A Patient’s Bond with Nursing During 78-Day Hospital Stay
Zeb Maynard remembers nearly every painful minute of his near-death experience.
Walking across the Casella transfer station where he’d worked for more than 20 years, Maynard was struck from behind by a reversing dump truck. Knocking him down, the vehicle’s hulking tires crushed his legs and chest, leaving him with catastrophic injuries.
“Laying there, gasping for breath, I was convinced I was going to die,” Maynard says. “As my co-workers rushed to help me, I kept telling them to ‘get Amber’ — my girlfriend — because I wanted to see her one last time.”
Miraculously, Maynard survived the ambulance ride to University of Vermont Health – Central Vermont Medical Center. Terrified and barely able to breathe, Maynard saw his close friend, Whitney Laquerre, a CT technologist at Central Vermont Medical Center arrive at his bedside.
“That was the hardest day of my career, but it also represents my ‘why’,” Laquerre recalls. "To help people get through their hardest moments — and when it's someone you know, it's even more meaningful."
“She kept telling me, you’re not going to die…we’re going to save you, over and over,” says Maynard. “She was such a calming presence in that moment.”
'One awesome dude'
Once stabilized, Maynard was airlifted to the intensive care unit at UVM Medical Center. In flight, he lost consciousness. When he awoke, he was coming out of surgery — the first of more than 25 surgeries, with 12 on one leg alone — in the 18 months since his accident.
Maynard would spend nearly two months in traction and 78 days in the hospital. It was during this time that he met Pete Kassel, RN, a nurse on the surgical intensive care unit.
“Pete is one awesome dude,” says Maynard, reflecting on his experience from his home in Duxbury, Vermont. “There were a lot of dark times in my early recovery, and Pete cared about me a lot more than he had to. He’d be stern as hell when I needed it — encouraging me to keep fighting and never give up.”
The power of fresh air
Maynard recalls that during one particularly difficult day, Kassel turned to him and said: “I know what you need — you need some fresh air.”
“I thought he was out of his mind,” Maynard says with a laugh. “I was hooked up to so many tubes and monitors, it seemed impossible. But the next day, he took me outside — wires, bed and all. I just shut my eyes and thought ‘yeah, this is exactly what I need.’ It was amazing.”
“We can do all this incredible, high-tech care in the ICU,” Kassel says, who joined the ICU more than 20 years ago. “But often times what people need most is to be listened to, to talk with someone they can be vulnerable with, or to get out of bed and get moving — that’s the spirit that I bring to my work.”
Eventually, Maynard transferred to Baird 6 to continue his recovery. Though no longer his patient, Kassel would regularly visit.
Often times what people need most is to be listened to, to talk with someone they can be vulnerable with, or to get out of bed and get moving — that’s the spirit that I bring to my work.
Excellence in Trauma Care award
Kassel’s deep dedication caught the eye of his colleagues.
“Pete often volunteers for difficult assignments,” says Sue Hale, a nursing professional development practitioner who nominated Kassel for UVM Medical Center’s Excellence and Trauma Care award. “He’d spend hours listening, talking with Zeb about the outdoors and getting him out of bed…Pete was a real catalyst for his success in recovery.”
Today, Maynard is back doing many of the things he loves: jeeping through the woods, hunting and fishing. Still navigating his recovery and future surgeries on his right leg, Maynard spoke at the Excellence and Trauma Care ceremony and presented Kassel with the award.
“I don’t know how I made it out of it or why,” Maynard says. “But I am so thankful and count my lucky stars for Pete.”
