For 30 years, people throughout New England

RxTra
A publication for the staff of Hartford Hospital
June 15, 2015
Vol. 71 No. 17
For 30 years, people throughout New England have relied on LIFE STAR and its stellar flight crew
to swiftly and safely connect them with critical care. Since its launch in 1985, LIFE STAR has
transported more than 30,000 people and saved thousands of lives.
Please join us as we salute LIFE STAR on its 30th anniversary.
We look forward, and skyward, to many more years of serving those who need us most.
Dr. Len Jacobs: Remembering LIFE STAR’s First Flight
Dr. Lenworth Jacobs, Hartford Hospital’s
chief academic officer and vice president
of Academic Affairs, was Hartford Hospital’s director of Trauma and Emergency
Medicine starting in 1983. He came from
the Boston City Hospital Trauma Center to
design and implement HH’s own trauma
center and the LIFE STAR air ambulance
program. Thirty years ago, he was on its
first flight.
Anatomy of a helicopter EC145
Flight ceiling: 9,600 ft
Standard fuel capacity: 229 gal
Two Turbomeca Arriel 1E2 engines:
894 shp (shaft horsepower) per engine
Maximum range: 425.7 miles / 370 nm
He remembers that he and three other
crew members were suited up and ready
to go at 7 a.m. that day. They anxiously
waited for a call … and waited. Around 11
p.m., the call came in.
“I remember going over
Avon Mountain and it was misty.
We were heading into a very tight
landing zone and it was a little intimidating,” he recalled. “But once
you’re down, you transition very
quickly from an aviation environment to a medical environment
and begin to put the full resources of a trauma center into play for
the patient. It was just as I expected: very intense
and very gratifying.”
The first patient recovered fully.
LIFE STAR, which takes advanced trauma treatment right to the patient, is a critical component
of HH’s Trauma Program, which includes the only
Level One Trauma Center in the region, a designation awarded only after meeting very strict criteria of the American College of Surgeons.
“When LIFE STAR began, we visited almost every
single town to explain how an air medical program would function,” Jacobs said. “It was challenging. We had to work with police and fire departments to secure safe landing zones. When
you land, the personnel assisting you are emergency responders. There are no aviation personnel in the middle of Interstate 84.”
“Today, almost every hospital in the region has a
heliport, which wasn’t the case when we started.
The program has strengthened the bonds among
law enforcement, fire services, and emergency
medical services and raised the importance of a
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rapid response to an advanced level to get the patient to the appropriate hospital,” Jacobs said.
LIFE STAR’s mission truly is a matter of life or
death. “Time is essential and often makes all the
difference in a trauma situation,” Jacobs said.
When LIFE STAR is flying, it has priority over every
other aircraft, except that of the U.S. president.
“Every time LIFE STAR flies, about 60 people spring
into action – nurses, therapists, emergency physicians, surgeons, radiologists, anesthesiologists,
and ICU specialists,” Jacobs said. “They have to be
ready to respond at a moment’s notice, and they
are a well-oiled machine,” he said.
According to Jacobs,
that culture of clinical
excellence and altruism is deeply ingrained
in the whole trauma
system – the clinicians,
law enforcement, the
fire departments, and
emergency
medical
services.
LIFE STAR has made a
major impact on Connecticut and beyond,
Jacobs said.
“LIFE STAR crews have rescued more than 32,000
patients in 11 states since 1985,” he said. “I am
immensely proud of what’s been accomplished
here by an amazing team of people.”
Maximum take-off weight:
7,903 pounds
Height: 12 feet
Length: 42.65 feet
Weight: 3,951 lbs
Fast cruise speed: 153 mph / 133 kts
Maximum speed: 167 mph / 145 kts
Rate of climb: 1,600 feet per minute
Area covered
30-mile radius = 15-minute flight time
Travel times:
28 minutes to Stamford
Windham County
22 minutes to Danbury
Hartford County
14 minutes to New Haven
10 minutes to Waterbury
Tolland County
Litchfield County
6 minutes to Enfield or
Middletown
Middlesex County
New Haven County
New London County
Fairfield County
scale
20 miles
LIFE STAR 30th Anniversary Special - 3
LIFE STAR Over Hartford
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LIFE STAR 30th Anniversary Special - 5
The Early Years: 1985-1989
LIFE STAR Chief Pilot Richard Magner
Richard Magner, chief pilot for the Life Star program from its beginnings in 1985 until the
late 1990s, started flying in 1967 with the U.S. Army in Vietnam. He returned with a Purple
Heart and Air Medals with V devices.
He then earned a degree in aviation management, and flew
off-shore to oil rigs before beginning his medical experience in 1979,
flying for Baptist Hospital in Florida.
