LifeFlight #142

Norm Dinerman:

We feel, we hope, that we are an expression of the culture of Maine and that spirit that brings Mainers together and that by dint of geography and culture, forges them into a certain unified purposefulness.

Tom Judge:

I think we hold out this promise and people take it for granted that you call 911 and someone will show up. And really, if you think about this, this is the greatest social promise in the history of humankind. And it's really a simple but profound if you call us, we will come.

Frank McClellan:

We've come so far in our journey, in this medical field, in this profession, that we make sure we add this human element that it's okay to be human and it's okay to be involved with family and treat them like as if we would want our family treated.

Missy McCann:

You're with somebody at their most vulnerable time in their life, and if it means holding of their hand or a smile, or taking a family member aside and telling them, you know, 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.

K.C. Ford:

Well, this experience has stayed with me. It's with me every day. It's a gift to have this experience, to realize all of the great gifts there are just in an ordinary day.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 142, Life Flight, airing for the first time on Sunday, June 1, 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 subject of our June wellness column. Our guests include Life flight medical director Dr. Norm Dinerman, executive director Tom Judge, nurse Missy McCann, and paramedic Frank McClellan. They are joined by Casey Ford, whose life was saved after her plane crashed off of Matinicus. We know you'll be inspired by this story. Thank you for joining us. I was fortunate recently to spend time with the men and women of Life Flight out of their Lewiston Life Flight 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 lifelite, and Dr. Norm Dinerman is the medical director of Lifelite. Lifelite is known as Maine's flying hospital and has made itself available for more than 16,000 patients since 1998. We're going to talk more about this, but I just. 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. So thank you for being here.

Tom Judge:

Thank you for having me. Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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. And I was very. It was amazing to me how dedicated people were, how many years, decades people would spend in the volunteer realm. And one of the things that I was struck by in 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. You were never in any conversation I had with either one of you in writing this, the article trying to make Life Flight any better than anybody else. You just said we're all part of the picture.

Tom Judge:

It is, I think we hold out this promise and people take it for granted that you call 911 and someone will show up. And really, if you think about this, this is the greatest social promise in the history of humankind. And it's really a simple but profound, if you call us, we will come. Well, then think about that. You know, 260,000 times a year. So once every 90 seconds or so, some 911 dispatcher is picking up a call for a medical emergency somewhere in Maine. And so it's the front end. And we have these great tertiary hospitals, Portland, Lewiston and Bangor. We have community hospitals spread out through. Across the state. But in the uncertain moment when something bad happens at home, if you're in St Agath, if you're in Jackman, you know, we should be trying to do Everything we can and through the EMS system, we do to make sure that Main street in Jackman is Main street in Lewiston, is State street in Bangor is Congress street in Portland. And so trying to bridge that. And that's the EMS system. And there's just literally 5,000 people that drop what they're doing to take care of Maine. And I've been a volunteer in Rescue for 35 years and a little quiet now, but it's an important. It's part of the glue of our community.

Norm Dinerman:

We consider life flight part of the one thread in the tapestry of health care in the state of Maine. One of our mottos, one of our perspectives is simply that everybody needs to be sophisticated. And we are really imbued with this issue of layering our skills on those of those before us and those that come behind us. And 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 Belisle:

Both of you are very dedicated to the state of Maine, but you're not. But your manor is by choice. Let's just say, in fact, you, Dr. Dinerman, you're a New Yorker.

Norm Dinerman:

I am. I'm recovering Manhattanite, actually. And Maine has a. I guess it's a platform for creativity here. There's a venue here, an acceptance here for new ideas, and there's a cultural imperative here. It's pragmatic, it's passionate, it's purposeful, it's principled, it's productive. And those are themes that are part of the cultural fabric of Maine. And so it's a wonderful place in which to try and be creative and to bring whatever creativity I have and we all have to this venue and make it work.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And before you, after you left New York, but before you came to Maine, you were actually part of what has been termed the Knife and Gun Club. So you've been to a very exciting place doing very exciting medicine.

