Whitewater guide survives harrowing car crash in The Forks

For Kelsey Klibansky, of Beverly, MA, spending time outdoors is simply a way of life. An avid skier, Kelsey also loves to go whitewater rafting, canoeing, camping and fly fishing. She’s been rafting on Maine rivers since she was about 10 and became a rafting guide in 2008. Shortly after, she began working at Three Rivers Whitewater, a commercial rafting company in The Forks, along with her father, sister and uncle who are also guides.

Every summer during a full moon, a group of whitewater guides from The Forks get together for a midnight run of the Kennebec River. Kelsey had made the trip before, and was looking forward to the 2010 event. On the night of the run, Kelsey hopped into one of the cars headed to Harris Dam where the group would start their trip. But before they made it to the put in, tragedy struck. The car Kelsey was riding in went off the road, rolling over several times before coming to rest. Kelsey was thrown from the car, landing about 25 feet away. It took several long minutes for the other guides to finally find her covered in debris under a tree. Her friends tried to keep her from moving while the 911 call was made.

Upper Kennebec Valley Ambulance service got the call for help and headed out to the scene of the accident. They knew that one person was badly hurt and was unresponsive, so before they even arrived on the scene, they activated LifeFlight.

When the ambulance service arrived, they discovered Kelsey had broken her left wrist, severely injured her right hand, and from the massive lacerations and contusions on the back and front of her head, it appeared likely she had also suffered a traumatic brain injury. With this type of injury, it becomes very important to get to a trauma center as quickly as possible. LifeFlight is able to bridge the vast distance between rural Maine and the state’s three major hospitals in Bangor, Lewiston and Portland in situations such as this when every minute counts.

The EMTs on the ambulance worked to stabilize Kelsey for air transport, while members of the West Forks Fire Department headed to the town’s ball field where the LifeFlight helicopter was preparing to land.

When LifeFlight’s critical care crew arrived, they treated Kelsey for her pain, sedated her and placed a breathing tube for the flight back to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. She continued to be unresponsive during the 23 minute transport back to EMMC and was taken directly to the Intensive Care Unit. Over the next couple of days, the bleeding in her brain stopped and Kelsey slowly regained consciousness. When she woke, she experienced symptoms of a brain injury; she couldn’t walk, had double vision and some short term memory issues, but fortunately these only lasted for about a week.

Kelsey also lost her right index finger and tore all the tendons in her right hand. However, she is thankful to be alive and grateful that she didn’t lose her hand. At heart, she is an artist and a writer. Recovery could have been much more difficult had she needed to relearn everything using her left hand.

"I have no doubt that Kelsey’s amazing recovery would not have been possible if not for the quick care she received from her friends and the local emergency response. LifeFlight’s ability to stabilize her at the scene and transport her so quickly to Eastern Maine’s trauma center was key," shares Todd Klibansky, Kelsey’s father and fellow whitewater guide.

Kelsey was at EMMC for about 10 days, and spent another week recovering at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston. Amazingly she has almost completely recovered from her injuries and has returned to Northeastern University where she studies Cultural Anthropology and hopes to someday become a human rights lawyer. Although she may not be able to ski this winter, she will soon resume all the activities that she loves. She can’t wait to get back on the river next summer and share her love of the outdoors with her rafting family and customers.

Lacey teaches "Helicopter Mike" to sign

When you first meet Lacey Thomsen, her smile is the first thing that captures your attention. Then you quickly notice her hands. Her slender, nimble fingers are constantly in motion, expressing her thoughts in a very different way than the rest of us. One of her favorite signs: she places her thumb briefly between her ring and pinky fingers to symbolize "M" before her hands quickly form a modified "time out" sign, with her left hand resting on the fore finger of her right hand. Then she makes a quick twisting motion to show a helicopter.

This original sign that Lacey created herself stands for "Helicopter Mike," otherwise known as LifeFlight Paramedic Mike Choate. To Lacey, Mike is the guardian angel who took care of her one night in February when she was in excruciating pain and had to be rushed to Boston Children’s Hospital.

Lacey was born with Goldenhar Syndrome, a congenital defect characterized by facial deformities, typically affecting one half of a person’s face. She has had a shunt in her brain since she was 2 days old. In the past when the shunt became blocked and fluid began building dangerous pressure, Lacey experienced seizures. But this time, Lacey just held her head and said she had a very bad headache; something she would not have done a few short years ago.

