Transcription of LifeFlight #142
Dr. Lisa: This is Dr. Lisa Belisle, and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast show #142 “LifeFlight.” Airing for the first time on Sunday, June 1st, 2014. As the wellness editor for Maine Magazine it is my great pleasure to interact with many talented committed individuals who are impacting the lives of people in our state. Today we speak with people who deal with life and death on a daily basis.
The subjects of our June Wellness column our guests include LifeFlight medical director, Norm Dinerman, executive director Tom Judge, nurse Missy McCann, and paramedic Frank McClellan. They are joined by K.C. Ford whose life was saved after her plane crashed off of Matinicus. We know you’ll be inspired by the story. Thank you for joining us.
I was fortunate recently to spend time with the men and women of LifeFlight out of their Lewiston LifeFlight office and base. Today I’m extremely fortunate to have Tom Judge and Dr. Norm Dinerman joining me. Tom Judge is the executive director of LifeFlight, and Dr. Dinerman is the medical director of LifeFlight. LifeFlight is known as means flying hospital, and has made itself available for more than 16,000 patients since 1998.
It’s with great gratitude that I have you in here today, because I know that what you do is important, and I know that your time is valuable. Thank you for being here.
Dr. Lisa: I think that I might have told each of you, that I spent a short period of time on a volunteer ambulance service in Yarmouth before I went to medical school. It was amazing to me how dedicated people were, how many years, or decades people would spend in the volunteer realm. One of the things that I was struck by and talking with each of you is how much respect you have for really everybody, within the emergency medical field, and the transport field, and the critical care field.
Tom: It is, I think we hold up this promise and people take it for granted. You call 911 and someone will show up. Really, if you think about this, this is the greatest social promise in the History of human kind and it’s really a simple but profound, if you call us, we will come. Well then think about that, 260,000 times a year, once every 90 seconds or so, some 911 dispatcher is picking up a call, for a medical emergency, somewhere in Maine.
It’s the front end, we have these great Tertiary Hospitals, Portland, Lewiston, and Bangor. We have community hospitals bring out through across the state. In the uncertain moment, when something bad happens at home, if you’re in St. Agath if you’re in Jackman, we should be trying to do everything we can and though the EMS system we do to make sure that Maine street and Jackman is Maine street in Lewiston, is state straight in Bangor, is congress straight in Portland.
Trying to bridge that, and that’s the EMS system, and there’s just … There literally 5,000 people that drop what they’re doing, to take care of Maine and I have been in volunteer in rescue for 35 years, and little quiet now, it’s an important, it’s part of the glue of our community.
Dr. Dinerman: We consider LifeFlight part of the one thread in the tapestry of health care in the state of Maine. One of our motto, as one of our perspectives is simply that everybody needs to be sophisticated. We are really imbued with this issue of layering our skills on those … Of those before us and those that come behind us. It’s imperative that we’re one component of the tapestry. We’re really into continuity of care, and linkage of providers, integration of assets, alignment of management plans, and we are …
If those before us don’t do what they’re supposed to do, we’re not going to have much of a chance, and by extrapolation the patient won’t either.
Dr. Lisa: Both of you are very dedicated to the state of Maine, but you’re not … But you’re Mainers by choice, let’s just say. In fact you Dr. Dinerman you’re a New Yorker.
Dr. Dinerman: I am, a recovering Manhattan actually, and Maine has a … I guess it’s a platform for creativity here, there is a venue here, an acceptance here for new ideas. There’s a cultural imperative here, it’s pragmatic, it’s passionate, it’s purposeful, it’s principle, it’s productive. Those are themes that are part of a cultural fabric of Maine. It’s a wonderful place in which you try and be creative and to bring whatever creativity I have, and we all have to this venue and make it work.
Dr. Lisa: Before you, after you left New York, but before you came to Maine, you were actually part of what has been termed of the Knife and Gun club. You’ve been to a very exciting place, doing very exciting medicine.
Dr. Dinerman: Well it was … Yes, I was privilege to work with Dr. Peter Rosen, at Denver … Was then Denver General Hospital now called Denver Health. Was able to run the 911 system for Denver, and do their disaster preparedness and was the associate director in the emergency department in Denver, at Denver General. It was really a very interesting venue, certainly extremely intense and captured if you will the intimacy of the urban New Year.