Norm Dinerman:

Well, it was, yes, I was privileged to work with Dr. Peter Rosen at what was then Denver General Hospital, now called Denver Health, and 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. So it was really a very interesting venue, certainly extremely intense and captured, if you will, the intimacy of the urban milieu. That's one thing that emergency departments do. It's really a social biopsy of the community, if you will. So Denver was very exciting.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You came by your interest in lifelight and public health and emergency medicine and transport, Tom, through a very interesting and circuitous route. You've been a musician, you've been a Montessori school teacher, you've been a fellow in, 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 Judge:

Well, it's funny how so, Rhodes. So I came to Maine with what I owned on my back, you know, hitchhiked into the state for a summer job and, you know, was going to be here for summer and actually was here for the summer and then went back to school and, you know, then was somewhere else and, you know, got a thing saying, well, will you come back and work this next summer? And it sort of, you know, the people brought me back, you know, it's not something that 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. Some remarkable people. And sort of one thing led to the other because it's like, well, why doesn't this work, right? And, you know, I owned a construction company and we're trying to get insurance for our employees and we're having a really hard time. We, like, we want to buy insurance for our employees and we can't buy the insurance. So what's wrong? And so I got on the hospital board at Pen Bay and, you know, it's like, I just needed to understand more about trying to how do we get a better system? Because I think that, you know, as Norm has said, that the individuals, you know, make a difference, and individuals must make a difference. Every day we have to go and do our jobs to make a difference. But ultimately it's the individuals working together. And, you know, in the big picture, that's the healthcare system and there's little bits of this. So I had, you know, gone off to Ireland and spent a year in Ireland and was teaching for the National Ambulance Training School and then was back here and literally over dinner one night with one of the. A close mentor and one 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 and I want you to do this. And ended up in the uk. By that time I 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 then they were like well we need lifelight built, so build it. And was like, okay, this will be another adventure. So it's been luckily just with an extraordinary group of people, it's been a great adventure.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Here on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast, we've long recognized the link between health and wealth. Here to speak more on the topic is Tom Shepard of Shepherd Financial.

[Unidentified voice]:

I remember my first payroll job as a dishwasher. Punched the clock, scrape and wash the dishes. It was mindless work. By doing the work I realized that this was not what I wanted to do with 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 loved the tan, the money and the muscles I got that summer. But 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 at an academy in the mountains of western Maine. But 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 so that 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.shepherdfinancialmaine.com we want to help you evolve with your money.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

If you are a healthcare provider and listener of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast, we invite you to the second lecture in our Apothecary by Design lecture series to be held at 75 Market street here here in Portland. Our second lecture is with Dr. Kristin McKelvin, a Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast guest and expert in the field of Lyme disease. She will be holding a discussion of Lyme disease and her naturopathic medical view on the disease on May 28 at 5pm at her talk, Dr. McKelvin will review general tick borne illness information, including diagnosis and testing and treatment options using both conventional and complementary therapies. This is a great opportunity for practitioners to gather reputable resources for use in their clinical practice. Visit apothecarybydesign.com for more information. I hope to see you there. In conversations that I had with patients who had been helped by, by Life Flight, one of the things that came up was the way that the members of Life flight, the paramedics, the pilots, the nurses dealt with family members. So 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. And this was very impressive and very important.

Tom Judge:

And I think as healthcare providers that, and with the pressure, the economic pressures on healthcare and throughput and we boom, boom, boom that, you know, and you know, I was just, you know, at a meeting and it's all about Toyota production strategies. And yes, we have to be incredibly economically efficient but at the end of the day this is always about people. And you know, we try to have this be, you know, kind of, you know, in we have all these policies and if I stretched it out, I narrow them down to three rights 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 is if they were my mother because that makes a big deal to me. And third, you know, when all Else fails, feel free to think. Always an option and it won't always be graceful, but you'll get to the right. And I think it's incredibly important for our people that this isn't, that when disease strikes somebody, it strikes an individual, but the family lives through it. And I think over the years to go back and get letters from patients with a picture of, here are these two kids. These kids wouldn't be here if I hadn't been treated by life flight. Here's a picture, you know, and it's all of these. So it always is about the entire, you know, if we're going to have the threads of a community and, you know, I was in. There's certainly in all the news, there was a horrible car accident in poor Clyde last summer. And, you know, I was kind of the second arriving paramedic on the volunteer rescue. And 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 so our job is to. It isn't that we're just taking care of, you know, this patient, we're taking care of this family, we're taking care of this community.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Norm, you've been a doctor for a little while now.

Norm Dinerman:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I don't want to say how many years, in case you're sensitive to your age.

Norm Dinerman:

Not at all. I'm actually 67 and I graduated from medical school in 1972.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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 healthcare team?