Lacey, with help from her long-time ed tech Lynda Nailor, has worked for many years to be able to communicate, so it was meaningful that she could tell her mom how she felt and what was wrong.

With quick hands, Lacey tells her story this way:

"I had a bad headache in the night time. It was very, very late and I was sick. I had an IV in the helicopter. It was very loud and I kept asking for my blanket to be over my head. My headache was bad and I kept asking Mike for more medicine. Mom flew in the front of the helicopter. The other flight nurse told mom to be careful not to fall off the roof (at Boston Children’s)."

The specialists at Boston Children’s were able to give Lacey a new shunt, and today her life is back to normal. She’s in a bowling league and also spends a lot of time reading. She loves yard sales, where she finds lots of books and movies with her favorite Disney characters.

Two boys, two helicopters, two happy endings

Kody Scott (right) and Devon Maxwell have been friends for as long as they can remember. The high school students grew up together in Lee, just east of Lincoln. Like many rural Maine kids, the boys spent much of their childhood fishing for trout and playing baseball.

As teenagers, one of their favorite places to hang out is at the community teen center, known locally as 180. The two friends were walking back to 180 after a quick trip to the local market when a car came around a sharp bend in the road and struck both boys. The force of the impact sent Kody and Devon flying several feet off the road.

When Lee’s Chief of Emergency Services Aaron Knowles got to the scene, he immediately recognized that Devon and Kody were critically injured and would need specialized care from a trauma center as soon as possible, so he called for both LifeFlight helicopters. LF1, the helicopter based in Bangor, arrived at the scene of the accident within minutes. The local ambulance crew prepared Devon to be airlifted first. He had broken both bones in his right leg, his left fibula, fractured his hand and had a severe laceration on his left eye.

LifeFlight medic Kalem Malcolm remembers asking Devon if he had any known medical problems. The witty reply was, "Well, I guess I do now." It was the first sign that Devon might be OK. The flight crew took him to Eastern Maine Medical Center, and he was in surgery less than two hours later.

In the meantime, paramedics from the local ambulance service took Kody to Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln where LF2, the helicopter based in Lewiston, met them on the brand new helipad.

Kody, who had injured his left arm and leg, torn ligaments in his right knee, and fractured his ribs and collar bones, was lifeflighted from PVH to EMMC in Bangor. He was there for 12 days and underwent two surgeries. There was severe nerve damage in his left arm and for a while Kody and the doctors weren’t sure that he’d regain full use of it. Thankfully, though, he has made a full recovery and is back to playing basketball and baseball.

Devon spent about 15 days in the hospital and had a total of seven surgeries to repair all of his broken and fractured bones. Although he spent quite a few weeks in a wheelchair, Devon has also made a full recovery. He’s back to school and looking forward to a year of soccer and skiing.

Mother of two learns the meaning of community support

Two broken femurs. Broken tibia, humorous and ulna. Liver laceration. Spleen removed. Broken ribs, pelvis, tailbone and shoulder blade. To look at Melanie Lajoie today, walking and playing with her two young sons, it’s hard to believe that just a few short months ago she arrived at Central Maine Medical Center’s emergency room with so many broken bones and internal injuries.

Melanie’s ordeal began one morning as she was headed to work as a speech therapist for schools in Palermo and Windsor. An oncoming vehicle crossed the center line and crashed into her minivan. Windsor Fire Department responded to the accident and began the long process of getting both Melanie and the other driver out of their badly damaged vehicles. It was immediately clear that both victims were severely injured, so while the firefighters worked, local medics requested help from both of the LifeFlight helicopters.

When the LifeFlight crew arrived, Melanie had just been freed from the wreckage and medics were working to stabilize her. The flight crew started an IV, placed a breathing tube and began transfusing blood. With so many traumatic injuries, Melanie was losing a lot of blood very quickly. Though it was only a 15-minute flight to the trauma center in Lewiston, Melanie was bleeding so badly that she needed two units of blood before she even arrived at CMMC. Once she was at the hospital, trauma surgeons immediately began repairing her injured organs and broken bones.

