Greg Sneyd, Director of DentalSuccess, talks about ...A little less than two months ago, on a Sunday afternoon, Crown Council member Dr. Andy Fischer in Mt. Carmel, Illinois was using his table saw to build an easel for his sons Nicholas, 7, and Colin, 3. Unfortunately, the board Andy was sawing jammed and the saw almost entirely severed Andy’s right thumb at the first knuckle. Fortunately, the power saw did not cut through Andy’s thumb entirely but his thumb was barely attached by a few layers of skin.
Andy was working alone at the time, so he bandaged his hand and went to a neighbor for some help. The neighbor took Andy to the Wabash General Hospital in Mt. Carmel for emergency treatment. Due to the severity of the injury, Andy was then airlifted to the Jewish Hospital Hand Care Center in Louisville, Kentucky where extensive surgery on Sunday evening successfully reattached Andy’s thumb.
Jean could not accompany Andy on the emergency Life Flight, so she got in their car and drove 2 hours to Louisville to be with Andy through this very scary time in their lives. That night Jean drove back home to take care of their children and then made the trek back to Louisville the next morning.
On her way back to Louisville on Monday morning, Jean made a call to Greg Anderson, Director of the Crown Council to see if she could get the phone numbers of other Crown Council members in Louisville that Jean and Andy had known since they attended Dental Boot Kamp Hands-On in Louisville in 1997. Greg was on the phone at the time so Jean explained the situation to Stuart Anderson and simply asked for a few phone numbers.
Soon after, Stuart conveyed the message to Greg who immediately picked up the ball and contacted Dr. Charlie Barrett who practices in Louisville so that Jean would have someone locally as a contact. Greg also tried to contact Dr. Wayne Mortenson of Louisville, but he was out of the country. Charlie later provided Jean and Andy with much needed moral support and hospital visits while Andy recovered in the Louisville Hand Care Center.
Greg also searched the Crown Council “Personal Inventory of Experience” database and found out that another Crown Council member had a very similar accident in his past. Dr. David Hornbrook had lost part of his thumb in a boating related accident a couple of years ago. Greg tracked down David who was on a lecturing circuit and asked David if he might be able to contact Andy to help him through his traumatic experience. David talked to Andy on the phone several times throughout his ordeal. As Andy said “David and Charlie had a significant positive impact on my spirits throughout my recovery.”
Greg also searched the Crown Council database to see if there was any Crown Council members who might be able to help Andy keep his practice operating while he recovered. Jean and Andy felt that it was important to their patients and their dental team to keep the practice operating during his recovery period. Dr. Marianne Kehoe came to the rescue.
Marianne had sold her practice a few years ago and was more than happy to help out a fellow Crown Council member. Marianne drove 5 hours from her home in Glen Ellyn, IL to arrive in Mount Carmel on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday morning Marianne was there for the morning huddle and she was in charge on Thursday as well. The practice was not open on Friday and Monday was a Holiday so Marianne headed back to Glen Ellyn. But Marianne was back in the saddle the following Tuesday and remained in charge until Thursday when Andy returned to the practice.
Fortunately, Andy is left-handed and the damage was to his right thumb. Although he initially had a cast from his hand to his shoulder he was able to start practicing dentistry again that Thursday on a limited basis. And he has been improving ever since. Now Andy is back to his regular fulltime schedule. Both Jean and Andy feel that this truly was a miracle!
I ran into Andy and Jean at Dental Boot Kamp in Nashville two weeks ago and Andy’s thumb looks completely healed. He said that he does not have complete mobility because the thumb joint does not have any flexibility now. But because he is left-handed he does not find that it significantly hinders his ability to practice dentistry.
Andy and Jean are extremely thankful to the Crown Council, Greg Anderson, Dr. Charlie Barrett, Dr. David Hornbrook and Dr. Marianne Kehoe who helped them through this potentially life-altering experience. As Jean said “All of Greg’s labors were unsolicited. He just became aware of a crisis situation and on his own orchestrated some tremendous magic.” And with the help of our Crown Council members, this truly was magic!
Hats off to Greg Anderson and the wonderful Crown Council members for helping to turn an otherwise dreadful accident into a magical miracle with a very happy ending!
If you would like to learn more about the Crown Council or Dental Boot Kamp contact Greg Sneyd at 800-460-3838 x106 or email gregs@dentalsuccess.net.