Norm Dinerman:

It's a great question. I think that the goal for any individual, yourself as a physician, is to maintain a certain equipoise and to have and develop an emotional, intellectual, behavioral, ethical gyroscope so that 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 another basis, you know, 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 wellspring of emotional energy that we all have within us and that springs from the child and basically reflects curiosity about the human condition and a desire to, if you will, make things better and have affection for your fellow human beings. And I think that's what keeps us going and propels us forward. I think if that curiosity goes away or the affection, the gift of affection that 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 Belisle:

The reason I brought up my father is because he graduated from medical school a year before you did. So 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, his ongoing dedication and the same thing that you've described, this sort of understanding the importance of the relationship. But what struck me most about what you just said was the thing about finding this childhood passion. And you used to go out and you used to watch the ambulances go by when you were in New York, and you used to go out and watch the helicopters and the airplanes overhead.

Norm Dinerman:

I'm afraid, much to the chagrin of my parents, I wound 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. And 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. And I think that what we found in Maine is, again, a crucible for this creativity, a bouillabaisse of resources that we can draw upon to enable creativity to thrive and to create something that is meaningful and that sustains us, professionally speaking.

Tom Judge:

And then when my wife needs to buy a new car, I send her to Norm, who's an ultimate gearhead, and can give her the last 14 years of consumer Reports and the quality of cars to. To do things. So it's like, you know, these other little pieces of it. He was a musician as well. He was a drummer in a rock band.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You know, somehow I'm not surprised by that. I can totally see the two of you as, you know, musicians and doing your thing. So I appreciate your coming in and talking to us today, Talking to me for the Life Flight piece, which will be in the June Maine Magazine. People can look up Lifelight on the web, Tom.

Tom Judge:

The website for Lifelight Main www.lifelightmain.org One word, Lifelight Main.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And really think about 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 Life Flight, but who really knows? So it's kind of good to look into what you don't need right now because.

Tom Judge:

And the entire 911 system, you know, whoever you know, no one gets up in the morning planning to have a heart attack. And this is, and we really need to remember 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 EMS many years ago. Chris Potholem did a study for the state about what people knew of the EMS system. And I think it's still the same today. They basically have no idea who the people are. They, they have no idea 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, that's so, yes, it's every day we have to remember that promise.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, and I think it's a promise that we could back up financially. As you've said, there's only so many dollars that are out there. What you do is very important work. I know it's hard to say to people, look, we're worthy of your donation, but if there ever was an organization in the state of Maine that has touched so many people in so many different ways, it's so worthy of that type of support. I think it's probably Life Flight.

Tom Judge:

And Maine was the last state in the country to get an 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. So a lot of hard work by lots of people to get that. But 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 healthcare leaders and physicians figured out how to start the puzzle. But 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. But when you need it, you actually need that piece of medical equipment and similar to the aircraft. So at the end of the day, yes, we're a charitable foundation supports making sure that this is here today and tomorrow.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I appreciate your both coming in today and also appreciate the work that you do. Keep up. Keep it up. Keep up what you're doing. Keep up whatever it is that keeps you so passionate about Lifelite. We've been speaking with Tom Judge, the executive director, and Dr. Norm Dinerman, the Medical Director of Lifelite. Thanks for being with us today.

Tom Judge:

Thank you.

Norm Dinerman:

Thank you so much for the honor.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As a physician and small business owner, I rely on Marcy 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 Marcy

K.C. Ford:

when asked, most of my clients say the same thing about what keeps them up at night.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Money making. Certain cash flow is there to meet

K.C. Ford:

day to day operational needs. Oh my gosh, is payroll going to be able to make it? When we dig deeper, we understand that

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

those sleepless nights are symptoms of poor planning and forecasting. And more often than not, the reasons for not doing it are a lack of time and a lack of resources.

K.C. Ford:

So here's a suggestion.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Instead of living in fear of the numbers and losing sleep over them, make peace with them by paying closer attention to the financials and creating positive cash flow.

