Evening For Heroes Honors Professionals in two Survivor Stories

The Louisiana state University Health sciences Foundation will hold its annual “An evening for Heroes” event May 8 at the shreveport Convention Center. the evening will honor the survivors of two accidents as well as associated emergency teams and medical professionals.

this year’s event should bring in another sold-out crowd of about 800, including the over 80 medical professionals involved in rescuing physical therapist trent Wierick of shreveport and nursing student Kaitlyn Parker of West Monroe. Wierick and Parker, the two individuals who will be the focus of the evening, were separately involved in accidents in 2012 and 2013, respectively, which left them facing lifethreatening injuries.

thanks to the skills and caring of LsU Health physicians, University Health nurses, firefighters and sheriffs in ouachita and Desoto parishes, flight crews from Life Air rescue and Pafford Air one and more, both patients were able to survive and get on the road to recovery.

Parker had just graduated at the top of her high school class and was about to start nursing school when, Sept. 1 just weeks before her 18th birthday, as she was driving her car in Monroe on an errand for her mother, she was hit head-on by another driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel. The impact broke bones in both of Parker’s arms and both legs, with severe damage to her right wrist and hand. She is recovering through physical therapy.

Wierick left work at LSU Health on June 14, 2012, for a casual bicycle training ride with some friends. He had just completed his second Ironman Triathlon and was preparing for more, but as he navigated a sharp turn onto Stonewall–Frierson Road, he collided directly with an oncoming truck. The impact collapsed his left lung, broke 12 ribs in multiple places, shattered his shoulder blade and fractured vertebrae in his back. He recovered and has since completed a triathlon.

These harrowing yet inspiring stories of Parker and Wierick will be told in video re-enactments at the event, followed by an award ceremony for honored guests.

Parker was unavailable for a Forum interview, but Wierick said that one of the things that helped him get through the accident, besides being in top physical condition, was knowing that his colleagues were the ones saving his life.

“After the impact, I was on the ground and couldn’t breathe, and I got to a point where I started thinking, well, this is it. I could hear gurgling in my left side, so I knew things weren’t good. When EMS came, I heard them calling for Life Air Rescue for the helicopter and saying I needed to go to LSU. I was thankful because having worked at LSU for eight years, I knew a lot of the people there, and I knew they would take care of me. They put in chest tubes at LSU, and I knew the guy doing it, and I knew the doctors. I was drifting in and out of shock and not totally coherent, but it comforted me to see my friends.”

Wierick spent 13 nights in the ICU and underwent a massive rib plating procedure to secure his ribs in place. He was discharged and returned a few weeks later to have a plate screwed into his neck to secure his shoulder blade. He said the accident gave him a new perspective on his career as a physical therapist, which he has since returned.

“Having the knowledge I have about the body, I knew what I had to do and what to expect to get back to my previous level of health, but particularly on an outpatient basis, while I was getting my shoulder arranged in physical therapy and working on strengthening exercises, it was a lot more painful than I expected it would be. That brought me a new understanding of how to treat my own patients.”

Amazingly, Wierick competed in another triathlon last August, just 14 months after the accident. Not only that, but he and his wife had a big ray of hope shine through on Wierick’s second day in ICU.

“My wife and I had been through a four-year journey of infertility, and we had gone through multiple procedures and some very difficult times,” he said. “A day after the surgery, my wife found out she was pregnant, so now we have a 14-month-old daughter, Mary Caroline. I believe God had something in mind for us. He knew we would be going through a tough situation and would need something to lift us up, and he provided us with a child. That kind of made everything worth it.”

As happy as the couple is today about their daughter, Wierick said he’s not keen on an exact repeat of events.

“I’d like to have more kids, but I’m not going to throw myself in front of a truck again. I mean if that’s what takes, I’m not making any promises!” Dr. John T. Owings, director of trauma services and professor of surgery at LSU Health, worked on Parker when she came in, and said one of the major challenges for her now is the persistent nerve injury in her right hand.

“The regrowth rate of damaged nerves is about one millimeter a month, and she’s in her teens, so that’s an eternity,” he said. “There’s also [post traumatic stress disorder] for anyone who goes through something like that, as well, for her and her family.”

Owings was a trauma surgeon at the University of California for 27 years before coming to LSU Health in 2013. He said that for victims of bad accidents or crimes, getting to a trauma center fast is critical.

“I tell staff here they have 15 minutes to be in the emergency room with me from the time the pager goes off based on the EMS call,” he said. “That’s a pretty short leash, but it’s what we have to do … you want to get to the patient in that first ‘golden hour’ when you can arrest the bleeding, replace fluids and blood so they don’t get to point where the heart is decompensating and you lose them.”

Owens explained there are multiple facets to the Evening for Heroes event.

“We want to identify and commend all of the people who go into taking care of the injured, from the EMS operator all the way to physical therapy; to recognize those people who frequently would just say, ‘It’s just our job.’ We also want to raise funds for the trauma center. Trauma as a disease is responsible for more lost years of productive life than cancer, stroke and all heart disease combined. We also just need to increase public awareness of this resource. It’s important for the community to understand all the different elements involved when there’s a motor vehicle collision and someone has an injury. There’s an enormous up-front response that’s necessary to prevent death.”

