Reliant Medical Center and Community

I had the opportunity to visit with Max Lebow, MD, in Los Angeles during our California trip.

Max is a great guy – enthusiastic, committed, and service oriented. Max is also a WVU School of Medicine graduate.

I want to share a great story about Max and his medical center.

Max acquired a medical center that he named Reliant Medical Center, a small clinic building on the grounds of LAX, the largest airport in LA. This clinic sees a number of employees and air travelers. Max is an Emergency Department physician. Reliant does urgent care but also does occupational medicine for a number of pilots and other businesses.

It is a certain day’s occurrence that I want to share with you – the day of the shooting of TSA agents at LAX.

As you can imagine, it was a chaotic scene that led police officials to close down a terminal of LAX. The instructions to the people in the involved terminal were to drop their bags and exit quickly.

Thus, passengers, their children, aged parents, and others had no belongings with them. The shooting happened at about 10:30 a.m., leaving many travelers without much information or resources.

Max was on his way to work during the shooting and ended up parking a mile or two from his clinic and needed to walk. Once getting there, he found that his staff had spontaneously grabbed all the food in the clinic and set up a relief station for the now refugees from the airport.

When those resources dissipated, the staff walked to a local store and brought back several baskets of food and drink for the travelers. People congregated, and eventually the travelers made trips with the staff and kept everyone cared for and cared about.

People congregated at the clinic and picnicked on the lawn, being comforted and treated for stress.

The airport opened at 8 p.m. again, and finally, the stranded passengers got back on their flights.

Max and his team demonstrated what we treasure about folks from West Virginia – service oriented, welcoming, friendly, and sensitive to the needs of others.

I am proud to know Max and his team, for they illustrate the best in all of us.