After 25 hours of surgeries, three rods, two plates, 17 days at CMMC and two weeks in rehab, Melanie was finally able to return home to continue her recovery surrounded by a large support group of family and friends. In her own words, "People were just amazing. It gives you hope in mankind."

The thousands of well wishes and words of encouragement on Melanie’s Facebook page are a testament to this community of support. Recently, someone posted a quote by Helen Keller which seems to exemplify this inspirational story of triumph: "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."

Paul Bonyun's Woodcutting Accident

Paul Bonyun, 59, has been ribbed about his name for as long as he can remember. He points out that his surname is spelled and pronounced differently (“Bun-yawn”) than that of the mythical giant lumberjack ­­-- but these details often fail to suppress the chuckles. Paul doesn’t mind; in fact, he plays along. The license plate on his pickup truck reads: Blu Ox.

Even news editors apparently can’t stifle silly responses to Paul’s name. When he was injured in a woodcutting accident early on January 2, 2006, near his home in Westport, the story made national news. He says the accident was reported at least as far away as California. He also says his rescue and recovery are a “miracle.”

On a woodlot perhaps a mile from his home, Paul had spotted an oak tree ready to be cut for firewood. He rode his four-wheeler to the lot and prepared to slice and dice the tree. “I went to cut the notch and that’s all I can remember. I woke up 10 days later in Lewiston. I had been in a coma for eight days,” he says. Paul learned later that a large, dead branch broke from the tree when he started to cut, catching him squarely in the head. He sustained a fractured skull, left orbital fracture and a serious lateral fracture.

Amazingly, Paul walked from the woodlot to his home, where he virtually collapsed. Brenda, his wife, yelled to their sons for help. She called 911 while the boys saw to Paul’s care. Not long before the accident, Paul and his youngest son, Caleb, who was 17 at the time, completed a first responder course.

While Caleb tended his father, 21-year-old Nathan talked by phone with Wiscasset Ambulance Service. From the description of the injury, the crew decided that LifeFlight should be called. This assessment was proven correct when Paul was gripped by a seizure just as the ambulance arrived. “They tried to tube me. They couldn’t do it. Luckily, that’s when LifeFlight landed only a couple hundred feet from the house in a nearby field. The field is a landing zone for the south end of the island,” Paul explained.

The Wiscasset crew had an IV started when flight nurse Martin Blaney and flight paramedic Bob Johnson arrived on the scene, providing quick access to administer an anti-seizure medication. As the rescuers moved Paul to the helicopter, the first responders “bagged” him to help keep up his oxygen levels. Paul was loaded into the aircraft and pilot John Scanlon set a course for Central Maine Medical Center.

Only six months after the accident, Paul Bunyun had resumed a relatively “normal” life. After the acute phase of his injuries had passed, he spent just a week at Central Maine Medical Center’s Central Maine Rehabilitation Center before being discharged home.

“The doctors didn’t think I’d live,” Paul said. “They’ve been amazed by the way I came out of this. I’m not an organized-religion person, but I think this is a miracle. Everyone did an incredible job, especially Caleb. He told me, ‘I put the dad part out of it and did what I had to do.’ It’s absolutely amazing what he did. Brenda and Nathan kicked right in and did what they had to do.”

He praises Wiscasset Ambulance Service, not only for coming to his aid so quickly, but also for their expert evaluation of the injury. “Once they called LifeFlight,” Paul says, “they were down here in 10 minutes. Every little second made a difference.”

CREW MEMBERS
CommSpec: Cyndy Bradford
Pilot: John Scanlon
Nurse: Martin Blaney
Paramedic: Bob Johnson

Back to work on the ferry less than three months after massive heart attack

Ron Deveau was changing the fuel oil on the North Haven ferry after the last run of the day when he experienced the first signs of a heart attack. He began to feel nauseous, but thought he just needed a little fresh air. As an engineer on the ferry, Ron works for six days at a time and lives on the island during his shift.

He finished changing the oil and headed off the boat to the house he shares with other ferry workers. Before he got there, he began to feel pressure in his chest and became drenched in sweat. When he made it to the house, he told his coworkers he couldn’t breathe. They took one look at him and called North Haven EMS, who arrived quickly and realized he was having a heart attack. Ron remembers them saying, "Hang in there. The helicopter is on its way."

