Mildred Fincke ; One of ENA's Great Leaders passed Away

Millie passed away on Sunday, August 27th in Etna PA.  Millie was a leader in professionalizing and advancing emergency room nursing, where she helped set the standard of care for nurse practitioners in this region's early days of Emergency Medical Services (EMS). In the 1970s, she established an Emergency Nurse Practitioner Program at Allegheny General Hospital that would become a model for programs nationwide. Among her work, she helped establish similar programs in hospitals in Houston, Texas, Birmingham, Alabama, Omaha, Nebraska, Portland, Oregon and Phoenix, Arizona. Prominent on the national scene, Millie was a board member for the Emergency Department Nurses Association established in 1970, where she also served as president in 1975. It was there at the University of Texas Medical Center at Herman Hospital where she first ssaw up close and personal a successful helicopter transport system. Understanding its importance to patient care, she worked with administrators at Allegheny General Hospital to gain their full support of a similar program in Pittsburgh. Her untiring efforts led in 1978 to the start of Pittsburgh's inaugural hospital-based helicopter service (LifeFlight). First of its kind in the region and eastern United States, LifeFlight's debut foreshadowed an era of extensive growth nationwide in air medical services. Throughout her career, she conducted emergency room training seminars throughout the world, authored numerous articles in medical journals, and was a contributing author on several books on emergency nursing care and practices. 

Full obituary can be found 

 http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/postgazette/obituary.aspx?n=mildred-k-fincke-millie&pid=186500408&fhid=9809