ALERT pioneer Dr. Jack Davis dies

Dr. Jack Davis, who helped create the ALERT emergency helicopter service based at Kalispell Regional Medical Center and was integral in developing the hospital’s cardiology program, died Saturday in Tucson, Arizona.

“His contributions were absolutely incredible,” said Tagen Vine, president of the Kalispell Regional Healthcare Foundation.

In addition to his long tenure with ALERT, Davis led the development of Kalispell Regional’s cardiology program and had a hand in developing the research component of the program that offers clinical trials in cardiology, Vine pointed out.

Another part of his legacy at Kalispell Regional are the “countless hours” he devoted to educating nurses, physicians and other health-care professionals in the latest treatment protocols, said Pat Wilson, executive director of education services for Kalispell Regional Healthcare. Wilson worked alongside Davis as a flight nurse for ALERT, and recalls how he started ALERT critique meetings.

“Every ALERT flight was reviewed with the goal of what can we do better next time,” Wilson said. “He dedicated his whole career to providing the very best patient care possible for Flathead Valley residents. He was passionate about patient care.”

Wilson recalled one time in the 1980s when Davis asked her to train a patient’s wife in how to use a home defibrillator.

“I had never seen one before; it was cutting edge back then. Now they’re everywhere,” Wilson said, adding that Davis was a pioneer in embracing new technology to help patients.

In a Daily Inter Lake interview in 2016 to promote the annual ALERT fundraising banquet, Davis recounted the specific incident that led to the founding of the Advanced Life-support and Emergency Rescue Team that today is known simply as ALERT. He was making his rounds at Kalispell General Hospital in 1975 when a nurse pulled him aside and told him there had been a logging accident in the remote area of the South Fork drainage along the Hungry Horse Reservoir, and crews were working to evacuate the 26-year-old logger.

A helicopter was in the area, assigned to a Forest Service project. It wasn’t equipped for such a wilderness rescue, but using a wire basket dangling from the chopper they flew the young man out. His injuries were too severe, though, and he died en route to the hospital.

“I know that they did everything they could for him, and we did, too,” Davis recalled in 2016. “But we knew there had to be a better way.”

Desperate for a solution, Davis worked with the pilot who transported the injured logger, emergency officials, hospital employees and the logging community to help create ALERT.

“It was an energetic time,” Davis noted in that interview. “Medical workers around the country were learning together how to make this tool better. It was such a new concept.”

Davis went on to serve as medical director for ALERT for 17 years, and following his retirement served on the ALERT board for another decade or so.

When other ALERT backers have passed away in recent years, Davis humbly shined the spotlight on their contributions. After ALERT charter board member Dr. Van Kirke Nelson died in 2015, Davis told the Inter Lake Nelson “was probably the most amazing man I’ve ever known … a sort of godfather, the guy that would arrange everything.”

Following the death of Clyde Smith in 2008, Davis lauded Smith’s role in the air ambulance program, remembering him as “Mr. ALERT” and noted how Smith and his family stepped up and backed the loan for the first helicopter with the equity in their logging business.

In addition to his work with ALERT, Davis was a leader at Kalispell Regional, practicing internal medicine and cardiology for more than 35 years.

A full obituary for Davis will be published in the Sunday, March 8, edition of the Daily Inter Lake.

News Editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.