“In The Air” with AirLife Denver

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AirLife Flight Nurse, Patient Form Lasting Bond 

by Joelle Moran, Staff Writer, Denver’s Nursing Star 

To this day 17-year-old Jaime Culley still lights up when she hears the name “Helicopter Bob.” 

Bob Greene is, after all, one of the many health care workers who came together one summer day nearly eight years ago to help save Jaime’s amputated hand. 

Nurse and Patient revisit after successful outcome

He was the one who comforted Jaime while she was airlifted from Loveland to Denver, shielding her from the glaring sun, managing her pain and reassuring her mother, Barb Culley, following a horrific boating accident. 

“He was very comforting,” Jaime said. “After I had surgery, I remember him coming to see me in the morning, and I recognized him as the one that was keeping me comfortable. It was nice to see the familiar face first thing.” 

Although all subtle aspects of his job as an AirLife Denver flight nurse, Bob’s actions and caring nature stuck with Jaime and her mother and forged a bond that will last a lifetime. Jaime and her mother have kept in touch with Bob, updating him on Jaime’s rehabilitation and progress in life. 

While Barb is grateful to the entire medical team that helped save her daughter’s hand that day, she was touched by Bob’s genuine concern for Jaime. 

“He cared about Jaime enough to stop and see how it turned out,” Barb said. “It really told be so much about him.” 

Jaime was almost 11 years old when the accident happened. She was boating with her family at Boyd Lake in Loveland, riding on a jet ski that was pulling a tube. She was with her father and was holding the tube on the back of the jet ski because they were in an area of the lake where the tube couldn’t drag behind the jet ski. 

“We hit a big wave and a gust of wind came up at the same time. I reached for it and the rope wrapped around my wrist and pulled my hand off with it,” Jaime recalled. 

The paramedics responded to the 9-1-1 call and Jaime was taken to McKee Medical Center in Loveland, where doctors contacted the limb preservation specialists at Denver’s Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center. The ER team at McKee preserved her hand and HealthOne’s AirLife, with Bob and his partner aboard, were called to transport Jaime to Denver. 

“They had done a great job of caring for her and her hand,” Bob said. “They did all the things right.” 

Jaime remembers it being chaotic and feeling a little freaked out while in the ER with nurses and doctors bustling around using technical terms. But as soon as she was aboard the helicopter with Bob, she was OK. 

“I was actually OK. I don’t know why,” she said. “A lot of people told me I stayed really calm. I felt like I was the most calm when I was being transported in the helicopter.” At Presbyterian St. Luke’s, Jaime’s left hand was reattached after hours of surgery. She had a second surgery about three months later to reattach the tendons. After daily physical therapy for a couple of years, Jaime regained use of her hand. Her wrist is fine, but she has a little bit of flex and extension and finger movements that aren’t normal. 

She had been a synchronized skater and had to give it up due to the tugging and pulling nature of the sport. But she took up field hockey. She graduated from high school in the spring and will attend Colorado State University this fall, where she hopes to pursue a degree in veterinary science. 

“It was so many miracles that made it work out and everybody just kind of stepped into place and did what they needed to do and it worked our perfectly,” Jaime said. 

Following the accident, Barb made contact with several of the health care workers who cared for Jaime that day, including Bob. 

“I made an effort to check in on him and he seemed to care how she was doing and it was important for me to let them know that what they did for her was so important,” Barb said. “I couldn’t be more grateful.” 

Barb keeps Bob up-to-date with Jaime’s progress over the years, even inviting him to her high school graduation. Because emergency workers often never see their patients again, Barb felt it was important to let them know that their work had a positive ending. 

“All of the emergency personnel, whether they wanted to or not, became a part of my family that day,” Barb said. “Not one of them scared me at all. They handled it all so well. They were dealing with something pretty horrific and I knew that if they knew that it turned out better than they ever thought it could, it would keep them going.” Bob couldn’t be more appreciative for the way Barb reached out. 

“This has been really cool to see her grow up and thrive,” he said. “For me, what struck home is that every link in the chain of her care did exactly what it should do and if something in the chain would have fallen through, she wouldn’t have her hand.” 

Bob was intrigued by flight nursing as a kid. His grandparents lived near Aurora Medical Center, which was where AirLife was based when he was a kid, and he remembers seeing the helicopters come and go. And in his 20s, he knew he wanted to pursue a career in the medical field. The idea of caring for a variety of patients outside in often unpredictable settings paved his course to flight nursing. He earned his BSN in 1993 from the University of Colorado-Denver Health Sciences Center. 

Whether caring for trauma or stroke patients or transporting an OB patient, to the rarer accident scene, Bob thrives on the variety of his work. 

“You never know where you’re going to be. I could be on a jet in Wyoming and in Castle Rock in a helicopter at the end of my shift,” he said. “You’re never bored. You’re challenged in a good way.” 

After 11 years with AirLife and six years of ER and ICU nursing before that, Bob has seen his share of trauma and triumph. But Jaime is one his patients that he’ll remember for life. While some patients will come back once and say thanks, Bob said it’s rare to build lasting relationships with patients. 

“People who take the time, it makes it so worthwhile and so productive,” he said. “It happens every once in a while and that fuels your soul and charges your battery.”