Fulfilling a lifetime passion for caring
From Colorado ski slopes to an inner-city underserved hospital, emergency care has been central to the life of Michael Dick ’74.
While at SHS Mike was a member of the Biology Club, Latin Club and Student Council and played football and golf.
He earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Colorado (CU) and while there became involved with ski patrol, getting his first experience in emergency care. He became an EMT (emergency medical technician) and volunteered at Boulder Community Hospital. He worked summers as an EMT in Denver. He also served as an instructor for the EMT course at CU.
He entered graduate school at Ohio State University and earned a master’s degree in Pathology. While in graduate school, he served in the Emergency Department at Children’s Hospital. He was a member of the first helicopter transport system in central Ohio, LifeFlight. Mike entered medical school at Ohio State in 1989. He completed a residency in emergency medicine and a fellowship in critical care.
In 1999, he was appointed medical director of the Emergency Department at Ohio State’s newly purchased East Hospital. At East, the emergency department has not only provided exceptional emergency care to the surrounding community but was the first in central Ohio to distribute naloxone to patients, to initiate medication assisted treatment to patients with opioid addiction, provide vaccinations, HIV screening and treatment, and exploring all areas of public health. East Hospital became a level III trauma center, and its cardiovascular program provides 24-hour care to patients suffering from heart attacks. The emergency department also provides training for Ohio State emergency medicine residents, medical students, nursing students, and paramedic students.
In 2021 he became medical director of the Center for Emergency Medical Services at Ohio State. Mike is a professor of Emergency Medicine at Ohio State. He has served on several medically related boards and committees, including the Central Ohio Trauma System. He is the medical director of the Upper Arlington Fire EMS.
In 2021 the American College of Emergency Physicians named Mike its Ohio Emergency Physician of the Year. He was recently awarded the 2022 Lifetime Achievement award by the Ohio Department of Public Safety. Observes a fellow SHS alum, “The late biology teacher Harryet Snyder would be proud of Mike as he cites her class with fueling an early love for biology and leading to his lifelong interest in medicine and caring for others.”