Once he woke up and joined the fight, things got a lot better. He was basically out of it for about four months. “We were not sure how it was going to go at first. “He had a lot of support from family and friends,” said Shannon Hamm. He has suffered profound hearing loss, which his wife, Shannon, a speech pathologist, hopes may resolve over time. He will still be on supplemental oxygen after discharge, and he will use an extra-strength CPAP machine at night for a while to help his breathing. He also has the dubious distinction of being UAB’s longest-tenured COVID-19 patient, at 187 days. Early mobility is extremely important for these critically ill patients.Hamm was on ECMO for 147 days, a remarkably long time. That allows for physical, occupational, speech and music therapy while patients are on ECMO. UAB is one of the few medical centers where ECMO patients are awake and conscious. But trust me you do not want to go on ECMO.” “It’s invasive and not much fun for the patient. “ECMO is a complicated, complex procedure,” said Keith Wille, M.D., professor in UAB’s Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and medical director of the adult ECMO program. In effect, the machine takes over the roles of both heart and lungs.
The blood is then pumped back into the body. His physicians had to turn to ECMO.ĮCMO, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, is a device that removes a patient’s blood, filters out the carbon dioxide and adds oxygen. He was not a good candidate for a ventilator, an artificial breathing machine often used with COVID-19 patients. Five days later, he was in UAB Hospital with severe breathing issues. Hamm, a veteran who first flew medevac in the army, began to feel sick Jan. “A bunch of us went to get the first dose of the Moderna vaccine, but I must have already had the virus.” “We live in a rural area, and I always wore a mask and kept my distance when going to town,” Hamm said. Five co-workers also were COVID-positive at the same time in January, so he may have picked it up at work. Hamm is not sure how he contracted the virus. It would be 187 days before he would go home. 10, 2021, he found himself at the North Pavilion again, but this time as a patient.Ī COVID-19 patient. He was the first medevac pilot to touch down on the landing pad of UAB’s new North Pavilion when it opened in 2004. A medevac helicopter pilot, he has been flying ill and injured patients to UAB for 17 years. (Photography: Steve Wood)Ricky Hamm is no stranger to UAB Hospital.
Hamm was on ECMO for 147 days, a remarkably long time.
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