Magner, who is still an active pilot with LIFE STAR, holds an airline transport rating and instrument rating
in both fixed wing and helicopters, and currently has more than 8,500 total hours of flight time.
In 1984, Magner received the prestigious Golden Hour award from Helicopter Association International,
which goes to the one pilot in the nation who displays outstanding ability in medical evacuation situations.
Saving Lives Since 1985
Saying Goodbye to
An Angel in Blue
June 20, 1992 was a dark
day for Hartford Hospital.
After seven years of accidentfree operation, a LIFE STAR
helicopter crashed onto Route
91 after striking power lines
near a Middletown rest area.
Flight nurse
Jennifer
Hodges, 32,
was killed in
the crash.
When LIFE STAR responded to its first
call in 1985, there were four people
aboard the helicopter: Dr. Lenworth Jacobs, director EMS/Trauma; chief pilot
Richard Magner; and flight nurses Jennifer Hodges and Cindy Gemmell.
Here is the roster of staff in 1985 - the
people who started this critical service:
Pilots: Richard Magner, Tom Flannagan and Tom Goff.
Flight nurses: Gerry Ballard, Lynn
Cowles, Sandra Diggert, Ellen Dunn,
Jane Dziadus, Cindy Gemmell, Jennifer Hodges, Margaret Lee and Sherry
Stohler.
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Respiratory Therapists: Don Anderson, Carol Director, Annette Ervin,
Glenn Flanagan, Carin Geithner, Julie Hopkins, Carol Jackson, Johanna
Karbonic, Nancy LaRoche, Liz Locascio, Ellen MacNaughton, Sherry Mirtl,
Daryl Rockwell, Ron Salonia and Ulla
Tiik-Lasky.
Dispatchers: Ronald Cox, Robert
Cummiskey, Peter Forster, Sally Gionfriddo, Raymond Kelley, Gary Kirkpatrick, John Lowe, Beth Mitchell, Dennis
O’Connell, Luz Plumey, Kevin Robinson, Stanley Rozynski, Michael Schiavone, Kenneth Schlegel, Leonard Simmons, John Tully and Len Walker.
The other
two members of the
flight crew - respiratory
therapist Joy Minichello and
pilot Joseph Bremseth - were
hospitalized after the crash,
but survived.
On the day of Jennifer’s
funeral, a LIFE STAR
helicopter hovered over the
First Church of Christ
Congregational in West
Hartford while her ashes
were buried
in a memorial garden.
LIFE STAR 30th Anniversary Special - 7
William O’Brien = Exhibit A:
Living Proof of the Lifesaving Prowess of LIFE STAR
At Hartford Hospital’s Black
and Red Gala last winter, a
handsome young man, his
blonde hair parted just so,
his tux crisper than James
Bond’s, circulated among
the cocktail-party crowd
and paused for an interview
with reporters broadcasting
live from the event. He could
have been an entertainer or a
celebrity guest. But he wasn’t.
William O’Brien Jr. was
Exhibit A for the lifesaving prowess of LIFE STAR
and the trauma team at
Hartford Hospital.
In May 2010, O’Brien became
one of the 32,000 desperately
injured or ill patients whoLIFE
STAR has transported to Hartford Hospital in the 30 years
since its first flight in 1985.
Although not everybody survives, O’Brien became one of
the many who has lived to say
“thank you.”
O’Brien was 19 and
had just finished his
freshman year at
UConn. He was driving home from his
summer job when
he crashed into a
highway retaining
wall, crushing the
cab of his truck.
He had multiple broken bones, and was
bleeding profusely.
Time was the ene- Today, William is completely recovered from his injuries.
He is grateful that LIFE STAR was there to save his life.
my. His only chance
was getting to the
crew was able to start treating
trauma center at Hartford O’Brien even before they lifted
Hospital – fast.
off for the return flight.
Within seven minutes of receiving the call, LIFE STAR took off
from the helipad at Hartford
Hospital, with a pilot, a flight
nurse and a flight respiratory
therapist aboard.
About one-third of LIFE STAR’s
calls are for trauma patients
such as O’Brien, often the victims of horrible accidents.
The rest are for sick patients
such as cardiac, stroke or pediatric patients who must be
Carrying the same state-oftransported from one hospital
the-art equipment and exICU to another to ensure the
pertise found in any ICU, the
best care.
“We deliver critical care when
and where it is needed most,’’
said Dr. Kenneth Robinson,
director of LIFE STAR. “Every
day, we have the honor and
privilege of saving lives.’’
William O’Brien was transported by LIFE STAR to the Hartford Hospital Trauma Center
after a car accident left him critically injured and clinging to life.
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O’Brien, now 24, has relearned how to walk, talk and
play guitar and piano, activities he took for granted before
he was injured. His parents,
Lisa and William Sr., have gotten their son back. And they
could not be more grateful.