This week we had Dan Miller, CEO of Medical Center of Aurora, along with Emily Trujillo, Senior Vice President. Dan started off with a story of a 39 year old that was flown in from Wyoming with a major heart emergency. Initially, even with surgery, there was a 95% chance of the patient dying. They brought him to the OR, and began what was a 20 hour surgery. The doctors that began the operation stayed with the patient the entire time, they did not change out. Twenty hours in and the patient had a stroke and unfortunately passed away. It was a very difficult case and was made harder by the fact that the patient had a young daughter and wife. The family made the decision to donate his organs and made a plaster mold of his hands alongside his daughter’s and wife’s all intertwined. Dan shared the story of Anthony, who was a patient that suffered from depression. Colorado is the 6th highest state in completed suicides. Anthony came in with a self-inflicted shot to the head and was pronounced dead not long after arrival. He was brought to the trauma center and the process of harvesting his organ for donation began. His mom had recently told him to mark that on his license. A mold was made of Anthony’s hands with his sisters and the mom, and every donor now has this service done for free with the supplies donated by Hobby Lobby. As part of Anthony’s legacy there are now 5 social workers in APS committed to suicide prevention.
Lastly, the story was shared of a 28 year old that was having her 3rd baby. After the C-section, the uterus inverted, which by itself is very risky. The patient coded “white” and 60 units of blood, or 3 times the amount in the body, had to be administered. She then had an embolism and coded while the dad was still in the room. The trauma staff did chest compressions for 20 minutes. Miraculously, they brought her back, but the incision began to bleed. The surgeon by hand was able to reach in the incision and find a laceration on her liver, packed it to stop the bleeding, but she coded again with heart and lung failure. She had a mechanical heart and lung bypass called ECMO, and after one day was able to function on her own again. She is now alive and upright.