John Dietter, WEMT-B, one of the first responders on the scene, recalls Ron’s situation. "When I arrived on scene it was immediately clear that Ron was in very serious condition. He was bathed in sweat, had an elevated heart rate, and was complaining of crushing chest pain. I started him on oxygen and administered aspirin, which helps to block the formation of clots. Driver Jesse Davisson arrived with the ambulance and our AED/cardiac monitor. WEMT-B Elaine Ames-Brown and First Responder Louisa Baribeau arrived shortly afterwards. We made the call to LifeFlight after being on scene for less than four minutes. The combination of advanced care and rapid transport that LifeFlight can deliver was exactly what was called for in Ron’s case. While the EMS team and Ron’s fellow crew members loaded him on to a stretcher for transport to the landing zone, North Haven’s Fire crew was busy setting up the LZ at the town’s ball field. Nurse Practitioner Lise Desjardins met the team there and was able to administer nitroglycerin and morphine. The LifeFlight helicopter was on the ground in North Haven 28 minutes after we made the request."

Ron has been on the ocean for most of his life. Born in Nova Scotia and raised in Boston, he joined the Navy and was stationed in Maine before heading to Florida with the Merchant Marines. A few years ago, he returned to Maine to reconnect with his friends and to find that elusive balance between work and family. When he learned his son had cancer, he looked to his Catholic roots for direction and comfort. It turns out these roots also helped him through his own medical crisis.

As the EMTs loaded him onto a stretcher to transport him to the helicopter, Ron asked one of his coworkers to bring him his rosary. While he waited, he tried to focus on breathing. Once he had his rosary in hand, he kept it with him during the helicopter ride, in the emergency room, and even later in the intensive care unit. When Ron thinks back on that night, he can’t help but see all of the little miracles that happened along the way to make his recovery successful.

Once the flight crew examined Ron, they realized he would need cardiac treatment as soon as possible. They contacted Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and requested that a cardiac cath lab team be put on standby. When Ron arrived at EMMC, the cardiologist met him in the emergency department and transferred him directly to the cath lab where specialists placed four stents in Ron’s heart.

"I was very well taken care of at Eastern Maine Medical Center. The nurses on the helicopter and at the hospital were extraordinary. The toughest job at LifeFlight must be choosing the ‘Nurse of the Month,’" jokes Ron.

Since his surgery, Ron has lost 40 lbs and continues to exercise and attend cardiac rehab at Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick. He was able to return to work as engineer on the ferry less than three months after his heart attack.

A few broken bones can't keep Portland teen down

Teenager Henry Stoddard comes from a long line of skiers. He's been on skis since he was four, frequenting Mt. Abram, Shawnee and Saddleback with his family and with school teams. During February vacation last year he was on the trails at Saddleback with some friends when he caught the top of a ski and lost control. He crashed into an ice bank on the edge of the tree line, breaking both bones in his lower leg.

"It felt like my whole leg was going to fall off and slide down the hill," remembers Henry.

Members of the ski patrol loaded him into the sled and took him down to the lodge where paramedics assessed his injuries. They were worried a long, bumpy ambulance ride would increase not only his pain, but also the danger of internal bleeding and swelling. This can lead to compartment syndrome, where blood pools in the area of an injury, builds pressure and causes irreparable damage.

The LifeFlight crew met Henry at the Rangeley airport, administered pain medication and got him to Maine Medical Center in Portland as quickly as possible. Surgeons there put a 12-inch plate and 8 screws in Henry's leg. He spent a couple of weeks in a cast, and another few weeks unable to put weight on his leg, but thankfully his recovery was quick. Since his accident, Henry's been playing on his school's soccer and lacrosse teams, and even completed a bike trip from Falmouth to Nantucket.

CREW MEMBERS
CommSpec: Dale Mims
Pilot: Pat Giarrizzo
Nurse: Jackie Turcotte
Paramedic: Lori Metayer

A day at work with dad turns critical

Young Johnathan Ramage was playing outside with his toy trucks while his father worked. As he went to find a different toy, he ran into the tailgate of his father’s truck, whacking his head on the sharp corner. A few minutes later Johnathan threw up multiple times and began acting very lethargic. His father, a firefighter/paramedic in Portland for 12 years, recognized the signs of a more serious head injury.

