Aug. 30, 2009
Forrest Bird, The Birdman of Idaho
Morley Safer Meets an Extraordinary American Inventor
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Play CBS Video Video Birdman Forrest Bird's invention, the respirator, has saved millions and, at age 88, he's still living his life to the fullest, flying his planes and working long days. Morley Safer reports.
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Inventor Forrest Bird takes a spin in one of his 21 aircraft. (CBS)
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Interactive Inventing History See a timeline of inventions of the past and revisit predictions of the future.
Bird's neighbor, Donna Turnbull, got to experience the importance of the invention first-hand. "It's an amazing situation and a good happy ending," she recalls.
Donna and her husband Bob have good reason to thank him for his Baby Bird respirator. "It had been snowing. And there was a black sheet of black ice on the highway. And we hit it, and so did another pickup truck. And it ran right into us," she recalls.
Donna was in labor and Bob was driving her to the hospital that day in 1985. The accident nearly killed her. And doctors first thought the baby, Tim, was gone.
"They wouldn't look me in the eye. And I thought, 'Well, what’s going on? What's wrong?'" Bob recalls.
"The doctors pronounced Tim dead. They said he was stillborn," Donna adds.
But when a faint pulse was discovered in the umbilical, baby Tim was hooked up to the Baby Bird. It made him breathe, and it pulled him through.
"I gather the Turnbulls owe a great deal to Forrest Bird," Safer remarks.
"Yeah. Great man," Donna agrees.
The great man, in his late 80s now, is still certified to fly. He lives and works at a breath-taking 300-acre compound on Lake Pend Oreille, just south of the Canadian border. Here, Forrest Bird has invented his own private Idaho.
"I've kind of recreated similar to what I had as a young lad growing up in New England," Bird says. "It's fun. We enjoy it."
Think of it as a combination home, business center, factory, museum and farm. Here, where the deer and the baby buffalo play, Bird routinely works a 12-hour day, conferring with doctors who come from around the world for his expertise, overseeing a staff of 40 who assemble the newest generation of Bird respirators, and writing, lecturing, flying, and still tinkering.
Where does he get the energy from?
Says Bird's second wife Pam, "He has to get it from heaven, because there's days where there's, if I was one day older I don't think I could keep up with him."
Pam met Bird through her work of bringing inventors and investors together. The first time he took her up in a plane, he did some aerial acrobatics. It was love at first flight.
"And he did the spins and the flips," she remembers. "Then when he landed he looked at me and he goes, 'Well, what do you think about that?' And I looked at him and I said, 'Is that all you can do?'"
Forrest Bird admits he was trying to impress Pam. "He was trying to see how much I could take," she says.
His late wife, Mary, had emphysema and was treated on many of Bird's respirators. "She was always my first patient," Bird remembers. "But ultimately, the lung was destroying itself. But we probably gave her a number of years of additional life. And probably it sparked me too in turn to push further and develop."
Bird, a legend in aviation and medicine, is something of a mystery to his Idaho neighbors, which is why he recently invited everyone over for the opening of a museum showcasing his inventions and toys.
There was an air show starring stunt pilot Patty Wagstaff. She did enough spins and flips to put Bird to shame. And she officially opened Bird's museum by cutting a ribbon flying upside down fifteen feet off the runway.
"Wow. You’re the greatest. Thank you, Patty," Bird said.
And that's a major compliment coming from someone whose father taught him to fly 75 years ago, who has piloted almost every kind of aircraft there is. Forrest Bird's own private Idaho includes his own private air force.
How many planes does he have in his fleet?
"I think 21," Bird says, laughing. "Helicopters, we have three helicopters. And they’re all flyable."
When Safer asked how one guy can use all those planes, Dr. Bird joked that he flies "one at a time."
He's a king size pack rat, collecting and restoring old planes, old cars, even old motorcycles. And they all come with stories. Admire his collection of old Fords, and he’ll tell you about meeting the man, Henry Ford, himself in 1930.
Talk about his vintage biplanes, and he'll tell you about meeting, as a teenager, one-half of the Wright brothers, Orville. "And I thought he was God," Bird remembers.
Talk about float planes he has had over the years, and he'll tell you about flying them several times with the 20th century's most mysterious man, Howard Hughes, who, even in his last reclusive days could not resist taking a spin with Forrest Bird.
"He had a stocking cap on, and a beard and so on. And other than basically his voice, I didn't recognize him," Bird remembers. "He says, 'Let's go.' He was a magnificent pilot all the way. And he totally enjoyed it. And we came back and he said, 'Well, how much do I owe you?' I said, 'Mr. Hughes, you know I get great enjoyment out of it.'"
Produced By David Browning
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See all 28 CommentsI have two friends that have started a fund raising organisation here in the Bahamas to purchase some of Mr. Birds equipment. Just last week I was informed of their efforts and the launch of thier campaign. I then saw the 60 Minute report on the inventor of the exact ventilators. Very impressive report.
These organizations kicked off a campaign and a nationwide(Bahams) appeal to raise $300,000 for four ventilators and six incubators to replace critically needed equipment in the NICU for Princess Margaret Hospital.
If interested in providing a donation contact Mark Roberts or Michelle Rassin.
a Dr.Forrest Bird (the modern day Divinci).
Man for all seasons. A communicator with life experiences-that 100 people could only hope for. Pilot, Son of WW-1 pilot, inventor,
He told me of pulling the breathing apparatus out of a captured German Messerschmit, he was ferrying home, as he noted it was far superior to American fighter plane issue apparatus at the time. He discerned how it worked and attempted to reproduce it using a coffee can, drive magnet, and diaphragms.
Having used the Mark 7, 14, Cpap ventilator, and Baby Bird in the last 38 years as a respiratory therapist-to "bring patients to the surface" Dr. Bird has also coined several definitions-that I use daily. One favorite is "Wedge."
Saw him speak at age 84-very compelling, and efficient communicator as well as informative. All eyes were captivated witnessing his powerful aura.
I spoke with him afterwards of a mutual (physician -anesthesiologist) friend from Jackson, Mississippi, his eyes opened wide-and he spoke of the good times both had shared. He is a Super Man in the flesh. Thanks for the doc.
Thank you,
Sheri RRT-NPS
If only my Dad was still alive, he would have loved seeing his old friend on TV.
Chris
(www.MAClungdisease.org) I would love to be able to contact Mr. Bird to give him another challenge in his life. I have a very advanced case of "MAC" and will soon have to go on oxygen. I''m 65 and weigh 98 lbs soaking wet. The disease has trashed my lungs to the point of just having my left lung functioning. The thoughts of having to drag around an oxygen tank in order to breathe is a horrible thought. I''ve often wondered why someone hasn''t invented something easier for us to use in order to breathe. Won''t you contact Mr Bird and share this challenge? cargeoma@aol.com
Michelle Kouri
Michigan
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