Angels in the air

Vanderbilt LifeFlight celebrates 25 years of saving lives

Published On: November 25, 2009

The request from Betsy Brittain read: "I am writing to request coverage of the Vanderbilt's LifeFlight Golden Hour—a celebration of 25 years of Lifeflight and saving lives...It's Wednesday, November 11, at the John C. Tune Hangar...I believe there are five parties in seven days, including the CMA Awards on the same night. The CMAs may have glamorous outfits; we have a helicopter and fixed-wing jet."

Say no more. You had us at helicopter. Who among us hasn't looked outside our car windows when the familiar whirr of a chopper's blades cut the sky? As the roar grows closer, you squint as you crane your head upward to see that familiar black and gold underbelly. It's then you know that brave souls are headed to someone's rescue. We love LifeFlight.

The special honoree for this silver anniversary was a most-deserving and beloved John Morris. One look at the scores of people sporting "I love Dr. Morris" buttons (and some of these people are his employees—ones who really love their boss!) was testimony to the magnitude of John's leadership and friendship. Lovingly called "the coach" of the LifeFlight crews and the man behind Vanderbilt's efforts to create the world's best-trained and skilled trauma team, John joined Vanderbilt alongside the arrival of LifeFlight and ever since then, oh how his fleet has grown!

Let's just check out an impressive statistic of the life-saving trauma center whose motto is "give us an hour—we'll give you a lifetime." In 25 years, the team has transported 33,000 patients and never crashed. That's not just impressive, it's also important, considering that Vanderbilt has the only Level 1 Trauma Center within the 65,000-square miles of Middle Tennessee and the parts of Kentucky it serves. Thanks to the vision of John and the skills of his team, the time, known as the "Golden Hour," between an injury and arrival at the trauma center is short. The swift skills of John's team have saved and touched countless lives.

While the missions are serious, the party was serious fun with guests climbing in and out of the chopper and fixed-wing jet and posing for pictures. Co-chairs Betsy Brittain and Janette Smith weaved amongst guests and willingly hopped into the chopper for photo ops (not easy in a dress!). Guests chatted up the trauma crews and pilots who, in our opinion, were not only more stylish than folks at the CMAs (come on, now—those uniforms are good-looking), but they were just as attractive. Who knew one of the requirements for working in trauma was good looks?

And yes, we admit we purchased a LifeFlight jacket in hopes we may be mistaken for one of the members of this city's favorite team. We're talking about players like Thomas Grubbs, a Vanderbilt LifeFlight nurse, and Billy Hamblin, a LifeFlight pilot, who were both honored with this year's Ross Award for their commitment to saving lives. Talk about All-Stars. These are the people. EN

—photographs by

jude ferrara