Dispatches, October 2025

Dispatches shares stories from the patients, supporters, crew, and communities that make LifeFlight of Maine one of the premier air ambulance services in the nation. It is published three times each year by The LifeFlight Foundation.

Download this issue as a PDF.

Updates from the Flightdeck

Dear Friends,

As Mainers, we understand better than most the importance of access—how time, distance, and geography can mean everything in an emergency.

Since 1998, LifeFlight has flown over 41,000 missions, delivering rapid, expert care to people facing the worst moments of their lives — cardiac arrests, strokes, traumatic injuries, and newborn emergencies. The care we provide is not only fast, it is among the very best in Maine. In an emergency, every minute matters, and LifeFlight knows how to make every minute count.

But here’s the reality: LifeFlight of Maine is a nonprofit, and a capital intensive one at that. LifeFlight exists because of people like you. Every time a helicopter lifts off or a crew races to a remote island or rural town, it is your generosity that helps make that response possible. We depend on support from communities, businesses, and individuals who understand that saving lives isn’t just a nice idea. It’s a shared responsibility.

Supporting LifeFlight is one of the most direct, impactful ways to invest in the health and safety of Maine’s people.

Your donation doesn’t just fuel a helicopter. It fuels training, equipment, and innovation — and ultimately, it fuels hope. It means a mother survives a car crash. A child survives a seizure. A grandfather lives to meet his great-granddaughter.

Together, we have built a system that reaches across water and wilderness to deliver expert critical care wherever it is needed. That system is more important now than ever. Thank you for believing in our mission, thank you for standing with us, and thank you for helping LifeFlight of Maine bring hope and healing to every community in our great state.

We hope the stories on the pages that follow encourage you to invest, or to reinvest, in honoring that partnership.

Sincerely,

Joe Kellner, CEO
LifeFlight of Maine

Kate O’Halloran, Executive Director
The LifeFlight Foundation

Stories in this issue of Dispatches

Connecting Maine’s Islands to Healthcare

Why Jim and Pam Cleveland Support LifeFlight Jim and Pam Cleveland have fond memories of spending summer days in Islesboro with their family. The island in Penobscot Bay is only fourteen miles long and is home to slightly more than 600 year-round residents. It’s where Pam grew up and where the couple’s children and grandchildren […]

We Must Do Better. Our Lives Depend On It.

By Joe Kellner, CEO of LifeFlight of Maine A version of this appeared as an op-ed in the Portland Press Herald on November 3, 2025. I am concerned for our country’s healthcare system. I am worried that in ten years, despite the incredible promise of technology and medicine, millions of Americans will have less access […]

Veterans at LifeFlight of Maine

LifeFlight of Maine currently has 143 employees across the organization. Thirty-four people — almost one quarter of the LifeFlight staff and crew — are either veterans or current members of the armed forces. These men and women serve in nearly every role and crew position at LifeFlight and are a vital part of our team. […]

Leadership Spotlight: Dan Daigneault

Dan Daigneault is a native Mainer, French Canadian by descent, who grew up in Lewiston. He earned a degree in finance and accounting from the University of Maine. After a short period in Rhode Island early in his career, he moved back to Maine and eventually set down roots in mid coast Maine. Dan is […]

Patient Story: Hollye Lord

“I’m a lifelong Washington County girl,” Hollye Lord said during a recent visit to LifeFlight of Maine’s Bangor hangar. She lives in Meddybemps, a small community between Calais and Machias. She has worked as a nurse at Down East Community Hospital in Machias for the past five years, and prior to that at Calais Community […]