K.C. Ford:

I'm Marcie Booth. Let's talk about the changes you need.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Boothmain.com

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

it's rare that a group of guests at our Maine Magazine studio creates quite the buzz that this group of guests has created here. Today we have the Life Flight Crew based out of Bangor or at least a few members of the Life Flight crew based out of Bangor. With us, in addition to a patient who actually was basically taken from the jaws of death by this Life Flight crew. And of course they're all dressed up and very embarrassed that I'm talking about them this way. We have with us Missy McCann, a nurse for Life Flight Frank McClellan, paramedic for Life flight and Casey Ford, who is a patient who survived plane crash injuries because of life flight. Thanks so much for coming in and talking to us today.

Missy McCann:

Thank you for having us.

K.C. Ford:

Thank you indeed.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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 who are doing great things in the healthcare 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 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. And I think that that was what I heard when I was talking to Casey about her plane crash off of Matinicus. So let me start with you, Casey. Tell us about your story.

K.C. Ford:

Well, I had been very visiting some friends on Matinicus in July of 2011 and we took the ferry out and took the plane back. And shortly after takeoff, the plane lost power and crashed into the ocean. And I think what makes my story incredible is that all four people survived, which makes it a very good story. And we were in the water about an hour before the amazing people of Matinicus came to our rescue with lobster boats. And then they took us back to the island where we were then flown back to the mainland and we were then taken by ambulance to hospital in Rockport. And then from there the decision was made that I needed to be life flighted. And life flight came and they were there and they made very important decisions regarding my care. And 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 life flight. And I remember feeling okay, I'm going to be okay. And then coincidentally, at the same time, flight paramedic Frank was taking care of my daughter Molly, who had come to the hospital. So Frank is legendary at my house for the kindness and just concern he showed my daughter Molly. And so they took me, they took me to Lewiston where they found some life threatening injuries that if I had not been life flighted, I would have died. So it's emotional being here. I'm looking at my two superheroes right now and it's incredible. I cannot say enough about life flight. Amazing, amazing, amazing people. And the care is, it's hard to describe.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What you're giving is kind of the Reader's Digest version. Matinicus is for people who are listening who 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. Which really only had room for how many?

K.C. Ford:

Five. And there were four of us on the plane.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So the plane takes off and then it drops out of the sky.

K.C. Ford:

Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And 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. Ford:

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. So we were able to all cling to it. And then the lobster boats came and plucked us out of the water.

Missy McCann:

On a Sunday, Mind you, I was on a Sunday.

K.C. Ford:

So they weren't fishing.

Missy McCann:

The fact that they were even there is nothing short of a miracle.

K.C. Ford:

Absolutely. Absolutely, yes. I think once they got word that the plane went down, they came. I think everyone on the island came. So they're amazing, too. Yeah. There's so many people that day that came to our rescue. It's pretty incredible.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And it's even more of a horror story because the injuries that you had were truly life threatening. I mean, you actually had a torn aorta, which is the body's largest artery and responsible for bringing blood to most places in the body. And when that gets away, really bad things happen.

K.C. Ford:

Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So that's why I'm not trying to. I mean, 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. Ford:

Absolutely right. Yes, yes. And I also had fractured my back as well. But it's amazing what the body can do in the. In the face of. Yeah.

Missy McCann:

And soul.

K.C. Ford:

Exactly. Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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. And that's the amazing thing to me that this is a story, and it's a really big story. And it's a really big story that you encounter day after day after day.

Missy McCann:

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, you know, get updates on our patients and 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. But we don't always get that. And I think that for us working in the healthcare profession, you have to kind of 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. But I think to be able to hear from the patient, from their perspective after, and to just that raw emotion, and I get emotional myself about it, but it's just really good to hear that perspective on things. And we don't get to do that. We don't get that a lot. So. And I think that it's really important in this story too, is everybody that came together. It wasn't just Lifelite. I mean, I know this is a story about Lifelite, but it was everybody that came together. Everybody that was on Casey's, from the lobster boats to the ambulance service to Lifelite to the surgeons at Central Maine, it was everybody. We're just a piece of the story.

K.C. Ford:

Absolutely, yes, there were.

Missy McCann:

And I think that that's important to recognize as well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And that's everything that I have in every encounter I've had with Lifelite and speaking with Dr. Norm Dinerman and talking with Tom Judge. It's always very clear that it's one big puzzle and everybody is just a piece in the puzzle and nobody's 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. So whether you're working with the people at Penn Bay or whether you're working with people, the surgeons at CMMC or you're all working together, and that's how

Missy McCann:

people survive for the same common goal for the patient to save this person's life so that they can have their own life to go back to.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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.