He rushed his son over to MaineGeneral in Augusta, where doctors took one look and immediately suspected an arterial bleed was causing pressure on Johnathan’s brain. They called the pediatric specialists at Maine Medical Center, who requested Johnathan be transported via LifeFlight.

The flight crew arrived in just five minutes, stabilized Johnathan and delivered him directly to the operating room at Maine Medical Center where surgeons were waiting. They stopped the bleeding and eased the pressure on Johnathan’s brain. After two more days in the hospital, Johnathan was sent home with strict orders for no activity that involved physical contact. A tall order for a 3-year-old, but his parents baby-proofed the house all over again and Johnathan continued his recovery without incident. Today, he is a smiling preschooler who loves fire trucks, driving his mini Gator and writing in his journal at school.

CREW MEMBERS
CommSpec: Bill Reynolds
Pilot: John Scanlon
Nurse: Sabrina Gowell
Paramedic: Heather Cady
 

Traumatic skiing accident doesn't keep this girl off the mountain

My name is Molly Mann, I’m thirteen in this photo, standing on top of fourteen-thousand foot Mt. Shavano in Colorado. This photo was taken nearly seven months after my skiing accident. By only meeting me, you would never know of the immensely traumatic experience I went through. Who knows, if not for LifeFlight immediately transporting me to Maine Medical Center, I may not be here today.

It was January 26, 2012. I was at Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry with my middle school ski team, there for a ski race. We had a few hours before the race actually started, so we were allowed to free-ski until then. My friend Rose and I were skiing together, taking as many runs as we could before lunch. I remember feeling especially fatigued and not myself that day, but I ignored the feeling.

The memory of this day, this particular run, is a hazy blur, it could almost be a dream. I can’t remember all the details. But I do remember this: Rose and I got off the chairlift, and we were whipping down the mountain when we veered onto the trail marked Ecstasy. I clearly remember glancing warily at that dark blue sign, standing out strikingly against the snow. Peculiarly tired as I was, I was lagging behind Rose.

The next few moments are like the blink of an eye in my mind, incredibly rapid, as if my brain keeps pressing the fast-forward button and pointing it directly toward the farrago of memories of that fateful day. In those moments, my knees buckled, and I suddenly found myself sitting on the back of my skis and sailing off the right side of the trail. Then tumbling, tumbling. My last memory is of trees, many trees, poking out of the snow and whizzing by. Then everything went black.

As it turns out, I had fallen off the trail and tumbled down a 25-foot ravine, breaking a few trees on the way, and eventually coming to a stop on my side at the bottom. I lay there for an hour and a half, unconscious, until two of my teammate’s mothers found me, covered in vomit and blood and violently shaking with hypothermia. Turns out, even though I had a very bright coat on, I was not visible unless you deliberately looked down the side of the trail. I had broken my right wrist in two places, a finger, my left clavicle, fractured my skull, suffered a concussion, ruptured my right eardrum, and the tympanic membrane and hearing nerve in my right ear had been punctured.

I was instantly hauled up the trail and off the mountain into an ambulance, then into the LifeFlight helicopter. From there I was brought to Maine Medical Center in Portland where I stayed for twelve days.

Surprisingly, the story of my accident still comes up a lot. I have to have some explanation for the permanent deafness in my right ear. But besides that, I look and act normal, and have made many achievements since my trauma, such as climbing mountains in Colorado the following summer. Fate was on my side that day. I am very thankful that I am still here to tell my story, and that LifeFlight was there to transport me to where I needed to be.

CREW MEMBERS
CommSpec Terri Smith
Pilot Pat Giarrizzo
Nurse Heather Cady
Medic Jeremy Nadeau

Golf yesterday; heart stops three times today; golf tomorrow

You might say Frank Anastasio believes in fate.  Or maybe luck.  However you want to look at it, everything just seemed to fall into place for Frank in the fall of 2012.

Frank was born and raised in Rumford.  He grew up in the same neighborhood where he lives now, hanging out with friends that he still see today, including his wife, Cheryl, who he taught to ride a bike when she was 8.  Frank served in the Air Force for more than 20 years, and when he retired the couple moved back to their hometown with their son, Marc.

