot of factors and decisions that go into the daily operations of our transportation department to accomplish this objective.

On January 1, 2000, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration started a program called, “Compliance Safety Accountability,” referred to as CSA. This is a comprehensive program, administered by the FMCSA, under authority of the U.S. Department of Transportation, to improve commercial truck and bus safety by reducing crashes, injuries, and fatalities related to commercial motor vehicles.

Every driver is expected to maintain a valid Commercial Driver’s License and all required endorsements, a current and valid medical examiner’s certificate that validates their health and fitness to safely operate a commercial motor vehicle, and a daily log that records their duty status and hours of service. Each driver must have in his possession, all vehicle licenses and permits required by state and federal law, a valid certificate of insurance, a bill of lading that describes the cargo, the point of origin and the final destination, the customer’s name and contact information.

Every commercial vehicle is expected to be thoroughly maintained to ensure that it is safe to operate on all roads, highways, and interstates. Every day that a vehicle is used, the driver must perform and record a thorough walk-around inspection and note any discrepancies that may cause equipment failure and hinder its safe operation. A thorough walk-around inspection includes checking fluid levels, belts, hoses, tires, brakes, lights, signals, suspension to list a few of the items that are checked by the driver before, during and after operation of the CMV. If any hazards are noticed the CMV is placed into an out-of-service status until the proper repairs can be made.

Each driver is personally responsible for ensuring that the cargo is properly secured to avoid movement during transport that may result in the loss of the load that could result in a fatal or tragic accident. The driver is also responsible for obtaining the proper permits and routing if the load exceeds the weight or width limits.

If any of the items mentioned above are found lacking or have errors, a citation is issued. Every violation is measured according to the severity and time since the last citation. Carriers, shippers, and drivers are held equally accountable for all violations. They are given points for each violation that is then recorded into a federal data bank. If points are accumulated, the Department of Transportation will initiate an investigation and place the violators in a probationary status, or may even suspend or revoke their privilege to participate in interstate commerce.

Mark Denton, Eddie Stokes, Jason Winstead, and Richard Shavers, are highly trained professionals in the heavy haul industry and their professionalism is validated in the fact that over the last year each of them have undergone both scheduled and random roadside DOT inspections of their vehicles and paperwork and we are proud to report that all of the drivers and vehicles passed every inspection with no violations.

It is our intent to maintain this level of excellence and professionalism at all times and to improve efficiency. We care deeply about every driver and pedestrian arriving at their final destination safely and on time. Be sure to shake each drivers hand and thank them for their commitment to Puckett Machinery, as well as the safety of the traveling public. Just think, it could be your family in the vehicle next to one of these trucks on the road.

Eddie Stokes is better known as “Steady Eddie” at PMC. He is also a veteran driver employed at PMC since 2000. Eddie beams when he speaks of his career because “I like the freedom of the open road.” For Eddie, driving is like an adventure – you never experience the same day twice and he has been places in MS where few have travelled. He also enjoys the customer interaction because “none of our customers are alike.”

Eddie was raised in Lake, MS and farmed before becoming a driver. He contemplates retirement in the Delta growing rice, corn and soy beans, but may have difficulty talking his new wife into this dream! Eddie has one adult son, expecting his first grandchild and a daughter studying at Holmes Community College.

Safety means “living another day,” to Eddie. “They call me slow, but I treat every driving and loading and strapping situation as if it may affect my own family.”

Words of WisdomFrom Ricky McCraw, PMC Transportation Manager

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Announcement:Puckett Machinery Company Introduces a Company-Wide Employee Opinion Survey in AprilBy Michele C. Bunch, Director of Human Resources

An important facet of PMC’s Strategic Plan 2015: Best Team is to strive for and build an engaged team of high-performing employees who contribute daily to our company’s success.

What does the “engaged” employee really mean? According to JJ Keller and Associates* (a corporate safety resource) when an employee feels valued at work he or she is more likely to experience better physical and mental health, higher levels of engagement, satisfaction and motivation. When employees feel engaged and valued they sense a direct relationship between their performance and the company’s successes. Current research confirms that companies who foster their employees’ high level of engagement outperform their competitors.

What is the first step toward instilling a culture of engagement and our employees having a world class experience at Puckett Machinery Company? Ask for your input of course – including your opinions, concerns, compliments and constructive criticisms. In February, Hastings Puckett made the decision to partner with CAT Employee Opinion Survey (EOS) Integrated Solutions.

In Hastings words, “I can’t stress to you enough how valuable and helpful getting honest feedback is from employees. The feedback helps confirm those areas we think we’re doing well and identify those areas that need attention.”

Between April 23rd and May 11th every employee will be asked to complete an online Employee Opinion Survey. The 59-question survey will take about fifteen minutes and you can complete it at your new branch computer kiosk. You will not identify who you are on the survey meaning your answers will be confidential. CAT EOS will compile the results and present them to your managers in July.

Does the process stop with gathering your input? No, absolutely not! It begins with the survey. CAT EOS will guide PMC and its leaders in a year-long process to enhance our strengths and fix our deficits revealed in the survey results. And your leaders will be accountable for the changes indicated. Every year in the spring, we will repeat the survey and learn from your opinions and the trends which result.

This represents a new era at PMC. We look forward to your guidance in this engagement initiative as we build a world-class team!