That’s one things that Emergency Department do. It’s really a social biopsy of the community if you will. Denver was very excited.
Dr. Lisa: You came by your interest in LifeFlight, and public health, and emergency medicine and transport Tom. There are very interesting in circuitous route, you’ve been a musician, you have been a Montessori school teacher, you’ve been a fellow and I believe public policy across the ocean, you’ve owned your own company, I mean you’ve been everywhere, and this has brought you here doing this.
Tom: Well it’s funny how so well. I came to Maine with what I owned on my back, hitchhike into the state for a summer job, was going to be here for summer, and actually was here for the summer, and then I went back to school, then was somewhere else and got a thing saying will you come back and work this next summer, it sort of … People they brought me back. It is not something I sort of ever planned on.
I got involved in the local volunteer rescue in St. George been there, this is our 65th year, 60th year of service to the community of St. George, remarkable people. Sort of one thing led to the other. Because it’s like why this isn’t work right, and I own a construction company, and we’re trying to get insurance for our employees and we’re having a really hard time, we’re like, we want to buy insurance for our employees and we can’t buy the insurance, so what’s wrong.
I got on the hospital board at Pen Bay, and it was like I just needed to understand more about trying to … How do we get a better system because I think that as Norm has said, the individuals make a difference, and individuals must make a difference every day, we have to go and do our jobs to make a difference. Ultimately, it’s the individuals working together, and the big picture that’s the health care system.
There’s little bit of this, I had gone off to Ireland and spent a year in Ireland, and was teaching for the National Ambulance Training School, then was back here, and literally over dinner one night with one of a close mentor, and of our customers of the building company and he just said, “We love you as a builder, but the world can’t afford for you to build any more houses.” I want you to do this, and ended up in the UK.
By that time, it was already kind of leading the ambulance system in Bangor and had started working with Norm, and Eric Steele, and went across and spent a year in the design of the system in the UK for emergency services, and had come back and they’re were like, “We need LifeFlight built, so build it.” I was like “Okay, this would be another adventure.” Has been luckily just with an extraordinary group of people, it’s been a great adventure.
Dr. Lisa: Here on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast, we’ve longed recognized the link between health and wealth. Here to speak more in the topic, is Tom Shepard of Shepard Financial.
Tom S: I remember my first payroll job as a dishwasher. Punch the clock, scrape and wash the dishes, it was mindless work. By doing the work, I realize that this was not what I wanted to do in my life. I remember the most physically taxing job I had as an operator of a jackhammer on a bridge construction crew one summer between my first and second senior years of college. I love the tan, the money, and the muscles I got that summer.
By doing the work, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. I remember the effort required to teach kids about the real applications of math, and money out on academy in the mountains of Western Maine. Even the kids knew that there was more I wanted to do with my life. I know that I wouldn’t be where I am, if it weren’t for all of my experiences in life. They are not highs and lows, they are the foundation on which we continue to build.
Today I do the dishes, cut the grass, paint the house, make the popcorn, shop at the deli, drink the beer, and invest the money. These things I do because I accept that hard work is part of life, and knowing that to be the case, we just get on with it, we can come back and enjoy our free time with family and friends. Money makes a lot of this possible, to learn more, like us on Facebook, or go to www.shepardfinancialmaine.com. We want to help you evolve with your money.
Male: Securities offered through LPL Financial, member of FINRA SIPC. Investment advice offered through Flagship Harbor Advisors. A registered investment advisor. Flagship Harbor Advisors and Shepard Financial are separate entities from LPL Financial. The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is brought to you by Dream Kitchen Studio by Matthew Brothers. Whether your style is contemporary, traditional or eclectic.
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Dr. Lisa: In conversations that I had with patients who had been helped by LifeFlight one of the things that came up was the way that the members of LifeFlight, the paramedics, the pilots, the nurses, dealt with family members. It wasn’t just about the patient, it was about the patient as a member of their family, as a member of the greater fabric. This was very impressive, and very important.
Male: I think it’s health care providers that with the pressure, the economic pressures on health care and through put, and we boom, boom, boom. I was just at a meeting, and it’s all about Toyota production strategies, and yes we have to be incredibly economically efficient. The end of the day, this is always about people, and try to have this be kind of … We have all this policies and if I stretched out, and get narrow down to three.
