Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Mercy Flight is back at full strength, when it comes to their helicopter fleet at their headquarters in Western New York. Their newest addition to the fleet hits close to the heart of many members of the Mercy Flight crew.
Wednesday saw the dedication of a brand new Bell 429 helicopter to the Mercy Flight fleet, which will bring its total of available helicopters in the fleet back to four. The overall estimated cost of the new addition for Mercy Flight was approximately $9 million.
However, this Bell 429 helicopter is dedicated in honor of Doug Baker, the founder of Mercy Flight, Mercy EMS and also LaSalle Ambulance, now known as AMR.
"It should be noted that typically when an aircraft is lost, the tail number's retired. However, in this case, it was a unanimous consensus of Doug's Mercy Flight family that we would, again, use N505TJ in memory of and symbolically uniting Doug and [his late son] TJ," said Margaret Ferrentino, President of Mercy Flight.
On the one door of the helicopter dedicated on Wednesday, it reads, "In honor and remembrance of founder Douglas H Baker," with the words "Vision, empathy, and compassion" included with the emblem. However, Mike Bolas, Chairman of the Mercy Flight Board of Directors, says the helicopter's door is not large enough to list all of Baker's exemplary qualities.
"Personally, the traits I admired most about our founding President were his dedication and his wit. Dedication to the mission of Mercy Flight, as well as to the team he and Margie put together to carry out the mission. His unique sense of humor brought out the best in people," said Bolas on Wednesday. "He had the uncanny ability to influence and motivate people by his signature trait of never taking himself too seriously."
Along with tenets of vision, empathy and compassion, another quote of Baker's is seen on the aircraft: "Just take care of people." Scott Wooton, Executive Vice President of Mercy Flight will always remember Baker for being a servant of the community, with the people as his No. 1 objective.
"Here at Mercy Flight, a nonprofit where the DOH, the FAA, the DOT, the DOL, the NTSB, the IRS and scores of other agencies represented by their various acronyms all come together, it's easy to feel like what we do here on a daily basis is complex. Like it can only be accomplished by a carefully orchestrated sequence of steps that check just the right boxes at just the right time. And while there is some truth to that statement, the reality is that it all comes down to what Mr. Baker knew from the start. It's about people," said Wooton on Wednesday. "It's not the ambulances or the helicopters, it's not the devices and the medications, it's not the credentials and the technology. It's about just taking care of people. There's no reason to make it more complicated than that."
As for Baker's family, his wife, Barbara, knew how much he loved both families he tended to: His immediate family and his family with Mercy Flight and LaSalle Ambulance.
"It started with one and ended up with over 450. He had a very big family, and continues to do so with the ambulance, Mercy Flight and Mercy EMS. But the mission was always the same with Doug, and so the two families had a lot in common," said Baker. "He had the vision, he had the loyalty, he had the determination to always see things from start to finish. That was his vision. From very young to the day he left us, it was something he loved."
Baker passed away last August at the age of 79.
Related
