St. Mary's County, MD, Chief Reflects on Going 'from clinician to patient'

Dec. 28—CUMBERLAND — For more than 20 years, Todd Bowman rushed to help folks at the most terrible moments of their lives.

As St. Mary's County EMS assistant chief, he was driving back to his office from an emergency call roughly 10 months ago when his vehicle traveled off the roadway, struck a tree and burst into flames.

Bowman, 37, was airlifted by Maryland State Police to R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he would spend four months.

Now, as he works to rebuild his body and life, the Flintstone native has a new and unique perspective of physical trauma.

"I went from clinician to patient," he said.

Accident

Bowman recalled conducting interviews for new hires at the St. Mary's County Department of Emergency Services Feb. 8 when his medic unit was called for assistance.

Bowman took the wheel of a county SUV with Dr. Jason Finkelstein in the passenger seat.

The emergency call was later canceled, so they headed back to the office.

"That's the last I remember," Bowman said, adding that he doesn't know how the crash happened. "It's kind of been like a dream."

Bowman and Finkelstein were "rescued by a brave bystander and two Maryland state troopers," The Baynet news organization reported shortly after the crash.

It would be six weeks before Bowman fully regained consciousness and learned of the accident.

When Bowman was told what had happen, he asked about Finkelstein.

"I wanted to know how my medical director was and if anybody else was hurt," Bowman said.

"It was hard for me to communicate because I couldn't just talk," he said. "It was frustrating."

St. Mary's County officials did not fulfill a Cumberland Times-News request for an interview, and Finkelstein couldn't be reached for comment.

Injuries

Dr. Rishi Kundi, director of the Go Team at the Shock Trauma Center, was on call when Bowman arrived at the facility.

"Todd's visible injuries were quite minimal," he said, but added further testing showed soft tissue bowel damage.

"Those injuries can be quite significant," Kundi said. "You need some fairly advanced wound care techniques."

Kundi and a medical team performed intestinal surgery on Bowman.

"Todd had a number of fairly severe complications that followed," Kundi said of problems that resulted from inflammation.

Bowman also suffered a fractured leg that required insertion of a metal pin and rod, a quarter of his ribs were broken, and his spleen had to be removed.

He required dialysis to help his kidneys function, and was given blood thinners.

"His prognosis is now excellent," Kundi said.

Family

Bowman has deep roots in the emergency medical services field.

His mom, Vicki Bowman, is a former first responder, and his dad, Steven Bowman, is a former EMT with 40 years of experience at Flintstone Volunteer Fire Company and 30 years as the department's fire chief.

"My father, a volunteer fire chief in my hometown, has been in the fire service my entire life," he said.

Todd Bowman's brother, Chad Bowman, is the nurse manager for the Johns Hopkins Lifeline-Critical Care Transport Team.

"My brother became an EMT in high school and then a paramedic quickly after graduating high school," Todd Bowman said.

Ellerslie native Kara Merkel has known the Bowman family for roughly 20 years.

"They are very selfless people," she said.

Merkel and Todd Bowman worked together in Washington County.

"He was an outstanding clinician," she said. "We were both paramedics."

She recalled first hearing that Todd Bowman had been in a car accident.

"I did not really grasp how serious it was," Merkel said.

She visited Todd Bowman in the trauma hospital in March, about a month after the crash.

"It really sunk in that day," Merkel said. Todd Bowman had a trachea tube and was unable to speak. "He was ... in and out of consciousness. It was just surreal that we couldn't communicate as we normally did."

Prayers

For months, Vicki Bowman and her husband made the 130-mile drive from their Flintstone home to the Baltimore hospital to visit their son.

"It was very hard," she said. "We just prayed a lot."

They often stayed with their other son, Chad Bowman, who is four years older than Todd Bowman, in Queen Anne's County.

"Chad took good care of us," she said.

Vicki Bowman said the family's church, Mountain Top Holiness, was also supportive.

"A lot of churches prayed," she said.

She said the family was "overwhelmed" by the number of folks, including medical directors, county EMS employees and Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems doctors, who knew Todd Bowman from work interactions.

The Shock Trauma nurses were "angels," she said.

"We felt like he was in the best place possible," she said.

Steven Bowman thanked Shock Trauma, state police, St. Mary's County and officials for saving their son's life.

"We're just grateful to all of them," he said.

Career

"As early as I can remember I knew I wanted to be an EMT," Todd Bowman said and talked of watching TV shows, including "Rescue 911."

"I knew I didn't want to stop at being an EMT," he said. "I wanted to advance to being a paramedic."

Todd Bowman accomplished that goal in 2007 and worked in Washington County for seven years.

"I came to Allegany County as a paramedic/firefighter" in 2017, he said.

Todd Bowman, who has a bachelor's degree in journalism, was promoted to lieutenant and public information officer at the county's DES.

He worked there until 2021.

The following year, Todd Bowman was hired a job as a flight paramedic based in Michigan, and later in Nevada.

During two years in that role, he worked on roughly 200 flights in states, including Minnesota, Utah, Texas and California.

"I wanted to advance my critical care experience," Todd Bowman said.

He also worked for a couple of years as an operations unit leader during the COVID-19 pandemic for the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems.

In 2023, after his grandfather became ill, Todd Bowman wanted to be closer to family, and took the St. Mary's County job.

"I loved the area and the system setup," he said and talked of the landscape contrast between St. Mary's and Allegany counties. "Where they have water, we have mountains."

'Seamlessly'

"Working in this profession, I never believed this could happen to me," Todd Bowman said. "That was ignorant on my part."

The Maryland State Police, and EMS system's flawless response to the crash saved his life, he said.

"The first arriving state troopers, the fire department and my coworkers worked seamlessly to get me to the most appropriate hospital," Todd Bowman said.

"MSP's aviation division ... transported me to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center where a team of dedicated physicians were waiting," he said.

"Many of the physicians and their teams, Dr. (Thomas) Scalea and Dr. Kundi, visited daily for the months I was there," Todd Bowman said.

He talked of his St. Mary's co-workers he'd only known for a short time when the accident happened.

"It was heartwarming to see (their) support," Todd Bowman said.

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