Right stolen from the US Army, every day when you come to work be all you can be. Second treat every patient as if they were your mother. The most person in your life, and if that’s not good enough, as if they were my mother, because that makes big deal to me. Third when all is feel free to think, always an option and it won’t always be graceful, but you’ll get to the right place, I think it’s incredibly important for our people that this isn’t … That when disease strikes somebody, it strikes an individual.
The family lives through it and I think over the years, to go back and get letters from patients or the pictures of here this two kids. These kids wouldn’t be here, if I haven’t treated by LifeFlight, here’s a picture, all of this, is always as about the entire if we’re going to have the threads of a community, and I was … They’re certainly in all the news, it was a horrible car accident and poor Clyde last summer.
I was kind of the second arriving paramedic on the volunteer rescue, that accident just totally disrupted our entire community, and you had tragedy, you have a little boy dead, you have people critically injured, and it just ripped at our community and our job is to isn’t that we’re just taking care of this patient, or taking care of this family, or taking care of this community.
Dr. Lisa: Been a doctor for a little while now, I don’t want to say how many years, in case you’re sensitive to your age.
Male: Not at all, I’m actually 67 and graduated for medical school in 1972.
Dr. Lisa: All right so you and my dad are roughly the same age. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of changes, how have you been able to maintain a positive perspective about medicine, and also really understand and practice on a daily basis the types of medicine that enables you to have ongoing good quality relationships with patients, and other members of the medical and health care team.
Male: It’s a great question, I think that the goal for any individual it’s yourself as a physician is to maintain a certain equipoise and to have and develop an emotional intellectual behavioral ethical gyroscope. Despite the buffeting and the vicissitudes of life that you can kind of chart a course forward that is meaningful. I think one of the ways I think to maintain that professional viability if you will is to maintain allegiance to those core principles in terms of intimacy and respect and dignity.
I think on a another basis, if you can do meaningful work, keep things eclectic, place yourself in proximity to role models, to emulate and capture an element of a childhood fantasy on a daily basis. You tap into this geothermal well spring of emotional energy that we all have within us in that brings from a child. Basically reflects curiosity about the human condition and the desire to if you will make things better, and have affection for your fellow human beings.
I think that what keeps us going, and propels us forward. I think if that curiosity goes away or the affection, the gift of affection has been written about previously as one of the distinguishing features of physicians but not solo for them, or not alone with them. If that gift of affection goes away, and the curiosity goes away then I won’t be able to practice anymore, I think that’s intrinsic to giving me the energy to move forward.
Dr. Lisa: The reason I brought up my father is because he graduated from medical school a year before you did, he’s been in family medicine for the same number of years that you’ve been practicing and I see the same thing from him, you know his ongoing dedication and the same thing that you’ve described as sort of understanding the importance of the relationship. What struck most about what you just said was the thing about finding this childhood passion, and you use to go out and you use to watch the ambulances go by, when you were in New York, you use to go out and watch the helicopters and the airplanes overhead.
Dr. Dinerman: I’m afraid much to this agreeing with my parents, I wind up going out to LaGuardia with a little bag of lunch probably when I was 9 or 10 years of age, and just watching airplanes. I think for myself, not uniquely, but I think for myself the kinetics of movement of motion, both physically and intellectually have always been very captivating to me. I think that what we found in Maine is again a crucible for this creativity.
Buoy bay is a resources that we can draw up on to enable creativity to thrive and to create something that is meaningful, that sustains us professionally speaking.
Tom: Then when my wife needs to buy a new car, I just send her to Norm, who’s a ultimately gear head and can differ the last 14 years of consumer reports, and the quality of cars to do things, it’s like these other little pieces. He was a musician as well, he was a drummer in a rock band.
Dr. Lisa: Somehow I’m not surprise by that, I could totally see the two of you as musicians and doing your things. I appreciate you’re coming in and talking to us today, talking to me for the LifeFlight piece which will be in the June Maine magazine. People can look up LifeFlight on the web, Tom the website for LifeFlight is …
Tom: www.LifeFlightmaine.org, one word LifeFlightmaine.org.
Dr. Lisa: Really thinking about is, as listeners who are kind of contemplating our conversation, it may not be that you may not think that you are ever going to need Lifelight, but who really knows. It’s kind of good to look into what you don’t need right now.
Tom: The entire 911 system, whoever … No one gets up in the morning, planning to have a heart attack. This is we really need to remember this. This is an incredible promise that is carried on the shoulders of many people that people don’t know. I mean we did it back when we were in the regulatory board together in Maine Mass many years ago. We did a Chris [Pat Holme 00:24:23] did a study for the state.