* Thanks to Ricky McCraw, PMC Transportation Manager for forwarding the JJ Keller article

Spec Shop Techs: Justin Starnes, Steven Wells, Jeff Young, and Tommy Wilmoth

Power Systems Jackson: Brad Smith, Mike Rials, and Lamar Puryear

Jennifer Keys, Account Analyst at PMC

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Targeted Selling Campaign, a Sell Out!By Billy Holliday, Puckett Rents Operations Manager

Thomas A. Edison once said “Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work”, and he was so right. However, that wasn’t the case with the sales contest winners at Puckett Rents the last couple of months! Not only did this team work hard, but more importantly they worked smart and made this strategic sales campaign a huge success.

We can’t forget to recognize the supporting inside sales teams and Johnathan Yowell, Product Manager in Jackson, for their efforts with making these campaigns such a success.

In January the focus was on DRILTEC which is a complete line of masonry and carbide concrete drill bits. This was a huge success and to put it in perspective, in the month of January, Puckett Rents sold 60% of what was sold the entire year of 2011—and 2011 was up from 2010.

Here’s what Walter Knepper, President and CEO of DRILTEC had to say about this success: “Congratulations to Puckett Rents for a huge success in January with the targeted selling campaign! We recognize that you have consistently produced great results. Such performance does not go unnoticed. DRILTEC is fortunate to have Puckett Rents and its talented team as a distributor. Together we can accomplish great things. Keep up the good work!”

Winners of the DRILTEC Sales ContestWinning Store: Richland/Madison

1st PlaceAllen Alsuwaidi

2nd PlaceSteve Waddell

3rd PlaceMichael Lindsay

In February the focus was on power tools. Puckett Rents is a distributor of all top quality brands such as Makita, DeWALT, Hitachi, Milwaukee, and Bosch. This campaign was also very successful. In the month of February, Puckett Rents sold 57% of what was sold in power tools during the entire year of 2011—and 2011 was an average year.

Winners of the Power Tools Sales ContestWinning Store: Hattiesburg

1st Place - Clay Speights (pictured above)2nd Place - Allen Alsuwaidi3rd Place - Michael Lindsay

Building Employee Engagement

PMCJ Main Shop Foreman, Steve Kosharek

PMCJ Techs: Josh Murray and Mike Vick

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Michael Shelby, Son of Ron Shelby, Parts Manager at PMCJ is Our HERO!By Carey Miller, Health and Research News Service, MS Methodist Rehab Center

Michael Shelby of Mendenhall is assisted by his physical therapist Ann Howard on Methodist Rehab’s weight-supporting treadmill system in this photo from 3/2011.

Michael Shelby of Mendenhall made a promise to his caregivers when he came to Methodist Rehabilitation Center after suffering a broken neck on Feb. 9, 2011.

“I was told after I got out of surgery that I would never ever walk again—I would never move again, probably,” Shelby said. But he came to Methodist intent to “prove everybody wrong.” “I said I’m going to do something you’ve never seen before,” he said. “I told them I was going to walk out of there.”

And despite his initial diagnosis, the now 17-year-old high school senior made good on his promise with a miraculous recovery after a month-long stay at Methodist Rehab.

“Sure enough, the day I got discharged—it was hard and my walking wasn’t good—but I got to walk out of there,” Shelby said.

Now Shelby wants to give back to the center by participating in the Walk & Roll for Research, a fundraiser event to be hosted by MRC’s Wilson Research Foundation on March 31. “This will be our third annual Walk & Roll, and we expect a great turnout,” said Chris Blount, director of the foundation.

Center to be a part of this event,” Blount said. The event is for walkers and rollers (those in wheelchairs) and will be held at the center’s east campus in Flowood off Layfair Drive, utilizing the Mirror Lake paved walking trail.

“Proceeds will benefit our wonderful research program that has published more than 200 peer-reviewed studies and helped countless patients overcome a disabling illness or injury,” Blount said.The Walk & Roll, Blount explained, “celebrates abilities recovered by past and present Methodist Rehab patients.”

And though he’s just one of Methodist’s success stories, Shelby’s incredible recovery is certainly worthy of celebration. “I am considered now to be back at about 90 percent,” Shelby said. “When I went up to Methodist over spring break I talked to Dr. Dobrivoje Stokic (MRC’s administrative director for research), and he was like, in all the years he’s been working he’s never seen anybody recover the way that I have.”

Shelby will not only walk in the event to raise pledge money to help the foundation reach its goal of $50,000, but he’s also dedicated his senior project at Mendenhall High School to it.

“When I found out I had to do a senior project, I knew I wanted to do it on physical therapy,” Shelby said. “And I knew it had to be with Methodist, because I had a great experience there. I know a lot of the people, I know how they work, and it’s a great facility.”

Shelby asked his physical therapist Ann Howard to serve as his mentor for the project. “I was talking to Ann about needing a tangible product for my project to raise money,”

Shelby said. “She told me about the Walk & Roll. I thought that would be a lot cooler, to be able to participate and help out.”

Participants can support the Walk & Roll in one of two ways, by either sponsoring a fundraiser with a secure, tax-deductible gift, or by becoming a fundraiser and seeking sponsorships.

“Registration is easy at www.wilsonfoundation.org, and we encourage everyone who has ever been touched by Methodist Rehab