That’s something most healthy people don’t consider until they’re on the receiving end, he said.

“People think, oh that’s someone else with that injury or disease, but honestly it’s always someone else, until suddenly it’s you … the stakes are very high after an accident. It’s life and death, and we’re all on a clock with about an hour to either have things go in the right direction or not.

“It’s gratifying to save lives, and there’s a little adrenaline junky in that, and the feeling of being able to work miracles with the help of God, but I never think it’s just me alone in the room. It’s a fool who believes they’re doing it alone. You feel one day like you’re at the top of Everest and the next day at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, but you take all in stride and recognize there’s a higher power, and you’re just a participant put there to do the work you did that day.”

– Eric Lincoln See Page 24 for a full list of heroes.

Want to go?

‘An Evening for Heroes’ will hold a reception at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m.

May 8 at the Shreveport Convention Center. Tickets are $150 per person with sponsorships from $2,000.

For more information, go to the website, www.lsuhsfoundation.org, or call 861-0855.

On the cover: Physical Therapist Amanda Bernard, DPT; Desoto Parish Sheriff’s Deputy James Jones; Surgery Resident Miles Sugar, MD; Physical Therapist Josh Robert, DPT; Trent Wierick; Life Air Rescue Flight Medic Mike Mackey; Desoto Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Antonio Evans; and Physical Therapist Amanda Mahoney, DPT

Trent’s Heroes

LSU Faculty and Residents
Assistant Professor of orthopedics Shane Barton, MD
Clinical Professor of surgery Philip Cole, MD
Professor of Clinical Medicine Laurie Grier, MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical surgery Lawrence Hiller, MD
Clinical Instructor of Physical therapy Amanda Mahoney, DPt
Former surgery resident Tim Matatov, MD
Surgery resident Kaavya Reddy, MD
Senior Associate Dean Kevin Sittig, MD
Surgery resident Miles Sugar, MD
Surgery resident Beth Townsend, MD
Associate Professor of surgery Richard Wigle, MD

Hospital Staff
Surgical ICU RN Casey Areheart
Physical therapist Amanda Bernard, DPt
Operating room RN Damion Brooks
Life share Med tech Teresa Bruce
University Police Corporal Scottie Carter
Emergency Care Center RN Kevin Fendley
Radiological tech Taili Ford
Surgical ICU RN Emily Adams Fort
Surgical ICU RN Ben Griffin
Burn Unit RN Steven Galbraith
Surgical ICU RN Deena James
Interventional radiology RN Susan Lewis
Emergency Care Center RN Kandi Lopez
Blood Bank Med tech Daphne Pickett
Surgical ICU RN Seth Robinson
Physical therapist Josh Robert, DPt
Surgical ICU RN Annie Rodgers
Surgical ICU RN Tonya Sanders
Surgical ICU RN Amy Sparks
Physical therapy tech Derrick Turner
Respiratory therapist Susan Warf
Chaplin Joe Wiggins
Respiratory therapist Tonya Winkler

Desoto Parish EMS
Paramedic Patrick Benefield
EMT Eric Tyler

Life Air Rescue
Flight Nurse Caryn Pope
Flight Medic Mike Mackey
Pilot Harry Leonard
Communications Wendy Mathews

Desoto Parish 911
Dispatcher Emily Litton
Dispatcher Shade Adams

Desoto Parish Sheriff’s Office
Deputy James Jones
Deputy Antonio evans

Civilian Responder
Jason Weinland 

Kaitlyn’s Heroes

LSU Health Shreveport Faculty and Residents
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology Debbie Chandler, MD
radiology resident Michael Colter Gates, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics Rebecca Green, MD
orthopedic surgery resident erin Mariano, MD
Assistant Professor of emergency Medicine Brian Martin, MD
Nurse Anesthetist Kirk Martinson, CrNA
Professor of orthopedic surgery Massimo Morandi, MD
Professor of surgery and trauma Medical Director John owings, MD
Surgery Resident Jane sugar, MD

Hospital Staff
Emergency Care Center RN Mandalyn Dean
Surgical ICU RN Janee Greer
Emergency Care Center RN Rick Haggard
Surgical ICU RN Robert Hayes
Surgical ICU RN Joseph Martin
Respiratory therapist Brandy McKay
Respiratory therapist Tamela Moore
Surgical ICU RN Patricia Overholser
Emergency Care Center RN Pam Walker

LifeShare Blood Center
Transfusion services Manager Patty Siebeling

Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office
Deputy Jerry Benson
Corporal Dale Chelette
Lieutenant Denver Sams
Deputy Matt Waggoner
Sergeant Todd Walden

AMR Monroe
Paramedic Caleb Ferrell
Paramedic Scott Johnson
EMT Isidro Magana
EMT Mark Parker

Pafford Air One
Paramedic Tommy Anderson
Flight Nurse Douglas Chism
Pilot Al Franklin

Ouachita Parish Fire Department EMS
Captain Roger Greer
Driver Danny Nelson
Driver Rodney Remore
District Chief Fred Thomas
Captain Bruce Thornton

Civilian Responder
Jennifer Almond