>> Johns Hopkins Lifeline was created
because there were all these patients
that needed to come to Hopkins for their medical care.
Johns Hopkins had things to offer
that the other hospitals just couldn't
and we wanted to create a service
that could take the ICU to them.
(ambulance siren)
>> Lifeline help patients by bringing
Hopkins Medicine to wherever they are.
We bring high tech medical care,
we bring all the services that you
would get in a Johns Hopkins ICU
and we bring that service to their bedside.
>> They're getting the same intensive care services
that we offer in our medical or surgical ICUs
from their hospital, all the way to our hospital.
I am so grateful and thankful that they came.
I really am 'cause everybody had given up on me
so it kind of, just to think that they cared enough
even to try to take me meant a whole lot.
>> On June 29th at four o'clock in the morning,
I woke up to a just loud crash sound.
>> I got some pains in the upper part of my abdomen
and I didn't know what it was
so I went to get back up and when I got up, I passed out.
>> I got a call from our command center,
that Denise was a patient in a hospital in Western Maryland
and they said that this was gonna
be a little bit of a tricky one.
Denise was experiencing a GI bleed.
Blood was pouring into her bowel
and they didn't know where it was coming from.
They kept giving her more blood
but without fixing the source,
there was nothing really they could do.
>> Mark: The surgeon called me aside and said,
okay, the only two things we can do is take her to surgery
or we can try transporting her.
>> We as a group decided that our best chances
would be for us to bring blood products
and medications with us and transport to Hopkins.
>> Lifeline team, to me was just as expert as could be,
very professional, but they were compassionate.
>> We got all supplies together
and we got in the ambulance and we started on our way
and we were running emergency lights
and sirens the whole way there
>> And all the way down, all I could do is pray.
And I prayed until I couldn't pray any more.
>> We were able to determine that she was bleeding
into her small intestine from an artery
and they were able to coil that artery
and stop the bleeding.
Because of that she survived to date.
The purpose of Lifeline is to deliver critical care
to a patient no matter where they are.
In Denise's case because of weather
that meant in an ambulance.
In Rodney's case, we were able to get a helicopter to him.
>> My plan was to go to the spa
and pick up a gift certificate for my wife
but when I got there, my chest felt funny
and then I lost all the feeling
in my lower part of my body and my legs.
>> He didn't know it at the time
but the largest artery in his body,
his aorta, was tearing itself apart.
The time from when the aorta starts to break open
to when it gets fixed is critically important to survival.
>> At this moment in his life time was, you know,
a precious gift that he didn't have a lot of.
>> My body was in the most excruciating pain
I'd ever experienced in my life
and all I could remember after that
was I heard a helicopter
and it actually brought some comfort to me,
I felt like I was being taken care of
and I was going to be okay.
>> To sit there and watch that helicopter and take him off
you know, my thought was, this is a blessing
and there's nothing better that could happen to him then
to make sure that he got to where
he needed to be as quickly as possible.
>> Rodney was able to get from Howard County
to Hopkins by helicopter in 10 minutes
where the vascular surgery team was waiting for him
and took him to the operating room overnight.
>> Timing was everything.
For the helicopter to land someone was right
there on the spot to take me to a bed.
>> Rodney was lucky.
He took something that most patients pass away from
and today he's spending time with his family
he's working out in the gym.
He's doing all the things that he enjoyed
before this happened to him.
>> We bring the same talents to the bedside,
whether your flight or ground.
>> Mark: In my mind if we had gone anywhere
but Hopkins, I would have lost it.
>> They saved my life.
>> I love being here.
I love my life, I love my family
and it's because of that group of people
that were able to pull it all together for me.
(soft music)