Riding with a Heart   Glen Sparks St. Louis Commerce Magazine    June 2004    She rides on the streets and through the countryside, listening to the engine roar and feeling the air smack her in the face. Being on a motorcycle relaxes her after a long, stressful day as president and CEO of a business that does about $13 million in sales every year. “It clears your head,” says Harley-Davidson aficionado and business person Rebecca Herwick, head of St. Peters-based Global Products Inc. “It’s not like being in a car and being inside a box.” Herwick likes being outside the box. Back in the early 1980s, the former chemist rode her Harley-Davidson to work every day at the Mallinckrodt Corp., and she admits, “I felt a bit ostracized. It might be different now, but back then, chemists just didn’t do that sort of thing.” Herwick, though, is accustomed to doing her own thing. So, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that she did so much to help her former business partner and close friend, Doug Watkins, after that terrible Friday evening on Aug. 25, 2000. Riding his motorcycle in the left lane on Interstate 370 in St. Charles County, Watkins crashed into the back of a tractor trailer. Witnesses said he held out his arms to brace himself against the collision. The impact sent him flying through the air before he hit the ground. Watkins broke every bone on the left side of his face, suffered brain damage and lapsed into a coma. Doctors didn’t think he could survive. Herwick watched it all, seeing her friend struggle to breathe in a sterile hospital room. Later that fall, she decided to offer him her home, and to help start him on the long road of rehabilitation. “I just didn’t think he was getting the type of care that he needed at the hospital in order to progress,” Herwick explains. She tube-fed Watkins and re-taught him rudimentary lessons, such as the letter “A” and the word “apple.” Watkins also needed to learn how to walk again, and in the summer of 2002, he needed a job. Herwick put him to work at Global Products. “That’s what inspired me into thinking that there is a place for head-injury victims at the work place, and that almost all head-injury patients do want to get back to work and do something productive,” Herwick says. By the time Watkins left Global Products last November, he could drive and do many other tasks that most people take for granted. “Working is how these people recover,” Herwick says. Now, Lenny and Dennis work for Global Products, which manufactures and distributes Harley-Davidson gifts, clothing and other custom products for more than 750 domestic and 350 international dealers. They are both recovering from head-injury accidents. (Herwick asked that the men’s last names be kept private.) While Dennis works in the receiving department, Lenny handles some of the company’s sorting and shredding chores. His co-workers remind him to clock in every day. At his desk, Lenny has a piece of paper that lists his work duties. Those duties do not change much. “Lenny doesn’t like a lot of change,” says Barb Johnson, Lenny’s supervisor. “You do need to remind him to do some things, but I was a former school bus driver. I have all the patience in the world.” Sitting at his desk on a recent afternoon, Lenny completed some of his sorting duties. He says that working at Global Products sure beats sitting around the house. “Oh, of course,” he says. “It’s good to be here. It’s fun.” After sorting through several piles of paper, Lenny began shredding. Shredding is not one of Lenny’s favorite chores, but he doesn’t complain. “Hey, it’s a job,” he says. “Everything’s good.” Global can thank the Center for Head Injury Services in St. Louis for referring Lenny and Dennis. The non-profit center offers programs for brain injury survivors and their families. Global brings in from one to 10 brain-injured workers every month for evaluation. The workers do a variety of tasks, including sorting, labeling, shredding and pulling orders. Just about every head-injury victim can do some sort of job, Herwick says. “You can see the progression, too,” she adds. “They get smarter every day.” Lenny and Dennis both work about 20 hours a week. 40-hour weeks might be too demanding for them, Hull says. “I think that their short-term memory has been so damaged, [and] that the job just takes so much concentration and is so intense, that they really start to wear down after awhile,” Hull says. In the next few years, Herwick hopes to hire more brain-injured workers. Business at Global, which she started in 1983, is picking up after a recent dip in sales. Originally, the company acted as a distribution center for motorcycle novelties. But in 1995 Global began manufacturing products for Harley-Davidson. Once near bankruptcy, the Milwaukee-based motorcycle maker now is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. Global Products has branch locations outside Toronto and Munch, Germany. Herwick plans on leasing business space in China starting this June. If she can, Herwick wants to ride her Harley-Davidson Superglide around China. “With Harley riders, there’s an automatic bond,” says Herwick, 45, who grew up riding mini-bikes as a little girl in southern Illinois. “It’s a unique, close-knit group.” She already has taken riding trips to Europe, Canada, the Dakotas and northern California. Herwick owns five Harley-Davidsons. Her passion for Harley-Davidson motorcycles matches her passion for helping the victims of head injuries. She serves on the board of the Center for Head Injury Services and encourages more companies to hire workers with severe head trauma. “For one thing, it’s cost effective, because it allows you to assign the more demanding tasks to other workers, rather than assigning them routine, repetitive jobs,” Herwick says. “Also, I think it gives every employee an appreciation of their job and the things that they can do that they take for granted.”

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