About what people knew the MS system, and I think it’s still the same today, they basically have no idea who the people are, they have no idea who they … Where they come from, they have no idea how they get paid, but they do know that they can trust them, and they do know that they can let them into their lives and that’s … It’s every day, it’s … We have to … I remember their promise.
Dr. Lisa: I think it’s a promise that we could backup financially, as you’ve said there’s only so many dollars that were out there, what you do is very important work, I know it’s hard to say to people, we’re worthy of your donation, but if there ever was an organization in state of Maine that has touched so many people in so many different ways, it’s a worthy of that type of support, I think it’s probably LifeFlight.
Tom: Maine was the last state in the country to get in air medical system. We were in 1998, we were the only state in the country without an air medical system. In 2008, we were named the top program in all of North America. Lot of hard work by lots of people to get that. It is a charity, and the reason that it was … That we didn’t have a system was really because the economics of Maine how do you do this, and it was an incredible puzzle that a bunch of health care readers and physicians figured out how to start the puzzle.
Absolutely there’s all kinds of things that we do, that when we put an isolette, a specialized isolette on the aircraft that we could never make a cost case for that. When you isolette that we could never make a cost case for that. When you need it, you actually need that piece of medical equipment and similar to the aircraft. At the end of the day, yes we’re a charitable foundation supports making sure that this is here today, and tomorrow.
Dr. Lisa: I appreciate you both coming in today, and also appreciate the work that you do. Keep it up, keep up what you’re doing, keep whatever it is that keeps you so passionate about LifeFlight, you’ve been speaking with Tom Judge the executive director and Dr. Norm Dinerman the medical director of LifeFlight. Thanks for being with us today.
Dr. Dinerman: Thank you so much for the honor.
Dr. Lisa: As a physician and small business owner I rely on Marci Booth from Booth Maine to help me with my own business and to help me live my own life fully. Here are a few thoughts from Marci.
Marci: When asked, most of my clients say the same thing about what keeps them up at night, money. Making certain cash flow is there to meet day to day operational needs. “Oh my gosh, is payroll going to be able to make it.” When we dig deeper we understand that those sleepless nights are symptoms of poor planning and forecasting. More often the not, the reasons for not doing it, are lack of time, and a lack of resources.
Here’s a suggestion, instead of living in fear of the numbers and losing sleep over them, make peace with them, by paying closer attention to the financial and creating positive cash flow. I’m Marci Booth, let’s talk about the changes you need, boothmaine.com.
Male: This segment of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour is brought to you by the following generous sponsors: Mike LePage and Beth Franklin of RE/MAX Heritage in Yarmouth, Maine. Honesty and integrity can take you home. With RE/MAX Heritage, it’s your move. Learn more at rheritage.com.
The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is brought to you by Bangor Savings Bank. For over 150 years Bangor Savings has believed in the innate ability of the people of Maine to achieve their goals and dreams. Whether it’s personal finance, business banking, or wealth management assistance you’re looking for, at Bangor Savings Bank you matter more. For more information visit www.bangor.com.
Dr. Lisa: It’s rare that a group of guest at our Maine Magazine studio creates quite the buzz that this group of guest, has created here today. We have the LifeFlight crew based out of Bangor, or at least a few members of the LifeFlight crew based out of Bangor with us. In addition to patient who actually was basically taken from a jaws of death, by this LifeFlight crew. Of course they’re all dressed up, and very embarrassed that I’m talking about them this way.
We have with us Missy McCann, and nurse for LifeFlight McClellan paramedic for LifeFlight, and K.C. Ford who is a patient who survived plane crash injuries because of LifeFlight. Thanks so much for coming in and talking to us today.
Missy: Thank you for having us.
Dr. Lisa: You are an impressive group of individuals. I mean, I can’t say it enough. I’ve spent time, I’ve talked with a lot of people, around the state of Maine. We’re doing great things in the health care field. I can’t even describe how strongly I feel about the work that you’re doing. Because it’s hard work, it’s scary at times, it’s … That goes above and beyond what we ask of many nurses and paramedics, doctors even. It requires some guts, and it requires a lot of compassion, I think that, that was what I heard when I was talking to K.C. about her plane crash above Matinicus. Let me start with you K.C.. Tell us about your story.
