[0:00] All right. So I just want to talk for a second, if you can. I mean, anything that just comes to your head about LifeFlight. You know, I know you were the first director. I know things have changed over the years, you know, in 40 years.

[0:15] Just any thoughts you have about the program overall or what we've been able to build here, its growth, all the lives that we've been able to save. What comes to your mind first? Yeah.

[0:28] Well, when I think about the early days, what comes to my mind first is the first day of training, full day of training for the LifeFlight, quote unquote, LifeFlight nurses. We spent learning how to open and close the doors of a helicopter.

[0:54] That was where we started. And I guess we've come a long way, baby. Yeah, I would say so. I mean, at 35 years, it had been, you know, tens of thousands of patients and tens of thousands of flights. And I'm sure it's even gone up a ton, even in the last five. Yes. But I'll tell you what hasn't changed in the last five years from the first 35 is our safety record. and that's what I'm most proud of. We have run this program, I'm sure it's well over 50,000 lives now, without a single crash, without a single significant injury in a staff member. Now, I'm knocking wood all the time I'm talking to you. Right. But there aren't a lot of programs in this country that have a 40-year safety record without a significant blemish.

[2:06] And the challenge for us going forward, the patients will always be there. It's the safety and the quality of the care that we give that we... have to feel a legacy towards. That doesn't make a lot of sense, but speaking from the heart. Sure. Well, and I'm also sure that there's things you did 40 years ago that, you know, over the years you probably said, okay, we're not going to be flying in, you know, this sprinkle anymore, or, you know, we're not going to be flying in this kind of way. I'll give you a, an anecdote. Um,

[2:50] You said there are things we're not going to be doing anymore. In the early years, it was probably second year of the helicopter. Walter Merrill was the thoracic surgeon on call. And there was a guy with a stab wound to the heart, pericardial tamponade. And he was flat out dying. and we landed the helicopter on what is not Garland what's Medical Center Drive right in front of the entrance to the emergency department in proximity to all those buildings and

[3:40] Merrill met the guy in the ED. They went straight to the operating room. They relieved his pericardial tamponade. He went home a week later. We would never do that again. You would never land it there? Never land it there. And the landing spot has changed over the years, right? I mean, it used to be... Sure has. Now, in those days, the landing site was over on...

[4:11] One of the football fields, I think. That was when, I mean, the whole geography has changed so much. So Children's Hospital roughly was a football field or close to that or where the garages were.

[4:28] And so it was sort of a, it was an ambulance ride from the landing pad to the hospital. and that was what we were trying to avoid with that patient. It literally, with that problem, minutes are critical. Right, right.

[4:53] And then it ended up going to what, the fourth floor or so over the years? Ended up going up, the first roof was I guess the fourth floor of, or the top of TVC before TVC got big, and then when they put the new tower in, it went to the top of the tower. I know in the past when we've spoken, the New York Times and others had wanted to talk to you, and a lot of what they wanted to talk about was what is known as the Golden Hour. Can you tell me what that is?

[5:33] Well, the Golden Hour was a

[5:39] information tool for the public in the early days of trauma care and it simply reinforced the fact that time was a critical element in the equation for survival and trauma patients and you know there's really nothing magic about 60 minutes depending on the problem. But all problems have better outcomes if the resuscitation medical care is provided early rather than late. And that's one of the basic premises of LifeFlight. We began the resuscitation in the field with highly qualified people.

[6:38] and, you know, the lay public thinks, oh, helicopters just transport you fast. They're fast taxis. That's not the case. And the Golden Hour helped us articulate to the public that the critical element was getting the hospital to the patient, not necessarily the patient to the hospital. Does that make sense? Yes, fantastic, fantastic. Is there anything else you can think of that you wanted to tell me and any other memories? I knew that the safety thing was going to be a big part of it, and I'm like you. I knock wood, and it's almost like it's the most important thing, and it's also I don't want to jinx this either. No, but you've got to be able to talk about it because if you can't talk about it, you can't make it better.

[7:35] Exactly.