Hartford Hospital’s Life Star turns 25

Hartford Hospital’s Life Star turns 25

21-Jun-2010 Source: Hartford Hospital

Dr. Cathryn Fogel has seen it all. An anesthesiologist at Hartford Hospital, Dr. Fogel is often working in the level 1 Trauma center when some of the most critical calls come in. But she never expected to hear her own daughter was a patient flown in on LIFE STAR.

“That particular evening around 10 o’clock, I got a phone call,” said Dr. Fogel. “They needed me to identify a young lady who had come in on LIFE STAR. They thought it might be my daughter.”

“I was in the front passenger seat of my boyfriend’s car,” Dr. Fogel’s daughter Maurissa said. “It was wintertime. We just passed one of friends and came back into the lane. The car… lost control. We were trapped inside the car. Then LIFE STAR came. They got me out of the car and flew me to Hartford Hospital.”

Maurissa is one of nearly 24, 000 patients who has been flown in LIFE STAR since Hartford Hospital launched the program in 1985, about 1400 annually. Dr. Fogel believes her daughter is alive because of it.

“We’re all taught that the first hour after this kind of injury is critical,” Dr. Fogel said. “Maurissa was in the emergency room within a half hour of the accident.”

Maurissa Fogel was critically injured but has since made a full recovery. She and her family took part in LIFE STAR’s 25th anniversary celebration on June 18th at Maneely’s in South Windsor.

Dr. Lenworth Jacobs, Chief of Trauma at Hartford Hospital, was pivotal in bringing LIFE STAR to the state. He flew on that first flight.

“The first call came—it was just after midnight,” Dr. Jacobs remembers. “It was an amazing experience—for the patient, who did well, and for all of us.”

“What LIFE STAR did… it became an flying intensive care unit,” Dr. Jacobs said. “So that you were, in essence, admitted to HH right at the scene of the crash.”

Dr.Ken Robinson is Associate Chief of Medicine and Director of the LIFE STAR Helicopter Program. He points out, things have changed.

“We originally were operating on the ground at Hartford Hospital,” Dr. Robinson said. “Since that time the program has grown to add another aircraft. We’ve moved our operations to the roof of Hartford hospital… and built a hangar there also.”

“LIFE STAR epitomizes Hartford Hospital’s commitment to patients, to families across Connecticut and beyond,” said Hartford Hospital Executive Vice President and COO “These are visible symbols of everything we do at Hartford Hospital.”

And patients like Maurissa Fogel are living reminders that LIFE STAR serves a critical role in our state, saving lives for more than two decades.

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