K.C.: Well. I had been visiting some friends on Matinicus in the July of 2011. We took the ferry out. Took the plane back. Shortly after take-off the plane lost power and crashed into the ocean. I think what makes my story incredible is that all four people survived which makes it a very good story. We were in the water about an hour before the amazing people of Matinicus came to our rescue with lobster boats.
Then they took us back to the island where we were then flung back to the mainland. We were then taken by ambulance to hospital in Rockport. Then from there the decision was made that I needed to be LifeFlighted. LifeFlight came and they were there. They made very important decisions regarding my care. Yeah. I have … I don’t have a lot of memories.
After being plucked out of the water but I do remember. I do remember LifeFlight and I remember feeling okay. Okay, I’m going to be okay. Then coincidentally at the same time, flight paramedic Frank was taking care of my daughter Molly who had come to the hospital. Frank is legendary at my house for the kindness and just concern he showed my daughter Molly.
They took me. They took me to Lewiston where they found some life threatening injuries that if I had not been LifeFlighted, I would have died. It’s emotional being here. It’s I’m looking at my two superheroes right now, it’s incredible. I cannot say enough about LifeFlight. Amazing, amazing, amazing. People in the care is hard to describe.
Dr. Lisa: What you’re giving us, kind of the Reader’s Digest version. Matinicus is for people who were listening and don’t know it’s an island off the coast of Maine that you can’t get to easily and the plane that you got into was a single engine cessna. Which really only had room for how many?
K.C.: Five. There were four of us on the plane.
Dr. Lisa: The plane takes off and then it drops out of the sky?
K.C.: Right.
Dr. Lisa: When it drops out of the sky, the way that you survived for it sounds like an hour from what you told me is by hanging onto essentially wreckage.
K.C.: Right. We did. We were fortunate that … Well, the plane did sink but there was a piece of the plane that did not sink. Which was, which without it, I don’t think we would have been able to stay in the water that long. We were able to all cling to it. Then the lobster boats came and plucked us out of the water.
Dr. Lisa: On a Sunday, mind you?
K.C.: It was on a Sunday so they weren’t fishing.
Dr. Lisa: The fact that they were even there is nothing short of a miracle in itself.
K.C.: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. I think once they got word that the plane went down. They came, I think everyone on the island came. They’re amazing too. There’s so many people that day that came to our rescue. It’s pretty incredible.
Dr. Lisa: It’s even more of a horror story because the injuries that you had were truly life threatening. You actually had a torn aorta which is the body’s largest artery and responsible for bringing blood to most places in the body. When that gives this away, really bad things happen.
K.C.: Right.
Dr. Lisa: That’s why I’m not trying to … I say Reader’s Digest version I think because I just want people to understand just exactly how horrifying this whole experience was to be in the middle of it and how very close to dying you actually were.
K.C.: Absolutely. Right. Yes. Yes. I also had a fracture in my back as well. It’s amazing what the body can do in the face of yeah.
Dr. Lisa: Soul.
K.C.: Exactly. Yeah.
Dr. Lisa: Well, I can tell that Missy wants to jump in, which is great. I think it’s, this is the kind of thing Missy that you and Frank see all the time. That’s the amazing thing to me, that this is a story and it’s a really big story, it’s a really big story that you encounter day after day after day.
Missy: I think what we don’t encounter is the patients coming back after and hearing their story from their perspective. We always like to update, get updates on our patients. See how they’re doing after that most vulnerable time in their life, most traumatic time in their life, the sickest time in their life. We don’t always get that.
I think that for us working in the health care profession, you have to put up that wall to be able to do what we do and to be able to put enough compassion to know that you’re there to care for that patient but yet not put too much emotion involved in it because it can be very, it can be very tiring when you’re doing it day in, day out. I think to be able to hear from the patient from their perspective after, and to just that raw emotion.
I get emotional myself about it. It’s just really good to hear that perspective on things. We don’t get to do that. We don’t get that a lot. I think that is really important in this story too is everybody that came together wasn’t just LifeFlight. I know this is a story about LifeFlight but it was everybody that came together. Everybody that was on K.C.’s from the lobster boats to the ambulance service, to the LifeFlight, to the surgeons at the center, it was everybody. We’re just a piece of the story.
