CRNAs in the News: John Borza, NY City Marathoner

John Borza, a CRNA from Pittsburgh, recently became a New York City marathoner. John ran in a shirt that represented PANA and CRNAs; and in support of this sponsorship, PANA made a $2,500 donation to the American Heart Association in John’s name.

🫀 In July of 2017, John Borza became a heart attack survivor. The hardworking CRNA realized committing to bettering his health and wellness was not only a must, but a gift. John’s determination led him through cardiac rehabilitation, and meeting with a nutritionist, to strengthen his commitment to being “focused on staying healthy to be able to enjoy the rest of my life,” and he’s done just that.

While John has a fierce dedication to developing his own health and wellness, he is also dedicated to improving the health and wellness of others. Throughout his marathon training, John was tallying up miles to take to NYC and donations from his community to give the American Heart Association.

🎽 John explains that "as a heart attack survivor, it's amazing to consider myself part of the American Heart Association Heart and Stroke Marathon Team in the New York City Marathon. Thanks to PANA, a donation in my name to the American Heart Association means so much." The donation PANA made will contribute to helping fund medical breakthroughs, programs advancing cardiovascular health, and life-saving research.

John’s devotion demonstrates the fundamentals PANA proudly upholds and promotes to its member CRNAs and SRNAs:

“Supporting each other in our wellness journeys and prioritizing our mental health and wellness is why being part of an organization like PANA is so incredible.”

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PANA proudly recognizes John’s contributions, advancements, and improvements to his own and others’ health and wellness. We are happy to support John and the CRNA profession. Congratulations, John!

Young Eagle program could spark a lifelong love of the air

WENDY DOHERTY FOR THE EXPRESS | June 27, 2022

Abe, age 5, is not old enough to become a Young Eagle yet, but he did get to sit in the cockpit of a Maule M-5. Pilot Randy Kilmer shows him some fine points of the instrumentation. 📷: WENDY DOHERTY/FOR THE EXPRESS

LOCK HAVEN — Imagine taking off in a four-seater plane for the very first time. Where is the door? What kind of seats are these? Can I fly the plane? Your stomach feels the way it does at the start of a roller-coaster ride, doesn’t it?

Now imagine that you are 8 years old.

You’d get a real kick out of the experience, no doubt.

Pilots get a kick out of it, too. They want to share their love for flying, and one way they can is to take kids and teens up into the wild blue yonder for the very first time. These fun, free flights for youth ages 8 through 17 were offered Saturday at the Sentimental Journey to Cub Haven Fly-In, through the nationwide Young Eagles program.

The registration table in front of Piper Aviation Museum was swamped at 10 a.m., but once families were signed in, a number of small planes, plus a helicopter, started taking new Young Eagles on their first flights.

The thrill of flying can hook you, and pilots like to reminisce about the moment they knew they would spend as much of their lives as possible in the air. Moments like that often take place during an earth-bound human’s first experience in the sky, particularly in a small plane.

Years from now, will Melanie Saunders be one of these pilots?

Melanie, age 11, and her sister, Violet, age 8, had their first such adventure in a special plane, the museum’s PA-22 Tri-Pacer, a fabric plane built right here in the mid 50s. The pilot, Eric Cipcic, Is one of only two people allowed to fly this historic aircraft, which is in fabulous condition for its age. He told his young passengers and their parents that Phil Hoy donated the Tri-Pacer to the museum so it could be used for Young Eagles flights.

Cipcic is a flight instructor, a commercial pilot, and more. He said, “I’ve been doing this for 40 years, can you believe it?”

He also works at UPMC in Williamsport. Violet and Melanie’s mother, Megan, knows Eric through work, saw a Young Eagles poster he’d put up, and thought it would be fun for her daughters. She and husband Josh brought the girls to the museum building Saturday, and Eric invited Megan to ride along as his personal guest.

Young Melanie had the co-pilot seat for their adventure.

Cipcic executed the take-off but flew only briefly before handing the controls over to her, and Melanie followed the flight pattern for most of their ride. In the end, she turned the plane toward the runway and Cipcic landed it without a hitch.

Back on the ground, his first words were, “She’s a natural. She needs to be a pilot!”

Melanie simply said, “l got to fly it!”

“Mom was a little terrified in the back,” Megan added with a smile.

Violet wasn’t. She said matter-of-factly that she saw buildings, houses, pools as they flew over the river and town.

“I liked it when we went up and down,” she said.

Each young eagle received mementos of the day, including a personal log book for their time in the air.

The Young Eagles program is sponsored by EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) and has reached more than 1 million kids across the country, said Steve Dershimer.

“I’ve taken well over 100 kids up over the years,” he said.

Commercial pilot Randy Kilmer of the Bellefonte area flew kids in a Maule M-5, 235 (horsepower). His T- shirt said it all: “Life is simple — eat, sleep, fly.”

Kilmer flies a Pilates PC-12 commercially, a plane that can take eight passengers.

“I love it,” he said. “I’ve been flying over 50 years.”

His Young Eagles of the day included two 8-year-old girls, Ave and Sylvia.

Ave’s family lives on East Bald Eagle Street, not far from the airport, so it’s natural that the kids take an interest in all things related to planes.

