Sully Sullenberger Life Hero
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[AARP® Real Possibilities]
[Sully Sullenberger, the pilot
who safely landed an airplane with 155]
[passengers and crew on the Hudson River,
chats with the AARP Bulletin]
[On Using His Fame for Good]
[Sully Sullenberger]
One of the biggest surprises for all of us
directly involved with this flight
was that, unlike most stories,
this one did not fade away
with the end of the news cycle
because of the way it happened,
what had happened, where it happened—
the time in the world's history—
during the financial meltdown
when it seemed as if everything
was going wrong
and some people had begun
to doubt human nature.
And then this event inspired people
and gave them hope.
And I've become
the public face of that.
So I feel an intense obligation
to treat this story with respect
because of the way
it makes people feel.
And when my first officer,
Jeff Skiles, and I found out
in the first few weeks that
this story wasn't going to fade away,
we felt an intense obligation
to use it for good—
to do as much good as we could
in every way we could
for as long as we could
to represent not only our colleagues
still working as professional pilots
and flight attendants.
We know from the 1999
Institute of Medicine report
and others—it's estimated
that in this country alone,
every year there are 200,000
preventable medical deaths.
When you include
what are considered medical errors,
which I think are really
mostly system failures
and healthcare-associated conditions,
like hospital-acquired infections—
and that's the equivalent
of 3 airliners crashing every day
with no survivors—
something that would not
be tolerated in my world.
But because they happen
one at a time,
and the failures
are often buried,
we have not yet achieved
the public awareness
and the political will we need
to change it.
[On Why the Health Care
System is so Unsafe]
I should say first of all
that medical professionals are as skilled
and as dedicated as any.
But they operate
within a fragmented system—
one that has not been imbued
with a system approach—
one in which the culture
has not progressed
as we have in aviation.
It's very similar to what aviation
was like several decades ago,
in the bad old days, when captains
were not good leaders—
they didn't build teams—
they were arrogant, autocratic,
and the accident rate
reflected that.
Now we teach them
to have these human skills—
to be able to lead teams effectively—
to communicate well—
to manage the workload—
to manage error—
to make better decisions
collectively.
And that's one of the things
that I was most professionally proud of
prior to this flight
to the Hudson 5 years ago
was my involvement, along with thousands
of other pilots nationwide,
at changing the cockpit culture
at our airlines
and teaching pilots
how to be better leaders—
how to be more inclusive
and have better outcomes.
[On Gridlock in Congress]
Two years ago,
I was in Washington, DC,
at the National Press Club,
where I was on a panel
about improving information technology
in (inaudible) and healthcare.
and the night before,
healthcare leaders and I
had a private dinner in one of the fancy,
Washington-area restaurants—
a dozen people around
a conference table for 3 hours.
And at the end of the evening,
I wanted to take a straw poll.
And so I went around the room,
and there were people there
from World Health Organization,
from major clinics—
names that you would recognize.
There was a former health minister
of a European country
and 2 congressmen
from one particular side of the aisle.
And when I turned
to my colleague to the left of me,
and I said, "Do you think
that we will
"finally achieve improvements
in quality and safety
that will not only save lives,
but save money?"
And he flatly said, "No.
"I think medicine is too complex—
the problem is too big—too difficult.
I just don't see it happening."
The man to his left said,
"I've been doing this for 30 years,
and these kinds of improvements
in quality and safety take time."
The man to his left said,
"Well, it may eventually happen
in 20 years."
And it was this way around the room—
yes, no, maybe so.
And I got
to one of the congressmen—
directly across from me—
and his response stunned me.
He said, "Even if I could get
my colleagues across the aisle
"to agree to this, I would be
suspicious of their motives—
of their agenda."
And after I regained
my composure,
I said, "Congressman, I don't mean
to be impertinent,
"but if we could get
both sides of the aisle
"to agree on measures that
would improve quality and safety
"and save money
as well as lives—
would their motivation
really matter to you?"
And he had a look on his face
as if he had never before
considered that possibility.
And he finally said,
"Well, I guess not."
And so we finished the round
and finally it was back to me.
And I said,
"Since there are 200,000
"preventable medical deaths
every year in this country,
"I think that eventually,
like we do about most crises,
we will do the right thing."
Although sometimes
it is only after—
as Churchill is purported
to have said about us—
after we've exhausted
every other possibility.
The question is,
when will we do it?
Will it be in 20 years,
after 4 million more
preventable medical deaths?
My vote is to do it now.