Dr. Lisa: Absolutely. Yes. There were …
Missy: I think that that’s important to recognize as well. That’s everything that I have … Every encounter I’ve had with LifeFlight and speaking with Dr. Norm Dinerman and talking with Tom Judge, it’s always very clear that it’s a one big puzzle and everybody is just a piece in the puzzle. Nobody is any better than anybody else, you’re all just trying to do very high quality work in a very compassionate way and work with everybody else.
Whether you’re working with the people at Pen Bay or whether you’re working with people, the surgeons at CMMC or you’re all working together. That’s how people survive …
Dr. Lisa: For the same common goal, for the patient.
Missy: Yes.
Dr. Lisa: To save this person’s life so that they can have their own life to go back to. The goal of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour is to help make connections between the health of the individual and the health of the community. The goal of Ted Carter inspired landscapes is to deepen our appreciation for the natural world. Here to speak with us today is Ted Carter.
Ted: I was in classic this past weekend set by the Canadian border and looking up at the vast sky, it’s so dark up there and you can actually see the Milky Way from spanning the entire night sky which is quite incredible. One of the things I do in the landscape is putting large flat stones sitting height, roughly 18, 20 inches above grade. They’re perfect for gazing up at the night sky. You lie in your back, maybe there’s a fire pit next to you.
You’re looking up and gazing at the night sky, the vastness, the incredible amount of space and stars. The night landscaping is particularly mysterious. I think that that’s one of the things that I love about a night landscape is the fact that it’s obscure in ways and it becomes visible and then obscure. It plays with shadows and light. There’s a whole art to putting that together. I love working with it. The clients love it as well.
I’m Ted Carter. If you’d like to contact me, I can be reached at tedcarterdesign.com.
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Dr. Lisa: It takes quite a lot to become a member of the LifeFlight team. I know that in order to even apply, you have to have a certain number of experience in a very high level critical care of emergency environment in addition to having qualification as a nurse or a paramedic. Then you go through rigorous training, then you go to training specific to working on the helicopter.
It’s broad based because you do many things. You work with infants, you work with stroke patients, you do intubations, you help patients to breathe and keep their hearts going. That’s a lot and to also be compassionate. How are you able to keep that balance?
Missy: Well, you have to … You have to keep that balance. You can’t lose that human element. You can’t … You’re just … You’re with somebody at their most vulnerable time in their life. If it means holding of their hand or a smile or taking a family member aside and telling them this is what we’re doing to your loved one and this is what’s going to happen, then that’s what that means.
If that means taking two minutes out of your time and talking to a family member, then that’s what that means. I don’t think that there’s one of us that work at LifeFlight that don’t carry that within. That’s not … I don’t know that that’s really a learned thing. I just think everybody just carries that based on what we do on the patients that we fly are the sickest.
I think that that’s really something that’s very important for us to be able to never forget. Sometimes you can do that in a health profession. I think that that’s a safety mechanism I person. I think in the healthy, some people just do that just as a safety mechanism so they kind of lose that human capacity. That’s fair enough. I don’t really see anybody in that I work with as my fellow co-workers in LifeFlight that have ever lost that human capacity myself.
I think that’s very important, don’t you, Frank?
Frank: I think across the board. It’s like a calling. There’s people down the street sitting in the station ready to walk out the door, if you have an emergency or if … No matter what it may be, it could be anything. A lot of those people it’s … That’s ingrained to them and that’s what they do and they’re good at it. As far as qualifications at LifeFlight, yes, there’s lot of stuff on paper that we need before we can even think about applying.
If Missy and I walk into the door to go to a patient whether it’s on a scene call or a facility, we have this shared well of experience that we bring in the door. That’s I think also something that LifeFlight looks at that’s important besides the certifications which there is a lot. There’s a lot of training. There’s a lot of upkeep too that certifications expire and you have to constantly keep them up.
Each of us, everybody has their own different jury that led them to where they’re at now as far as working on the helicopter. It’s all pretty interesting as far as where the experience is from. What they can pull from, in some areas, it’s critical care. It’s how many situations has this crew walked into in their past 15 to 20 years of being a medical provider that have had multiple patients or crashes.
How many patients with sepsis or having a stroke or that they walked into or babies. Okay, your three year old is hit by a car. Okay, here comes these two people. What are they going to, what’s he next step. They’re going come in, they’re going to draw from their experience. They’re going to look at things objectively as far as what’s the next step they’re going to keep the family involved and that they’re going to guide and direct what the next best step is for that person.