Ave’s mother, Ali, said they watch planes fly over their house from their backyard pool, especially during Sentimental Journey. They took special note of a pink plane, The Pink Panther, and went to the airport to got a closer look at the small aircraft that had been delighting local residents Tuesday through Saturday.

Pictured: Melanie, age 11 with Pilot Eric Cipcic, CRNA, PHRN, MSN 📷: WENDY DOHERTY/FOR THE EXPRESS

“We come down every year during the Fly-In,” Ali said. “This year we saw a sign for the Young Eagles flights.”

Allie and husband Jim have three other children, including two who were busy living their teenage lives on Saturday and missed out on the free flight. Their youngest is Abram, age 5.

Ave went up with her friend Sylvia, of Castanea.

“It was cool,” Ave said. “You got to twist around and fly really high in the air.”

“The (air) hills tickled our bellies!” Sylvia said.

Sylvia’s younger brother, Ben, age 4, waited on the grass with his friend Abe. The boys were not happy that they were too young and had to be on the ground instead of in the air. Kilmer let them sit in his plane instead, and their mothers had a trip to the candy store planned as a consolation prize.

Still, the boys were a bit downcast about the unfairness of always being younger brothers.

Three years from now, though, look for them to get their own Young Eagles log books and have their own amazing experience in a small plane while getting a birds-eye view of their towns.

Perhaps one or both of them will be bit by the flying bug, and nothing will look quite the same.

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The Daily Item: Geisinger anesthetist chosen for National Disaster Medical System team

By Eric Scicchitano | escicchitano@dailyitem.com

December 19, 2021

Christopher Heiss, an anesthetist with Geisinger, has been chosen to join the National Disaster Medical System’s Trauma and Critical Care Team. He’ll be sworn in this January. Christopher Heiss, an anesthetist with Geisinger, has been chosen to join the National Disaster Medical System’s Trauma and Critical Care Team. He’ll be sworn in this January. 📷: courtesy of Geisinger

Christopher Heiss, an anesthetist with Geisinger, long desired to serve the U.S. in a uniformed capacity but his career in medicine ultimately kept him from joining the military.

However, Heiss, 32, of Bloomsburg, eyed serving with a distinguished federal medical unit and after several tries, has been chosen to join the National Disaster Medical System’s Trauma and Critical Care Team. He’ll be sworn in this January.

“For me, it’s me playing a part that I grew up around,” Heiss said, referring to relatives who served the armed forces. “It just so happens the service I would provide is very unique to the skill set that I have. Everything I’ve learned throughout my career, it’s all right there.”

Heiss’s career began as an emergency medical technician. He then studied to become a paramedic and later worked as a flight paramedic in Western Pennsylvania. In time, he earned a degree as a registered nurse. He served as an intensive care unit nurse at Geisinger before becoming a certified registered nurse anesthetist in 2019.

In 2020, Heiss, a husband and father of one, helped develop an intubation shield deployed throughout Geisinger’s system to help protect frontline workers from contracting COVID-19.

Over the years, Heiss said he tried to catch the attention of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), which is operated through the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. About 80 health care professionals belong to the NDMS Trauma and Critical Care Team (TCCT). The size and credentials necessary make it a difficult job to obtain.

Members of the National Disaster Medical System are deployed to national and international emergencies like natural disasters, public health emergencies and terrorist attacks. They lead or supplement medical care and other emergency services when resources are stressed or compromised.

Along with TCCTs, NDMS consists of Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT) — several of which recently deployed following deadly tornadoes in Kentucky and elsewhere in the Midwest — along with Disaster Mortuary Operations Response Teams, Victim Information Center Teams and National Veterinary Response Teams.

TCCT team members include physicians in critical care and emergency medicine, surgeons, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, nurse anesthetists, paramedics, respiratory therapists, radiology technologists, surgical technologists and pharmacists.

“The first-in people who could care for critically ill and injured people,” as Heiss described them.

“We are strictly a federal asset. We serve the president, the vice president and any associated diplomats,” Heiss said, noting that despite being federal assets, they work with state and local professionals.

Teams range from 9 to 48 members each. They’re tasked to conduct specific trauma-related tasks at field hospitals and established facilities such as providing critical care, surgery, advanced trauma life support and much more.

Heiss once felt like he’d never join the TCCT. In February 2020, he and two other Geisinger professionals published a scholarly article in the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology Journal. It caught the attention of a TCCT member who reached out to Heiss. In time, doubts washed away as Heiss was invited to join.

“Geisinger is committed to supporting all our employees while volunteering in the Uniformed Services. We’re proud that our benefits make it easy for employees to serve both our community and nation,” said Chris Grill, program manager for military and veteran affairs for Geisinger.

There are eight CRNA’s on the TCCT and, Heiss believes, just two in Pennsylvania. He’ll remain employed with Geisinger and leaves for up to two weeks at a time when assigned a deployment.

Heiss said his diverse career portfolio prepared him for this. He’s worked in the streets and in hospital settings, handling sometimes uncontrolled and chaotic situations and remaining calm and on task. He said he feels prepared to join TCCT and thanked Geisinger for its support.

“It’s not really a matter of if but when some type of global event occurs and I need to leave suddenly,” Heiss said.