On Wednesday, 1 June, the St Andrew's Auxiliary convened its annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon at the beautiful Newagen Seaside Inn on Southport Island. Following opening remarks, President Carol Ostermann introduced Jim Donovan, President and CEO of LincolnHealth, who thanked the Auxiliary for ongoing financial contributions and volunteer support for both the St Andrew's Campus and The Village. Mr. Donovan went on to announce the May 3 opening of the Zimmerli Pavilion, a "state of the art" skilled rehab wing of St Andrews Village that already has seven of 12 available beds filled.

The official ribbon cutting ceremony for the Zimmerli Pavilion, a long awaited and much needed facility on the Boothbay peninsula is scheduled for Friday, June 24.

After a beautifully presented meal, no time was wasted in the introduction of the day's program. John Welsh, former CEO of Rumford Hospital, a 21-bed critical access facility in rural Maine, introduced LifeFlight of Maine, an air medical service that provides critical care transport across the entire state. When Welsh retired he joined the board of the LifeFlight Foundation after witnessing hundreds of lifesaving helicopter transfers from Rumford over the 18 years the transport service has been in operation.

As of March 2016, LifeFlight has cared for and transported 20,000 patients, averaging one patient every five hours. Of the 456 towns, cities and unorganized townships in Maine, LifeFlight has touched the lives of people in all but 24 Maine locales and although 64 percent of the flights are from one hospital to another, LifeFlight has also accessed rural roads, island communities, hiking trails and ski and snowmobiling terrain to rescue people in need of immediate care. This is only possible because, according to Melissa Arndt, Director of Communications, LifeFlight employs the Ferraris of the helicopter world which are small, lightweight and fast enough to get in and out of tight spots quickly and efficiently.

Unfortunately, the non-profit organization has only two helicopters and one fixed wing plane to cover the entire state of Maine and with the closing of hospitals, the shortage of ICU beds and the consolidation of critical care services, patients must sometimes be transported to hospitals as far away as Massachusetts, New York or Connecticut which places an even greater strain on the availability of their emergency resources.

In 2015 alone, 1,635 patients from 145 towns received care and transport from LifeFlight but, sadly, 350 calls could not be met. For those needing immediate trauma, cardiac, neonatal or acute surgical or medical care, LifeFlight can be the difference between life and death. These flying hospitals have more specialized equipment than most rural hospitals enabling on board personnel to treat and care for patients throughout the transport period.

At $6 million per helicopter and $500,000 for the equipment it carries, fundraising becomes an important part of the LifeFlight Foundation. A recent donation of $3 million has brought the group within $600,000 of purchasing a third helicopter. To learn more about this most important service or to make a donation, check out www.lifeflightmaine.org. 

At the conclusion of the program, Auxiliary President, Carol Ostermann and Treasurer, Carol Lingard, presented John Welsh and Melissa Arndt with a donation from the auxiliary in the amount of $2000.

Before bringing the event to closure, all new and honorary members of the Auxiliary were introduced by De Amplo, Membership Chair, who presented each with a lovely rose. Piet Harris, Service Records Chair, then recognized and thanked all those among the membership who volunteer their time and energy either at the St Andrews Thrift Store or at one or the other of the St Andrews healthcare facilities. In all, over 80 Auxiliary volunteers performed a total of 9,381 hours of service from April 4, 2015 through  March 31, 2016.

If you are interested in joining the St Andrews Auxiliary, contact De Amplo at seawood98@aol.com. If you would like to explore the idea of volunteering at The Village or at the Thrift Store, contact Giselle Armstrong at gisellearmstrong8@gmail.com or Penny Thumith at kthumith@roadrunner.com.