Missy is absolutely right. When … What it give to be there for someone when they’re helpless. The ability to do that is amazing.
Dr. Lisa: You have two different sites that you work out of Bangor and Lewiston. You fly to sites, you fly to hospitals all over the state. How has that changed your view of living in Maine yourselves, the ability to see Maine from so many different vantages points.
Missy: They say Maine is a small state. When it takes an aircraft an hour and 15 minutes to get from Bangor to Jackman or … I don’t think that that’s very small. When we cover from one end of the state of Maine to the other end of the state of Maine. I think Maine is much bigger than people, yes, it is a small state, given all these other states in the United States.
Maine is a big state, I think that we were a small state is the people. It’s the people that live in the state of Maine. It’s the friendliness of people in the state of Maine. I’ve heard people that come here in the state of Maine, they talk about how people in Maine are so friendly. Willing to help and I think that that’s just been ingrained and people that live in Maine.
I love what I do. I love the LifeFlight family. I love the patients that come back and thank us for what we can give them during one of the most trying vulnerable times in their life. That I kind of hang on to that sometimes during really stressful days when I say, oh my goodness this is my fourth flight. I’m tired. I’m exhausted. I’m hot. I just want to go home.
Then I grasp onto those things that say you know what, this is worth it, this is worth it because it’s what we can give back to families.
Frank: This is healing for us too.
Missy: It is.
Frank: It is. Because it’s not always easy.
Dr. Lisa: Well, one of the things that I’m thinking about as you’ve been talking is that in K.C.’s other life, she works as an … You work as admissions officer?
K.C.: Yes. I do.
Dr. Lisa: For Colby College.
K.C.: Right.
Dr. Lisa: You’re responsible for essentially assessing whether every success of your applicants is really going to be the right kind of caliber of individual for your school.
K.C.: Right.
Dr. Lisa: You have a chance to I guess even direct what types of people these kids become.
K.C.: In a sense. Yes.
Dr. Lisa: You’re looking at two people who have become pretty arguably, pretty high caliber individuals. Are you able to use your skills in the admissions office and look at sort of the vast group of applicants and say, you know what that person has something special about person or something special. Would you be able to say that person has something special enough to do what these guys are doing?
K.C.: I think it’s a little bit tricky to make that leap from a high school. A senior in high school, their college application. We do … We are fortunate at Colby to receive applications from some pretty incredible students who I think ultimately do have the ability, the skills to do what Missy and Frank do. I think as … I think about what Missy and Frank and their colleagues do at LifeFlight.
They’re pretty special people. They’re … It’s hard to tell from a senior in high school. As I think about Missy and Frank and not only their abilities in health care. They are … They are very kind people. That’s a combination that for me in my experience with them is extremely important. It would be great if I could look into my crystal admissions ball and say yeah this one’s going to graduate and be Frank McClellan or Missy McCann.
I think we do as I said it, we do get really talented students applying.
Missy: I think that in this capacity in this role. Life experience has played a huge role. What I say that I think I could do this out of high school and no, I went to college as a non-traditional student with a seven and eight year old, work weekends and went to school during the week. I wasn’t ready then, I didn’t have the maturity at 18 years of age to go to college.
I think that the life experiences kind of help bringing that along with you in this I think is important in the role of LifeFlight. I just … I think that experiences and your own life experience in your profession. You have to have that base to start with. I just feel that it’s very strong. You have to have that base. That’s why they require you to have the critical care experience before you even start working in the aircraft.
Then at six months of additional training on top of already being a paramedic.
Frank: Which is tough and not fun. It’s not nice.
Missy: No, it’s not fun.
Frank: There’s no punches pulled. That’s very critical.
Missy: It’s molding you to be a team member on that aircraft.
Frank: We get asked. I get asked a lot. EMT students. Hey, I’m interested in eventually someday going to LifeFlight. It’s tough to answer them. Never ever will I discourage them because I was an auto mechanic who started volunteering in a place? Thought wow, I can kind of interact with people pretty well at a crisis center. I still don’ttill this day, don’t know what make me start volunteering at this crisis center.
It was, well, I’m going to take an EMT basic course at a local community college that was in ’95 and so much has happened since then but here I am. I would never discourage a student from having that goal and vision. I think I started wanting to fly maybe about eight or nine years ago. Start flying about six years ago. It’s an achievable goal. If it’s worked for and the experience is there.