[Unidentified voice]:

the landscape is put in large flat

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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[Unidentified voice]:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

it takes quite a lot to become a member of the Life Flight 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 or emergency environment. In addition to having qualifications as a nurse or a paramedic and then you go through rigorous training. Then you go through training specific to working on the helicopter. And it's broad based because you do many things. You work with infants and you work with stroke patients and you, you do intubations, you know, 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 McCann:

Well, you have to, it's. You have to keep that balance. You can't lose that human element. You can't. You just, you're with somebody at their most vulnerable time in their life. And if it means holding of their hand or a smile or taking a family member aside and telling them, you know, 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. And I don't think that there's one of us that work at Lifelite that don't carry that within. And 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. And I think that that's really something that's very important for us to be able to never forget. And sometimes you can do that in the health profession. And I think that that's a safety mechanism. I personally, I think in the health via, some people just do that as a safety mechanism. So they kind of lose that human capacity. And that's fair enough. But I don't really see anybody that I work with as my fellow coworkers in Lifelight that have ever lost that human capacity myself. I think that's very important. Don't you, Frank?

Frank McClellan:

Yeah, I think across the board, it's like a calling. There's people down the street sitting at a station ready to walk out the door if you have an emergency or if no matter what it may be, it could be anything. And a lot of those people, it's, you know, that's, it's ingrained in them and that's what they do and they're good at it. And as far as qualifications at Lifelight, yes. There's lots 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 in a facility, we have this shared well of experience that we bring in the door. And that's I think also something that Lifelite 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. But you know, each, each of us, everybody has their own different journey that led them to where they're at now as far as working on the helicopter and, and it's all pretty interesting as far as where the experience is from and, and what they can pull from. You know, some, in some areas it's, it's critical care. It's how many situations has, has this crew walked into and they're past 15 to 20 years of, of being a medical provider that have had multiple patients or crashes or you know, how many patients with their, with sepsis or having a stroke or that they walked into or babies or, you know, okay, you know, your three year old's hit by a car, you know, okay, here comes these two people. You know, what are they gonna, what's the next step? Are they gonna, they're going to 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 they're going to guide and direct what the next best step is for that person. And you know, Missy's absolutely right. When you know, what a gift to be there for someone when they're helpless. You know, the ability to do that is amazing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have two different sites that you work at of Bangor and Lewiston, but 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 vantage points?

Missy McCann:

You know, they say Maine's a small state, but 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. You know, I mean, 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 big states, you know, in the United States. But Maine is a big state. But I think that where we're a small state is the, is the people. It's the people that live in the state of Maine. You know, it's the friendliness of people in the state of Maine. I've heard people that come here in the state of Maine, and they talk about how people in Maine are so friendly and willing to help. And I think that that's just been ingrained in people that live in Maine. I love what I do. I love the Lifelite 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. You know, I just want to go home. And then I grasp onto those things that say, you know what? This is worth it. This is worth it because of what we can give back to families.

Frank McClellan:

This is healing for us, too.

Missy McCann:

It is.

Frank McClellan:

It is. It is.

Tom Judge:

Because it's.

Frank McClellan:

It's not always easy.

Missy McCann:

Mm.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, one of the things that I'm thinking about as you've been talking is that in Casey's other life, she works as an. You work as an admissions officer.

K.C. Ford:

Yes, I do.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

For Colby College.

K.C. Ford:

Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And so you're responsible for essentially assessing whether every successive year of applicants is really going to be the right kind of caliber of individual for your school.

K.C. Ford:

Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you have a chance to, I guess, even direct what types of people these kids become?

K.C. Ford:

In a sense, yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And 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, that person has something special, and would you be able to say, that person has something special enough to do what these guys are doing?

K.C. Ford:

I think it's a little bit tricky to make that leap from a high school, a senior in high school, their college application. But we are fortunate at Colby to receive applications from some pretty incredible students who I think ultimately do have the. The ability, the skills to do what Missy and Frank do. But I think, as you know, I think about what Missy and Frank and their colleagues do at Life Flight, they're pretty special people. And it's hard to tell from a senior in high school, but as I think about Missy and Frank and not only their abilities in health care, they're very kind people. And that's a combination that, for me, in my experience, with them, is extremely important. So it would be great if I could look into my crystal admissions ball and say, yeah, this one's gonna, you know, graduate and be, you know, Frank McClellan or Missy McCann. But I think we do, as I said at Colby, we do get really talented students applying.

