Premier Health’s CareFlight has flown more 70,000 people to area hospitals in its 41 years of operations, but at the time CareFlight came to George’s aid, the service was only about five years old.
“Every day is a gift,” George’s wife, Sharon Pepper, said.
Right before his accident in 1988, George had been attempting to move a vintage 1962 two-seater sports car when the accelerator got stuck open.
One of the last things he remembered seeing before he crashed was the speedometer hitting 80 miles per hour, George said.
The car, lacking seatbelts and a collapsible steering column, crashed, pushing the steering column into George’s chest and causing significant trauma.
When the EMS team from Vandalia arrived, George was unconscious, struggling to breathe and bleeding from the mouth. The EMS team quickly called CareFlight.
“I remember thinking, I’m going to be okay, because these guys are good,” George said.
The flight nurses discovered that George’s right lung was not functioning. During the flight, his left lung also collapsed.
George was in and out of consciousness following his accident, recalling the helicopter ride woke him up once because of how loud the flight was.
Once they landed, the flight nurses rushed George to the Miami Valley Hospital Emergency Department, where his life was saved.
George spent two weeks in the hospital, and meeting the flight crew who saved his life left an impact on him. More than 30 years later, he became emotional telling the story of how the crew joined his family around his hospital bed, talking to him and sharing a hat with him.
While George wasn’t able to reconnect with that same flight crew during his recent visit to CareFlight’s headquarters, members of the current flight crew gave him a new hat to go along with his old one.
George never stopped being a survivor after that moment in 1988, having to go back to the hospital soon after his accident to have his right lung removed due to scar tissue that had built up following the accident. He later went on to survive prostate cancer and melanoma, a type of skin cancer.
CareFlight saved his life, George said.
“I like to think as a result of it, I may have saved some lives along the way,” George said.
George’s accident changed the trajectory of his life. After being on a ventilator following his accident, he realized he wanted to be on the other side of that ventilator, he said. George switched career paths, going into the medical field and becoming a respiratory therapist.
“I’ve lived a good life,” said George, who is now 79 years old.
George and Sharon have two children and seven grandchildren. Their family also recently welcomed a great granddaughter.
Any time flight crew members get to meet or reunite with former patients and their families, like George and Sharon, it is a meaningful experience, CareFlight flight nurses said.
“It makes you feel good that we get to have a positive impact,” said Jessica Oakley, a CareFlight flight nurse.
“We reach out and follow up as much as we can,” said Braden Wise, a CareFlight flight nurse and paramedic. “...It’s pretty awesome to be part of a program that’s known for high, excellent level care.”
CareFlight is a service of Premier Health, which has five hospitals in the region, including Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, the region’s only level 1 trauma center. In addition, Premier Health employs more than 11,000 people and provides care at its seven emergency departments, eight urgent care locations and more than 130 outpatient locations.
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