The University of New Mexico Hospital may be located in Albuquerque, but as the state’s only Level-I trauma center, UNM Hospital is the hospital for every New Mexican when it comes to providing the highest level of care in life-threatening situations.
That was the case for 72-year-old Richard Neely, whose heart unexpectedly stopped one morning at his home in Farmington last fall.
November 7, 2023, began like any other. Neely said he was cleaning the coffee pot in his kitchen when he suddenly felt like he could no longer stand. He slowly lowered himself to the kitchen floor and told his wife, Susie Neely, to call 911. Paramedics quickly arrived and took him to the ICU at San Juan Regional Medical Center (SJRMC) in Farmington, where doctors quickly removed a 3.5x1.5-inch blood clot—roughly the size of a pen-- spanning his lungs.
When a person’s heart stops like Richard Neely’s, chances of survival are less than 10-percent. Despite Farmington doctors’ intervention to remove the blood clot in the lungs, he remained very unstable. The care team at SJRMC worried he would be too sick to transport to Albuquerque without more aggressive life support, so they called Todd Dettmer, MD, the chief of the Critical Care Division within UNM Hospital’s Department of Emergency Medicine.
Dettmer jumped into action and coordinated with UNM Lifeguard, an airborne medical rescue team, to fly from Albuquerque to Farmington. On board was an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine that the team hoped would increase Richard Neely’s chance of survival.
Dettmer said ECMO may increase life expectancy for the sickest of the sick patients. In cardiac arrest, it increases the chance of survival from less than 10 percent to more than 30 percent.
“We take a patient whose heart is not working or is actually stopped, and we are able to put them on essentially an artificial heart and lung machine, to provide support to them to buy some time to be able to do the interventions that need to happen to save the patient's life,” Dettmer explained.
“We are unique in that we're one of two hospitals that has this form of life support, but UNM Hospital is really the only hospital in the state of New Mexico that provides a team that will go with Lifeguard to actually do the procedure necessary at someone else's hospital, to put the patient on this form of life support.”
After Dettmer completed the ECMO procedure on Richard Neely at SJRMC, UNM Hospital’s team of flight physicians and paramedics jumped into action, tightly packed the six-foot-three patient, still inside the large life support system, as well as a six-foot-five Dettmer on a small passenger plane.
Susie Neely watched as they slowly and carefully loaded her husband onto the Albuquerque-bound plane.
“I just remember how monumental in size that whole thing was,” she said. “You've got about six people, doctors, nurses, pilots, and they had him wrapped up like a big huge burrito.”
Watch Susie and Richard Neely, his doctors and flight paramedics recount his life-saving transport from SJRMC to UNM Hospital.
By the time Susie Neely got to Albuquerque by car, Richard Neely was already settled in the ICU at UNM Hospital, still connected to the ECMO machine and receiving medication to treat the remaining clot in his lungs.
He was going to live.
“The next morning, I knew it was going to be okay, and I can’t say enough good about UNM Hospital because they saved my man,” Susie Neely said.
Richard Neely remained unconscious for the next five days. To the amazement of his UNM Hospital care team, after another three days, he was able to walk himself out of the hospital.
When reflecting on his own story, Neely has a unique perspective. He is president of the American Amateur Baseball Congress, which is the parent of the famous Connie Mack World Series that takes place in Farmington every year.
“That's my love, my passion,” he said.
So, naturally, the lifelong fan of “America’s favorite pastime” described his medical team’s response in baseball terms.
“I had the Babe Ruths, the Lou Gehrigs, all the Hall of Famers, I had them all,” he said. “They hit a grand slam every time they were up, whether the bases were loaded or not. They did it.”
The now fully-recovered baseball lover said his care team at UNM Hospital team gave him extra innings.
“In baseball terms, that means an extended game,” Richard Neely said. “I got an extended game.”
With that extra time, he said he wants to give back.
Right now, the ECMO machine that Richard Neely credits with saving his life is stored in Albuquerque. He is prepared to make a large donation to establish one in Farmington to cut back on travel time and hopefully save more lives. He does not yet have a timeline for when that could happen.
“I guess I'm here for a purpose, and you know, it's a great way to give back,” Richard Neely said.
Procedures like the one that saved Richard Neely’s life are made possible, in part, by Mill Levy funding, which represents about 10% of UNM Hospital’s overall budget. To learn more about how the Mill Levy affects you and your loved ones click here