It's no surprise that Dr. Tom Scalea likes the documentary about the Maryland Shock Trauma Center that will begin airing tonight on the Discovery health channel.
Scalea is physician-in-chief at the world-renowned trauma center and the film, The Critical Hour: Shock Trauma, makes the doctor and his staff look good. Very good.
That may be because the award-winning filmmakers, producer Susan Hannah Hadary and director William Whiteford, are University of Maryland employees. The pair works for Video Press, a facility that is part of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Shock trauma is a part of the university system, as well.
But it also may be that to Hadary and Whiteford - who have won six regional Emmies, a Peabody and an Oscar - Scalea is something of an inspiration.
"The guy is just the ultimate hero. To be able to stay calm in those situations is just astounding," Hadary says.
Hadary and Whiteford won their Oscar in 2000 for King Gimp, a documentary about Dan Keplinger, an artist with cerebral palsy. Two years ago, they worked with Scalea on a six-part series about Shock Trauma medical personnel that was broadcast on the TLC network.
The close relationship meant the filmmakers had tremendous access in making the 12-part documentary and were able to tape not just the doctors and the surgery, but the emotional toll on patients and their families.
We see a Jehovah's Witness struggling to decide whether to violate his faith by allowing his wife to have the surgery and blood products that could save her life. We also see a couple in the moments after their son dies from injuries in a car accident and a high school wrestler who spends a harrowing night strapped to a bed in a neck brace, wondering if his head injury will leave him paralyzed.
Scalea and his medical staff come across as thoughtful, dedicated, professional and compassionate. The kind of people you want to have around if you're bleeding on a table.
"While we're into it, I believe I can save everybody. I have to believe I can save everybody," Scalea says in the first episode.
`Members of the team'
Scalea and other medical staff screened the documentary before its release. Along with Discovery Channel producers, they also had the right to edit the film. The edits were minor and did not affect the final product, Hadary says.
