Remembering Michelle North

Article Outline

• Abstract
• A eulogy for Michelle
  • First sight
  • Her Life as a life flight pilot
  • Skill, humor, knowledge, experience, and communication
  • Struggles with attitudes
  • Controversialist, entertainer, humorist
  • Recognition by the air medical industry
• Copyright

Abstract 

“But I desire to be the purple, that small and shining part that makes the rest seem fair and beautiful. Why then do you bid me to become one of the multitude? Then were I no longer the purple.”

This saying was given to me when I was a teen-ager in a time when we thought we could change the world. I have been fortunate to meet some “purple people” throughout my life and nursing career. Two of these people have departed this world, but what they left will continue to inspire.

I Met Michelle North 10 Years Ago When She Started Her Crusade To Ensure That We And The Patients We Transported Were Safe In The Transport Environment. Even Though She Worked For Another Company, She Came To University Air Care In Cincinnati And, Over A Number Of Years, Worked With Us To Identify How We Could Make What We Do Better And Always Safer. Initially, It Was A Pretty Painful Process—No One Thinks They Are Unsafe.

Her initial work set the foundation for crew resource management (CRM) to become an integral and required part of patient transport. What we do is a team effort. Even though we have different roles, no one is greater than the other. The primary goal is to safely and competently move patients. Michelle had no problems getting her message across. Many times when she did this, however, she struck nerves. She actually reveled in striking them because then she knew that at least people were listening.

Michelle died on July 12, 2004, from cancer. This issue of Air Medical Journal honors her by featuring some of the accolades she and her work received at home and abroad. However, the greatest tribute that we can provide is stopping the deaths and injuries that result from not paying attention to safety and each other as transport team members.

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I also would like to acknowledge the loss of Dr. Daniel Storer, the first medical director of University Air Care. He died suddenly in September and, ironically, on the helicopter while he was in transport to the hospital. He had a dream to provide the best emergency care to the people of the greater Cincinnati area. He also was a tireless educator for both prehospital and emergency care providers.

Both of these people were purple. What they did helped to make the world fair and beautiful. I hope that we will never forget them and continue to honor them by providing safe and competent patient care.

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A eulogy for Michelle 

Russ Spray, president and chief executive officer of Turbomeca USA, delivered the following eulogy at the memorial service for Michelle North in July 2004.

We all enter this life with a paintbrush and an empty canvas. Some of us go through our lives painting lines and boxes, some of us paint arcs and circles, and there are a few that paint rainbows. Michelle's rainbows are some of the best. She made us laugh, she made us cry, and most of all she made us think. We are all better for having known Michelle.

First sight 

I will never forget the first time I met Michelle. I was visiting the pilot's quarters at Stanford Life Flight and reviewing the flight program with the on-duty pilot when the door to the quarters flew open and I was confronted with a loud “howdy” and a wide grin.

I had heard that we had recently hired a woman pilot at Rocky Mountain (Helicopters, RMH) and that she would be assigned to the Stanford program. Women are an oddity in this male-dominated business, and I was concerned that this woman pilot could stand her own against these pretty strong-willed male counterparts.

Well, this new pilot of ours at Rocky Mountain seemed strong-willed enough, and it was apparent she never knew how to whisper. When I asked her how her first week at Stanford had gone and how she was getting along with the rest of the pilots, she answered, “Heck, they're a great bunch of guys, a little pig-headed at times, but nothing that can't be managed with a little ol' psychology.”

I looked over Michelle's shoulder and noticed that one of the pilots had left his locker open and just inside the locker door was a photo of six ladies with their backs to the camera, all wearing nothing but thongs. At that moment I froze, thinking that this female pilot thing was probably not going to work. Just then Michelle turned and went to her locker and threw open the door. To my surprise was a photo, just inside the locker door, with six guys all with their backs to the camera, dressed only in thongs. I thought to myself, “What the heck! I think this lady pilot will do just fine.”

Her Life as a life flight pilot 

Life continued on at Stanford, and Michelle not only survived her assimilation into the flight program and Rocky Mountain, but it soon became apparent that her outgoing personality was winning the hearts and minds of her medical team members.

Michelle transferred from Stanford to the UC Davis Sacramento Life Flight program and quickly won the hearts of the medical teams that flew with her. Commanding one of Rocky's new BK 117 twin-engine helicopters, Michelle demonstrated her flight expertise and professionalism, flying countless patient recovery missions without a single incident.