Missy: A lot of work but worth it.
Frank: I’m picturing my co-workers listening to this. Hearing K.C. going oh yeah, Frank’s special.
Dr. Lisa: Absolutely, everybody listen up.
Frank: There’s that level of humor around work. It’s always good.
Dr. Lisa: You spent 10 days in the intensive care unit. Once you got to Central Maine Medical Center. After you’d been stabilized, you had complications with your broken back. It took you four months before you returned to work at Colby?
K.C.: Yup.
Dr. Lisa: More than a year before you actually got better. This just … This whole LifeFlight experience was the beginning of what has been a really significant life journey for you.
K.C.: Absolutely.
Dr. Lisa: What are the lessons for you?
K.C.: They are many. It’s interesting that when, while this experience has stayed with me, it’s with me everyday. That being said, my life is normal. I work full-time, I do many things that I did before. Life is normal. It truly is with me pretty much every minute. In a sense, I feel … I feel almost lucky to have had this experience. Obviously because I have healed and I’m doing well.
It’s a gift to have this experience to realize all of the great gifts there are, just in a ordinary day. To be able to get up and put your feet on the floor and walk out your bedroom door and down the stairs is a gift. To look up at the sky and to walk my dogs and to look out over the ocean and just remember that I am truly one of the luckiest people there are.
It happened because of other people. So many people came together that day to help me, strangers that just came to me. It’s exceptionally humbling, I keep that with me all the time, the kindness of people is a huge takeaway for me. Now only LifeFlight but the care I received at CMMC was extraordinary. The kindness of people to my family, which in a situation like this the patient obviously has their own journey but the family has their amazing journey as well.
That’s where LifeFlight. We’ve been talking about that really stepped up the people at CMMC as well. It’s just … When I think about this whole experience and lessons learned. It’s the kindness of people that is just exceptionally humbling. To appreciate just the small things. Which are so important, your relationships with your friends and family ultimately I think are really the most important thing that you can nurture and cherish.
That’s what I tried hard to appreciate my people.
Dr. Lisa: I encourage our listeners to read the article about LifeFlight in the June issue of Maine Magazine. Also to spend time learning more about LifeFlight on the LifeFlight website. I really appreciate the time that each of you has taken out of your day to come and tell your story here on our show. I think it’s important and it really reminds me that life of course can change in an instant.
That others around you can have an impact on how that life changes. I appreciate what you’re doing for people in Maine. I appreciate your willingness to be with us.
K.C.: It’s my pleasure.
Dr. Lisa: Thank you.
Frank: The pleasure is ours.
Dr. Lisa: We’ve been speaking with Missy McCanny, nurse for LIfeFlight. Frank McClellan, paramedic for LifeFlight and K.C. Ford, former patient of LifeFlight and admissions officer at Colby College. Enjoy your lives guys.
Missy: We do.
K.C.: We will.
Dr. Lisa: Thank you very much. You’ve been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast show number 142, LifeFlight. Our guest have included Dr. Norm Dinerman, Tom Judge, Missy McCann, Frank McClellan and K.C. Ford. The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is downloadable for free on iTunes. For preview of each week show, sign up for our e-newsletter and like our Dr. Lisa Facebook page. Follow me on Twitter and on Instagram as bountiful one. We’d love to hear from you.
Please let us know what you think of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and also of our Wellness column in Maine Magazine. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them hear. We are privileged that they enable us to bring the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope you’ve enjoyed our LifeFlight show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day.
May you have a bountiful life.
Male: The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is made possible with the support of the following generous sponsors. Maine Magazine, Marci Booth of Booth Maine, Apothecary By Design, Premier Sports Health, a division of Black Bear Medical, Mike LePage and Beth Franklin of RE/MAX Heritage. Ted Carter, Inspired Landscapes, Tom Shepard of Shepard Financial, Dream Kitchen Studios, Harding Lee Smith of The Rooms, and Bangor Savings Bank.
The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is recorded in the studio of Maine Magazine at 75 Market Street Portland Maine. Our executive producers are Kevin Thomas, Susan Grisanti and Dr. Lisa Belisle. Our assistant producer is Leanne Ouimet. Audio production and original music by John C. McCain. Our online producer is Kelly Clinton. The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is available for download free on iTunes.