At Boston MedFlight, we talk a lot about community—the community we serve, the community that supports us, and the close-knit community we share as a team. But rarely do we see a story that connects our staff, our patients, and our corporate partners quite like the story of the Rosa family.
In the fall of 2025, Stephen Rosa, a C&I Portfolio Manager in the bank’s Commercial Group, received an email from his manager. The bank’s Charitable Foundation had funds available to donate before the year’s end and they were looking for employee nominations for worthy nonprofit organizations.
Stephen didn’t have to think twice.
“After reading the note, I immediately knew I wanted to recommend Boston MedFlight,” he said.
Stephen was no stranger to our organization. Before starting his career, he worked part-time during college breaks at our Bedford offices, where his mother, Kim, serves as our Finance and Accounting Manager. However, his decision to nominate Boston MedFlight wasn’t just based on his summer job or his mother’s employment here, but rather a personal experience four years prior and the lifesaving care that followed.
In July 2021, Kim Rosa—already a long-time member of the Boston MedFlight team—was in Ossipee, NH, enjoying a summer day when the ATV she was riding in with her son rolled over. In the accident, Kim was thrown from the vehicle and suffered severe trauma to her lower right leg.
Despite the chaos of the moment and the pain she was in, Kim jokes that her time with Boston MedFlight had instilled a knowledge she—who works with numbers and not patients—didn’t even realize she had.
“The last thing I remember at the scene is asking someone for a tourniquet,” Kim recalls with a laugh. “That must be because of where I work!”
Kim was initially taken by local ground ambulance to a hospital in Portsmouth. However, because the severity of her injury required advanced trauma care, she was transported the next day by her colleagues at Boston MedFlight to Massachusetts General Hospital via critical care ground ambulance—partially due to heavy smoke from the California wildfires affecting flight visibility that week.
Even after she arrived in Boston, the journey was not easy. Kim was bedridden for a full year with an external fixator on her leg—essentially a large metal cage with screws into her bone—battling multiple infections and several surgeries in an attempt to save the limb.
Ultimately, Kim made the difficult decision to undergo an amputation.
“I couldn’t walk, I had bad lymphedema in my leg, and my ankle had no range of motion,” she explains. “I opted for the amputation. And honestly, I wish they had just taken it sooner, so I didn’t have to go through all that heartache and pain. But, as people tell me, I had to go through what I had to go through. Otherwise, I would have second-guessed it all.”
Today, Kim has an artificial limb that allows her to live a full and active life. She is, of course, back at work at Boston MedFlight, where she remains a critical member of our team.
Witnessing his mother’s trauma, journey, and healing—thanks in part to Boston MedFlight—is what made Stephen’s nomination an easy choice. He has seen the impact of Boston MedFlight’s work firsthand, not only as an intern but as a family member of a patient.
“My decision wasn’t solely based on my mother being part of the organization or my temporary work scanning files over winter break in college,” Stephen says. “It was because of how they treated her when she was a patient—the exceptional care, compassion, and life-saving actions they provide for people in critical need.”
Stephen emphasizes that the support his mother received went beyond the medical transport.
“Boston MedFlight treated my mom with the utmost care and respect, ensuring her comfort and support throughout her transport and recovery. This donation is well deserved for the incredible care and assistance they provide for those in desperate need.”
“The Salem Five Charitable Foundation donation represents far more than charitable giving—it is an investment in an extraordinary organization that delivers critical, life-saving care when every second matters,” Stephen adds. “Supporting Boston MedFlight is a way to help ensure that others receive the same exceptional care in their most vulnerable moments.”
We couldn’t be more appreciative of Salem Five for seeing the value of our mission and awarding us this grant to enable us to continue taking care of our shared community—and in this case, our family.