It wasn't long before Michelle was appointed the safety officer for the flight program, and it didn't take her long to begin a long-term attempt to instill best practices and active communication to a previously senior and lethargic flight program. It was here that Michelle became known to us at Rocky Mountain as an “in-your-face” safety officer.

Over the next couple of years, I was engrossed in attempting to restructure Rocky Mountain both financially and structurally. For many years I had dreamed of creating a flight standards department with dedicated instructor pilots complemented by a safety department under strong and experienced leadership. The safety and check airmen personnel would be responsible for the development, oversight, and enforcement of RMH policies and procedures. Each would hold hire/fire authority and could demand strict adherence to policy.

In 1995, RMH was successfully restructured, and we set about recruiting for positions within the new standards and safety departments. The head of this newly formed safety department, Hans Hilkhuysen, informed me that he had received an expression of interest from Michelle North for the position of safety director. I had convinced myself that the skills and experience for this vital position would have to be sought nationally from outside the company. I felt I knew the majority of the RMH employees and did not recall anyone having the experience I envisioned.

I called Michelle to “let her down gently.” She told me she did not understand why I wouldn't consider her for the position. After all, she had more experience in flight safety than anyone in the company. I calmly asked Michelle to just go ahead and send me a revised résumé with a brief description of her approach to developing a quality safety department. I returned to reviewing candidates and felt that I had probably heard the last from Michelle. Anyway, what kind of experience could this gal possibly have?

It wasn't long before my secretary entered my office describing this endless fax from Michelle with page after page of military safety training and experience. At that point I phoned Michelle and said, “What experience! Our personnel files did not indicate much safety experience!” Michelle remarked, “Well, no one asked me to provide my safety management time when I was hiring on as a line pilot.” Here was a gal that was retiring as an Army colonel and Blackhawk commander with a record of training from practically every safety program offered by the US government and possessing a bachelor's degree in education and master's degree in psychology. Where had she been all my life!

Skill, humor, knowledge, experience, and communication 

Michelle brought an interesting package of skill, humor, knowledge, experience, and, above all, communications to her new role as director of safety. The goal was zero defects, zero accidents, zero incidents, and for the next 6 years, as Rocky more than doubled in size and complexity, Michelle managed to achieve that goal.

It was then decided to share Michelle's talents and success with the rest of the air medical industry. It was our theory that, if we could make the rest of the industry safe from accident, more people would turn to the helicopter for air medical transport and the insurance industry would reverse a trend that threatened the industry with closure. It was then that The Wisdom Well was born.

It didn't take long before Michelle was providing training of all sorts to aviation and medical personnel throughout the US and abroad. No one individual in my 40 years in aviation has held such an impact on the safety of flight. No one can calculate the number of lives and aircraft saved through Michelle's back-to-basics and in-your-face approach to safety awareness.

Struggles with attitudes 

Michelle struggled with the apathy that often infects a maturing industry. She placed herself in the role of warrior against complacency. She skillfully used controversy to capture our attention before driving the lesson home.

Controversialist, entertainer, humorist 

Why are you here today? Are you sad? Are you angry? All of these are normal reactions to our loss. Because each of us in our own way loved and respected this little gal with a fire in her belly and the ability to make us learn and, at the same time, laugh at the world and ourselves. And maybe we are a little angry because Michelle still had so much to teach us.

Whether it was an outlandish costume, a group cheer, a silly handout, or a grand entrance, Michelle captured and held our attention until she got her point across.

Michelle had that rare talent to make us see ourselves and our surroundings in a different light. She knew what we were thinking and what we were going to say long before we opened our mouths. When we resisted change, she forced us to face and overcome our fears. Her energy and love of life were intoxicating!

Michelle expanded our capabilities to see ourselves and understand our own personal makeup. She christened us with the introspection of our behavior and made us capable of embracing new thought.

Recognition by the air medical industry 

Without doubt, Michelle is the most decorated and awarded individual in air medical history. I seriously doubt if ever anyone will reach her achievements. Michelle became a role model for many of us. Her untiring dedication to safety and the integrity with which she pursued her goals in spite of personal pain and suffering should continue to serve as an example to the air medical industry to never let our guard or Michelle down.

Michelle left this world fighting, for she knew there was still so much work to be done. As in all things, life will go on, and flight teams all over the world will respond to requests for help, but no one will ever be able to quantify the loss of an incredible teacher, wife, and mother. My heart goes out to Randy and Michelle's children, and I thank them for having shared Michelle with us.

To know her is to love her. Let us continue to honor and celebrate her many accomplishments.