Brooksville Teen Makes
His School Project Personal
Friends and neighbors gathered recently at the Brooksville Fire Department to recognize Chris Lirakis, a senior at George Stevens Academy. Last spring, Chris completed a unique school project that was inspired by his personal experience with LifeFlight of Maine, the state’s only air medical service. In 2006, Chris suffered a stroke at home and was taken by LifeFlight to Eastern Maine Medical Center. With no ambulance available to transport him to Blue Hill Memorial Hospital, friends, neighbors and local EMS providers pulled together to create a landing zone for the helicopter in a field right next to Chris’ home.
Back at school after his remarkable recovery, Chris knew he wanted to do something to give back to LifeFlight. When his teacher assigned a community project, he decided to develop a more comprehensive landing zone infrastructure in Brooksville.
Chris sat down with Tom Judge, LifeFlight’s Executive Director, and other crew members to discuss the criteria for rural landing zones. Then, armed with a borrowed GPS (global positioning system), he scoured the Blue Hill peninsula looking for fields that met the criteria. Once he recorded the coordinates, he created a book that describes each zone in detail and contains several photos of each field.
“Chris’ project is a great example of how community volunteers can help LifeFlight’s mission to transport critically ill and injured patients in all of Maine, including rural towns and island communities,” said Judge.
Since its inception in 1998, LifeFlight has been working to improve the aviation infrastructure in the state. For several years, staff helped hospitals secure funding to build helipads, then in 2003, the legislature and Maine voters approved $2.6 million in bond money for aviation infrastructure improvements. This money has built not only helipads, but also helped to install fuel systems and automated weather observation stations at several rural airports.
Chris’ project takes these improvement efforts a step further and shows how students and other local volunteers can work in their own communities to make sure LifeFlight will be there when people need it most.
Former crew member John Macone sums it up best, “The real reward for those who work at LifeFlight of Maine is to hear the stories of those who overcome adversity and go on to reach their own potential. Even better are those who dedicate themselves to helping others.”