Frank had just given the eulogy at a close friend’s funeral when he began to experience severe chest pains. Thankfully, he and his wife, Cheryl, were practically next door to Rumford Hospital.  Another 15 or 20 minutes and they would have been at the cemetery in Peru, much farther away from help.

Cheryl helped Frank out of the car and into the emergency department, where the staff took one look and knew right away he was having a heart attack.  Dr. Justin Bennett, a newcomer to the hospital, used a new technology to get massive amounts of clot buster into his system as quickly as possible.  An ambulance crew from Jay was coincidentally on scene already, so Dr. Bennett decided a ground ambulance trip would be the quickest way to get Frank, who was relatively stable, to the cardiac center at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

However, as they were wheeling him out the door, Frank’s heart suddenly stopped. Fortunately, he wasn’t halfway to CMMC in the back of the ambulance.   Dr. Bennett quickly revived Frank and brought him back into the ER.  Worried that his heart could stop again at any moment, Dr. Bennett called for LifeFlight to pick up Frank.

As luck, or fate, would have it, the Bangor LifeFlight helicopter was already in the air, having just left Maine Medical Center. The pilot promptly set a new course for Rumford. When the flight crew arrived just a few minutes later, they helped to stabilize Frank and alerted the cath lab at CMMC.

By the time the aircraft touched down at CMMC, the crew had re-started Frank’s heart two more times. They took him directly to the cath lab where Dr. Nicholas Laffely discovered his left arterial descending artery was completely blocked.  The artery was opened and a stent was inserted.

Thanks to the timely care he received from Rumford Hospital, LifeFlight and CMMC, Frank was back home just 2 days after his heart had stopped three times.

An avid golfer, Frank walks 18 holes nearly every day, a practice that probably helped ensure a very speedy recovery. The nurses at cardiac rehab are amazed at how far he’s come in such a short time. And not a moment too soon for Frank.  He was eager to get back to his very active life.  Since his retirement from the Air Force, Frank and Cheryl have focused on enjoying every moment life has to offer.  They bought a 1966 Mustang which they take to cruise ins and car shows, they travel often to Virginia and Prince Edward Island, go dancing, watch sports and spend many hours gardening.

Frank sums up his philosophy this way, “I think you should have fun in life, and I’m going to keep doing that.  I’ve got a lot of years of golf ahead of me.”

CREW MEMBERS
CommSpec Terri Smith
Pilot Dave Beaulieu
Nurse Jay Fonseca
Medic Jon Tierney

Serious accident sparks volunteerism and creativity

The first thing you notice about first grader Sophie Nelson is the sparkle in her eye, hinting at the warm spirit and infectious energy that quickly becomes obvious after spending a few minutes with her. One cold January morning in 2012, Sophie's parents, Guy and Melissa, feared they would never see that sparkle again.

Sophie was critically injured when she was struck by a bus, rolling under the vehicle as it moved forward without seeing her. Her father saw her on the ground and ran out to help. An ambulance arrived quickly and brought Sophie to the emergency department at Penobscot Valley Hospital where physicians recognized the seriousness of her injuries and immediately called for LifeFlight.

When the flight crew arrived, they found Sophie awake but suffering from multiple serious injuries. She had a broken femur, fractured skull, severe lacerations on her head, fractured neck, fractured elbow and contusions on her lungs. She was in a lot of pain and had gone into shock. The crew gave her fluids and medication to treat the pain, shock and internal bleeding from her leg and abdomen. During the 14-minute flight back to Eastern Maine Medical Center, the continually assessed Sophie’s condition to ensure they were treating her appropriately.

Sophie spent 14 days at EMMC recuperating from her injuries and then returned home to continue the recovery process. She slowly regained her strength and with a strong determination to get back outside, she learned how to walk again.

Throughout her long recovery, Sophie's enthusiastic spirit and unique sense of humor were often evident. She greeted most visitors with comments like, “You should always listen to your mom and wear clean underwear because you never know when you will be hit by a bus!”

She received her last surgery about seven months after the accident, and was very excited that she could return to her friends and classmates at school in the fall of 2012. Understandably, the accident has left an impression on young Sophie. She has decided to start volunteering at EMMC, helping the pediatric patients with arts and crafts activities. And, with her mother’s help, she’s writing a children’s book called The Broken Princess, aimed at helping other kids get through tough situations without feeling alone or different.

