WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and SportsDr. Darren Bean's Legacy

MADISON (WKOW)-- WKOW recently partnered with the American Red Cross Badger Chapter to honor people who have gone above and beyond the call of duty.

We learn about a man who wanted to hold up the world, save lives and live for the moment.

Dr. Darren Bean is "Someone You Should Know."

Dr. Darren Bean was the kind of man people liked to be around - many were drawn by his positive energy.

"Darren was a passionate, charismatic, energetic caring person," said Stacey Bean, Darren's wife. "He loved life, he loved people, he cared a lot about people. People felt that from him."

Darren's wife, Dr. Stacey Bean knows that better than anyone. She was his soul mate, best friend and even his colleague for 13 years.

Tragically, Darren's lifetime was cut short when he and two others were killed in a Med Flight helicopter crash in May of 2008.

"He had a lot to give," said Stacey. "But I focus more on how much he did while he was here. I lived a lifetime in 13 years."

Darren's regular responses with Med Flight were just one of the many hats he wore in the field of emergency medicine.

"He was passionate about medicine," said Stacey. "He loved, they say if you do something that you love, you never work a day in your life. And, that's very much Darren."

One of the many emergency medical causes he championed was the introduction of Cardio Cerebral Resuscitation, or CCR. As the Medical Director for the Madison Fire Department, Darren read studies that showed the chest -compression-only form of CPR had a better rate of saving lives.

"When he learned some of the statistics with it, he was like, why isn't this being done," said Stacey. "Why aren't we doing this here and isn't this being done around the world?"

Because of Darren's dedication, now, we are doing it here. He helped the Red Cross develop their compression-only course. And, since Darren's death, EMS agencies in Dane County and more than 28-hundred residents have learned CCR.

"The guys at Madison fire said that in the last year the CCR patients have had a 50-percent save rate, here in Madison, I mean talk about life saving, that Darren would be very pleased. He'd be very happy," said Stacey.

Darren also was a driving force in consolidating the protocols for all paramedic services in Dane County. Plus, he worked hard to equip rural ambulances with 12 Lead EKG machines. He knew communicating EKG results from the field would allow EMS to get heart patients into the cath lab sooner.

"I mean it could feasibly cut, in some of the rural areas," said Stacey. "You could save 20, 30, 40 minutes - which is time is muscle."

Darren had helped drastically improve the system for treating cardiac patients. Stacey remembers one of their conversations around that time.

"He looked at me and said, I'm not just changing - making a difference one person at a time," said Stacey. "He's like, by doing this system I'm changing and helping thousands of lives and his eyes started to twinkle because he realized he was doing things on a much bigger scale and helping even more people than he ever thought possible. He really felt like, not that he had the whole world up, he wanted to hold the whole world up, and he definitely held up the world for his family too."

Stacey says she and their children were Darren's true passion.

"He was playful, he was fun, he was spontaneous and he would walk through the door and drop on the ground and start playing with the kids - like rolling on the floor," said Stacey.

Darren played just as hard as he worked, from fishing and skiing with the kids - to traveling with Stacey. She says they didn't wait for someday, they lived for the moment.

"He was my North Star," said Stacey.

For so many, Darren was the brightest star in a galaxy of health care heroes. A star that colleagues called incandescent - a person with a glow of goodwill whose perfectly balanced light lives on in the advances he brought to emergency medicine and the family he loved.