Life Flight crews, experienced, busy in the region.
Any Life Flight helicopter or mobile ICU is much more than ambulance, the area director explained to Lima Rotary Club Monday.
Brian Anderson, flight paramedic and EMS coordinator for St. Rita’s Life Flight and Mobile Life, spoke to the club, detailing how Life Flight in this region works.
Life Flight operates helicopters on four different bases and mobile intensive care units on three bases in Northwest Ohio, Anderson said. It also operates Life Flight in partnership with Parkview Samaritan Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Life Flight in Northwest Ohio transports 5,000 patients a year; 2,000 of those are by helicopter and 3,000 are by ground. Also, 25 percent of the flights are from accident scenes.
Life Flight has been available in the region since Dr. Frank Foss started the program in 1979 at St. Vincent Hospital in Toledo.
Each crew consists of a pilot, registered nurse and paramedic. They are experienced before they are hired and must maintain multiple certifications. They are directed by dispatchers and don’t need to communicate with airports unless they are flying above the clouds. Life Flight crews also partner and train with other specialty teams in the region, including bomb squads and dive teams, Anderson said.
While helicopter crews get the notoriety, mobile ICU crews have a more difficult job, Anderson believes.
“These are all very sick or very injured patients,” Anderson said. “When you’re in a helicopter, that’s probably a 20 minute flight. The mobile ICU is truly an intensive care unit on wheels, and you’ll be a patient in that vehicle for one to three hours.”
In other Rotary business Monday:
The club inducted five new members: St. Rita’s Health Partners CEO Bob Baxter, City of Lima Community Development Director Susan Crotty, Cowan Realtors Realtor Shelly Diepenbrock, Soldiers of Honor Boxing Gym Director Aaron McLaurine, Goodwill Easter Seals Regional Director of Program Services Beca Sheidler.
Members should have received their ballots for new executive committee and foundation board members. They are due by March 17.
The Four-Way Speech Contest will be at 9 a.m. Saturday at Lima Senior High School, featuring nine speakers.
Past President David Runk is looking for volunteers to help with updating a booklet about the club. The last update was in 2005.
Thanks to Andy Wannemacher for hosting a wonderful social night!
The February 28 social night had a Mardi Gras theme and Andy's assistant, Shannon, did an amazing job with the decorations. We had a fun game where Andy covered a tabnle of products and we had four seconds to remember them and write down which ones were associated with Wannemacher Total Logistics. The answer was, all of them! We had a lot of fun and learn a lot about what Wannemacher does. The king cake by Bent Spoon was delicious and no one got the baby, so Andy will hopefully host Mardi Gras next year too. It was a great social!
International projects are moving forward in Honduras.
Bob Ruehl has just returned from his 34th international service trip where he attended Uniendo Project Fair. Uniendo America 2017 was held at a beautiful resort on the beach in El Salvador at the end of January and provided a chance for local clubs to showcase their international service projects to prospective partners. After the project fair, Bob traveled to Honduras where he visited La Casa de la Nina, an orphanage for girls that is supported by Rotary District 6600. Bob says that over the years, he's watched young girls come into the orphanage and mature in young ladies, two of whom District 6600 is now supporting in college where one is studying to be a nurse and one is studying to be a doctor. Bob also met with our partners for the $200,000 sanitation and hygiene education project in the Merendón Mountains. We'll be constructing up to 130 demonstration latrines and sanitation solutions in five selected pilot villages, and the program could grow to as many as 2,000 latrines. Bob says a big part of this project is educating children on the use of latrines and proper sanitation, such as hand washing. He encourages all Rotarians to join him on these international service trips and make a difference in the lives of people who really need it.
Also at Monday's meeting, President Dave told us that our club's first Reverse Raffle was a huge success, raising more than $16,000 for the Lima Rotary Foundation. Thanks to everyone who participated and helped out!
At Monday's PolioPlus auction we will auction off 20 tons of stone delivered within 10 miles of Lima...a value of $550. Thanks to Joe Watson for the generous donation. Please join in the fun!
The Lima Rotary Club's Spring Blood Clinic is scheduled for May 6 at Senior Citizen Services.
The Lima Rotary Club and Lima Memorial Health System partner for this event which provides low cost blood screenings to the public. We need volunteers to type, collect money and serve donuts and juice. If interested please email Tracie Sanchez at tsanchez@limapallet.com or call 419-296-1338.
Rotary is partnering with other service organizations to inspire volunteers around the world to participate in International Week of Service, March 25-31, 2017.
Each year, Rotary members around the world log 16 million volunteer hours on projects on an international scale and in their own back yards. Information and resources for the event can be found at weekofservice.org. Organizations participating in this event include: Lions Clubs International, Rotary International, Optimist International, Junior Chamber International, Kiwanis International, Moose International, Soroptimist, Y’s Men International, Pilot International, and Sertoma.
