Jonathan Godfrey slammed into the icy waters of the Potomac River the night of January 10, 2005, with an impact propelling waves of change in the medical transport industry and ripples that will continue to shape safety culture for years to come.
Godfrey became a well-known advocate for safety after surviving a fatal helicopter crash that claimed the lives of paramedic Nikki Kielar and pilot Joe Schaffer.
Godfrey continues his work as a critical-care transport nurse, and safety coordinator at Children's National Health System in Washington, D.C. For more than 11 years, his presentation “Max Impact: A Story of Survival,” has highlighted safety culture, crash prevention and survivability touching on AMRM and other crucial education keeping air medical professionals’ perspectives fresh and hearts vigilant.
Godfrey served as Vision Zero Chairman for six years, serves as project manager for the National EMS Memorial Service, reviews content for the Air Medical Journal, and proposes safety improvements to CAMTS that have become a part of the organization's standards for accreditation.
Godfrey is a working partner of Protean — the software company that developed the Vision Zero Award-winning LZControl.com a crowdsourced landing zone database — pioneering a new way of sharing landing zone information for helicopter operations. His efforts have afforded him honors receiving the Jim Charlson Award, AAMS Presidents Award, and the Vision Zero Award.
Godfrey co-authored "Max Impact: A Story of Survival" with his life-partner National and AP Award-winning columnist and investigative journalist MJ Brickey.