CREW MEMBERS
CommSpec Terri Smith
Pilot Alan West
Nurse Jay Fonseca
Medic Carl Zenk

Motorcycle enthusiast survives collision with moose

"For a split second, I thought I was going to make it by him. But then he turned right into me. I can still remember the smell of his fur."

These were Neil Bryson's last thoughts before he slammed into a moose while cruising up Route 26 along the Maine/New Hampshire border on his Ducati motorcycle.

Neil, a Portland native, has spent his life working for the Coast Guard. For the first 22 years, he was on active duty, traveling the world maintaining Long Range Navigation (LORAN), the predecessor to today's GPS. For the last 22 years, he's worked as a civilian, in charge of the Coast Guard Electronic Systems Support Detachment (ESD) South Portland supporting Coast Guard assets in northern New England. For nearly all of that time, Neil has been passionate about riding his motorcycle.

The next thing Neil remembers is waking up cold and wet and struggling to breathe. Neil's motorcycle had slid right under the moose, leaving his body to take the brunt of the collision with the massive animal. The impact broke the moose's neck, killing it instantly and throwing Neil into a stream bed more than 50 feet from the roadway.

It was almost an hour before a New Hampshire state trooper came upon the scene and found Neil, still conscious and still struggling to catch his breath. The call to 911 was made, setting in motion a variety of EMS agencies.

The Fire Department and an EMT from Errol responded first, requesting help from neighboring 45th Parallel EMS who sent more EMTs including a paramedic. Because the scene was in a very remote section of New Hampshire, the dispatcher automatically called for the emergency medical helicopters at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. Unfortunately, their aircraft were already busy, so LifeFlight of Maine was called to provide mutual assistance.

The established landing zone was about 10 miles away from the scene, but so much time had already passed, LifeFlight pilot Karl Hatlemark made the decision to try and find a closer spot to land. He found a clearcut just a few hundred yards away from Neil and put the aircraft down. The flight crew hustled over to the scene where the local EMTs were putting Neil into the back of the ambulance. LifeFlight assessed Neil’s injuries, including a punctured lung, and realized they would need to place a breathing tube before transporting him back to Central Maine Medical Center.

The trauma specialists at CMMC discovered Neil had fractured 6 ribs, punctured his lung, lacerated his liver and spleen, suffered a concussion and a detached clavicle. In all, Neil spent 21 days in the hospital, most of it in the Intensive Care Unit. He lost 31 pounds in the first 11 days.

When he recalls the ordeal, he’s emphatic: “LifeFlight saved me. There’s no doubt about it.”

Trauma surgeon Carlo Gammiatoni, MD, agrees. “The LifeFlight crew did exactly what Neil needed at the time.”

Thanks to his physical fitness and the appropriate care he received from the entire EMS system, Neil was back at work on a part time basis just five weeks after his accident. He was still in a lot of pain, but work was a good distraction. Today, Neil has returned to a normal life with his wife Terry, his four children and seven grandchildren. They do lots of hiking along Maine’s recreational trails, and he’s starting to think about getting a new motorcycle. It’s like the old adage says, you’ve gotta get back on the bike.

CREW MEMBERS
CommSpec Brian Porter
Pilot Karl Hatlemark
Nurse Sabrina Gowell
Medic Jeremy Nadeau

Ten-year-old survives major open heart surgery

Doctors still don’t know what caused the dangerous swelling in 10-year-old Marissa Tracy’s heart. She woke one morning with chest pains, which is unusual for a child her age, so her mom took her to the emergency department at Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan. Physicians there knew something was wrong, but they didn’t have the right tools to perform an echocardiogram on someone Marissa’s age. They transported her to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor where pediatric specialists discovered her mitral valve, which controls blood flow between the chambers of the heart, wasn’t working properly. It was damaged so badly that it couldn’t be repaired, but would have to be completely replaced.

Since there wasn’t a pediatric cardiac surgeon available at EMMC, Marissa had to be transported to Maine Medical Center in Portland. Her condition was precarious and she was already receiving two medications intravenously, which meant Marissa needed the specialized medical equipment and the high level of critical care the LifeFlight crew provides. It was also essential that she spend as little time as possible outside of a hospital, so the speed of the helicopter was another important factor.