Missy McCann:

I think that in this capacity, in this role, life experiences plays a huge role in this. I mean, would I say that I think I could do this out of high school? No. I didn't go to college. I went to college as a non traditional student with a 7 and an 8 year old and worked 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. And I think that the life experiences kind of help. Bringing that along with you in this, I think is important in the role of lifelight. I just, I think that experiences in your own life experiences 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 and that's why they require you to have, you know, the critical care experience before you even start working in the aircraft. And then it's six months of additional training on top of already being an RN or a paramedic.

Frank McClellan:

Yeah. Which is tough and not fun.

Missy McCann:

No, it's not fun.

Frank McClellan:

There's no punches pulled. No, it's very critical.

Missy McCann:

It's molding you to be a team member on that aircraft.

Frank McClellan:

But we get asked, I mean, well, I get asked a lot. EMT students say, you know, I'm interested in eventually someday going to life flight. And it's, it's, it's tough to answer them, but never, ever would I discourage them because, you know, I, I was an auto mechanic who started volunteering at a place and thought, well, I can kind of interact with people pretty well at a crisis center. And I still to this day don't know what made me start volunteering at this crisis center. But then it was, well, I'm going to take an EMT basic course at a local community college. And that was in 95. And so much has happened since then, but here I am. So I would never, I would never discourage a student from, from having that goal and that vision. I think I started wanting to fly maybe about eight or nine years ago and started flying, you know, about six years ago. And it's, it's an achievable goal if it's worked for and the experience is

Missy McCann:

there a lot of work, but worth it.

Frank McClellan:

And I'm picturing my co workers listening to this, hearing Casey and going, oh, yeah, Frank's special.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Absolutely.

K.C. Ford:

Everybody listen up.

Frank McClellan:

You know, there's that level of humor around work. It's always good.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You spent 10 days in the intensive care unit once you got to Central Maine Medical center, and after you had been stabilized, you had complications with your broken back. It took you four months before you returned to work at Colby, and more than a year before you actually got better. So this just. So this whole Life Flight experience was the beginning of what has been a really significant life journey for you?

K.C. Ford:

Absolutely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What are the lessons for you?

K.C. Ford:

There are many. And it's interesting that when. Well, this experience has stayed with me. It's with me every day. That being said, my life is normal. I work full time, I do many things that I did before, so life is normal. But it truly is with me pretty much every minute. And in a sense, I feel almost lucky to have had this experience, obviously, because I have healed and I'm doing well. But it's a gift to have this experience, to realize all of the great gifts there are just in an ordinary day. And 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. And 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. There are. And. And it happened because of other people, that so many people came together that day to help me. Strangers that just came to me, and it's exceptionally humbling. And I keep that with me all the time. The kindness of people is, is a, is a, is a huge takeaway for me. And not only Life Flight, but the care I received at CMMC was extraordinary. And 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. And that's where Life Flight we've been talking about that really stepped up. The people at CMMC did as well. And so it's just, just when I think about this whole experience and lessons learned, it's the kindness of people that is just exceptionally humbling. And 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 those. So. So that's what I try hard to appreciate, my people.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I encourage our listeners to read the article about Lifelite in the June issue of Maine Magazine, also to spend time learning more about Lifelite on the Life Flight website. And I really appreciate the time that each of you has taken out of your day to come and, 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 and that others around you can have an impact on how that life changes. So I appreciate what you're doing for people in Maine and I appreciate your willingness to be with us. It's my pleasure.

Missy McCann:

Thank you.

Frank McClellan:

The pleasure is ours.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And we've been Speaking with Missy McCann, Nurse for Life Flight, Frank McClellan, Paramedic for Life Flight, and Casey Ford, former patient of Life Flight and admissions officer at Colby College. Enjoy your lives, guys.

Missy McCann:

We do.

K.C. Ford:

We will. Thank you very much.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 142, LifeLight. Our guests have included Dr. Norm Dinerman, Tom Judge, Missy McCann, Frank McClellan and Casey Ford. The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is downloadable for free on itunes. For a preview of each week's show, sign up for our E Newsletter and like our doctoralisa Facebook page, follow me on Twitter and on Instagram. As Bountiful one. We love to hear from you, so 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 here. 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 Life Flight show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Sam.

Tom Judge:

Sa.