Right Again: Honoring a New Hampshire Provider's 40 Years of Service

On April 1, 1980, Richard Lamie was hired by Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.H., as the first employee and supervisor of its newly formed Frisbie Memorial Hospital Ambulance Service. April 2020 was the service’s 40th anniversary and Richard’s 40th year with it.

Lamie graduated from St. Francis College at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine, with a degree in psychology and minor in sociology. While there he worked in the school infirmary doing cleaning and handing out bandages and cough syrup to students who didn’t feel well. In the evening, when the nurse was off duty, students would come in complaining of cough and cold symptoms. Lamie would treat them with a mixture he’d concoct in the infirmary using codeine and Sudafed. 

Unable to find a job after graduation, he returned to Newmarket, N.H., around 1977. There he started working for a family friend who ran a painting business. He was asked to join the Newmarket ambulance service and obtain his EMT license. Having enjoyed working in the infirmary at college, he thought, Why not? He did just that, obtaining his EMT-Basic, then later his EMT-I in 1984. From Newmarket he found his way to Benoit Ambulance in Rochester.

In 1980 Benoit didn’t renew its contract with the city. At the same time Frisbie Memorial Hospital was looking at taking over ambulance service for Rochester. Thinking hospital-based EMS could provide better service to the community, its leaders asked Lamie to head up the service. He was the first EMS provider hired. The service began with one ambulance from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on-call coverage from 11 p.m.–7 a.m.

Patrick Lanzetta, MD, was its medical director. He was a military doctor and a perfect fit for this position. He increased training to better integrate the EMS staff into the ER, covering pulmonary care, cardiology, and orthopedics and assisting the on-call medical staff. He set up equipment and sterile fields and assisted doctors with procedures.

During this period there were limited protocols for the EMS to work with—each hospital had its own—but New Hampshire was slowly developing statewide protocols. 

Decades of Growth

“Richard is a great fellow, the backbone of Frisbie EMS. Never afraid of hard work, always willing to be a team player,” says colleague Patrick McDonagh, a paramedic and respiratory therapist. “I worked with Richard a lot during my time with Frisbie EMS, and when we had critically ill patients, he performed much better than most paramedics I know. He’s a friend to everyone and always willing to listen and offer advice.”

Lamie has seen the service grow from answering 400 calls in its first year to 6,400 in 2019. The service reached ALS level later in 1980, hiring its first paramedic, Sandy Hillsgrove, also the first licensed female paramedic in the state of New Hampshire. Dispatching was handled out of the ER via a red phone. Emergency calls would go to police dispatch and be relayed. 

Adding EMS wasn’t an easy transition for anyone. Many on the nursing staff felt EMS staff shouldn’t be in the ER, as they weren’t trained to the nursing level. Initially under the nursing staff, by 1989 EMS was working under the supervision of doctors and a physician’s license.

Lamie’s proudest moments come seeing how the EMS service has grown and the achievements of his coworkers from over the years. Many have gone on to become doctors, PAs, and nurses. He says he’s been privileged to work in the clinical environment and learn continuously. He plans on working at FMH for several more years. 

Changes he feels have made the biggest differences include scientific research to improve patient care; more ergonomic equipment, such as powered stretchers, to help reduce injuries; and new medic skills and knowledge-based education.

Impacting Lives

“Richard is the first brick in the foundation of Frisbie Memorial Hospital EMS and provided its identity. What he did in the past helped give FMH the good reputation it has today,” says hospital VP John Levitow. “For a long time EMS worked under the direction of the nursing staff, and change came hard to both nursing and EMS. They slowly came together as a team and learned from each other that both sides of the equation bring knowledge and value to the care of the patients.”

“Richard is the most dedicated employee at Frisbie Hospital: never wavering, always early, willing to do anything you ask,” says EM physician Michael Austin. “Some took advantage of his kindness and eagerness to help, but he took that in stride. I worked my early shifts with Richard, it was like having a second set of hands. I would need something, and it was ready before I had to ask.”

“When I was asked to take over the EMS supervisory position, he handed me the keys to everything and said, ‘Welcome to purgatory,’” recalls Jon Mendenhall, Frisbie’s paramedic manager from 1986–2000. “But he was always ready to help with anything that came along. Richard had the courage to make the right decisions for the patient, department, and hospital.”

“No matter how many calls we did, he would be one step ahead of me with the preparation of equipment and/or medication needed for the patient,” says retired paramedic/firefighter Jim Lapolla, now director of EMS in Wells, Maine. “He would never take any credit: ‘Doing my job.’”

“Richard kept a lot of us medics out of trouble over the years, thinking ahead on patient care, having equipment and medications ready before we thought of it,” says medic Kevin Jenkes. “Quite often there would be a quiet whisper in the medic’s ear: ‘Are you sure?’”

One tradition Lamie instituted while supervisor was a weekly breakfast meeting with representatives from the fire and police departments. They’d discuss calls and what went right and wrong, then work collaboratively on improvements. Frisbie started training firefighters at the station under Lamie’s supervision.

Lamie was my go-to person when I had questions or was looking for something. The nurses often had him assist with patients, and the doctors used him extensively on orthopedic cases. The orthopedic group tried to hire him away several times for their practice—they thought that highly of him. 

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Richard Lamie for 23 years. He was not only my work partner and a workplace friend; the best part is that he is also a personal friend. I know from experience that he has kept me on the straight and narrow. It wasn’t unusual for him to speak up—I’d often get a “You sure, Mikey?”

Those three words would make me stop, catch my breath, think, and damned if he wasn’t right again. 

Read more at https://grumpy1medicrednecksson.blogspot.com/.

Mike Kennard, EMT-P, I/C, has been in EMS for more than 41 years. He is a retired paramedic from Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.H. He is a retired assistant chief from Nottingham (N.H.) Fire and Rescue Department and is a part-time instructor for Granite State EMS. He is an avid bicycle rider in support of the National EMS Bike Ride (the "Muddy Angels".) He has started a non-profit, Grumpy K’s Workshop, fixing old and discarded bicycles, selling them online and donating the proceeds to several different cancer charities that he supports. Mike is a former TEDx speaker and has won several EMS awards, and is a two-time recipient of the “Spirit of The Ride” award from the National EMS Memorial Bike Ride. Contact him at grumpy1medic@gmail.com.