“I was scared at first,” remembers Marissa. “But the crew kept trying to make me smile, which helped me feel better. Plus, they let my mother ride in the helicopter with me, so that also made me feel less scared.”

The surgery went without a hitch and after less than a week of recovery in the pediatric intensive care unit, Marissa was able to go home. Today, she leads the normal life of a middle-schooler. The only restriction on her activities is to avoid contact sports, which isn’t too difficult since she prefers to spend her time drawing, painting and hanging out with her four brothers and sisters. One day, she hopes to become an artist or find a career that allows her to work with animals.

CREW MEMBERS
CommSpec Jeremy Bean
Pilot Pat Giarrizzo
Nurse Lori Metayer
Medic Kim McGraw

A pivotal moment leads to a selfless decision

With 350 year-round residents on North Haven, it’s not uncommon to feel related to your neighbor – everyone in some way is a part of the family. This feeling of family and togetherness is even more noticeable in a time of need.

One late summer day, five teenagers were seriously injured when the car they were in went off the road and slammed into a tree. April Brown was sitting in the middle of the car’s backseat.  When the car stopped moving, and their wits were regained, they climbed out of the car. Eventually a call for the ambulance was made.

“The accident was on the crest of the hill, but there were so many cars, fire trucks, EMS  and community members trying to help  their neighbors, I had to park at the bottom of the hill,”  said John Dietter, NH EMS assistant crew chief. “It was a very chaotic scene with five patients in various levels of disrepair. For North Haven, this constituted a mass casualty, so we quickly triaged the patients and started calling for resources.”

The need to transport patients to the hospital on the mainland is one of the biggest obstacles the EMS crew has to overcome on an island. Generally the ambulance will transport a patient by way of a 75-minute ferry ride, or call Penobscot Island Air for quicker transport in a small airplane. In critical situations, the decision to contact LifeFlight is made. In this case, it was determined that the limited amount of trained personnel, length of ferry boat transport, and number of patients required assistance from both Penobscot Air and LifeFlight. April, who suffered from several compression fractures in her spine, a concussion, broken foot and nose, was evacuated first via LifeFlight. Three others with lesser injuries were flown to the closest hospital on the mainland via airplane.

April doesn’t recall the mayhem around her that night. Thanks to the care and transport she received from the EMS crew and LifeFlight, April was soon back to participating in normal high school activities.

After earning her college degree, she returned to her home on the island. She works with her dad lobster fishing, edits the monthly newsletter and volunteers for the island ambulance service. Having been a patient herself offers a unique perspective when responding to emergencies.

“To this day, I reflect back to my accident and how effective the NH EMS and LifeFlight crews were,” said April, now NH EMS crew chief. “It was a pivotal moment in my life. I learned how carefully orchestrated an EMS call needs to be to make it run smoothly. Knowing LifeFlight is just a call away in our most critical situation when time is our worst enemy is both reassuring and a relief. I know my friends and neighbors are in good hands.”

CREW MEMBERS
CommSpec Bill Bradley
Pilot Alan Fouts
Nurse Steve Babin
Medic Brian Laird

Local EMS providers care for one of their own

Bethel EMT Melinda Evans was snowmobiling with friends when she missed a turn and ran headfirst into a tree. The front of her helmet was split into, and her face shield completely shattered. Minutes after the 911 call, local EMS first responders, Melinda’s friends and coworkers, arrived to find one of their own badly hurt with a serious head injury. They knew their friend’s best chance for survival rested with LifeFlight, so they managed her airway, immobilized her spine, started IVs and brought her to the airport to meet the helicopter.

The flight crew arrived to find Melinda not talking, with blood in her mouth and unable to respond to simple directions. The critical care team quickly placed a breathing tube and gave her pain and sedation medications. After only an 18-minute flight, they reached Central Maine Medical Center where trauma surgeons repaired her neck, spine and facial fractures. She spent more than two weeks in the hospital, and another several months recovering at home with help from her husband, Mike, and daughters Hannah and Katelynn.

Since the accicent, she has recertified her EMT license and can’t wait to get back to work helping others when they need it most.

CREW MEMBERS
CommSpec Beth Mazerolle
Pilot Karl Hatlemark
Nurse Heather Carpenter
Medic Mike Choate