‘It’s like losing a family member.’ Fresno-area doctor who died during dive remembered
A neurologist in the Fresno area who died while on a solo-scuba dive at Millerton Lake was remembered Monday as a good doctor and close friend.
Melvin Helm was known to be an experienced diver who also was interested in the cosmos and, as a doctor, specialized in conditions that cause headaches and dizziness.
The 55-year-old was a practicing neurologist in Fresno and Clovis for more than 20 years, according to Saint Agnes Medical Center.
The Clovis resident was missing for about two days before deputies made the discovery in the Madera County lake, according to authorities.
California Scuba Center owner Mike Fitzgerald said the diving community in the region is tight-knit, and everyone in it began checking on each other when they heard about a missing diver during the weekend.
He said he was shocked when it turned out to be Helm, and spent the night remembering Helm with his wife, he said. “All we could do was lay there and talk about Mel,” he said. “It’s like losing a family member.”
Divers often use Millerton Lake or others in the region to practice their skills, he said.
Fitzgerald said he doubted the missing diver was Helm, because he was too experienced. Now the members of the community are racking their brains over what went wrong.
“For it to be a scuba issue, I find it hard to believe, because he’s very experienced and meticulous with his equipment,” Fitzgerald said. “You would think he was doing surgery with his equipment.”
Helm was known to use two tanks, one on each side, which is a redundant system that typically makes equipment failure less likely, according to Fitzgerald.
Helm was always a good teacher to fellow scuba divers and never the kind of guy to talk down to those with less experience, Fitzgerald said.
“Mel would come in here and talk and share stories and information,” he said. “I could talk to that guy for hours when he’d come visit.”
A neurologist
Helm was from the Fresno area, and returned to practice medicine.
He got his medical degree from New York Medical College in 1996, was an internal medicine intern at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed his neurology residency at Albert Einstein Medical College in 2000, Saint Agnes confirmed.
Veronica Repp was an emergency room physician in Fresno in 2012 when she was suffering from vertigo, a sensation that makes patients feel off balance.
“It can be debilitating. If you can’t get up, you can’t do anything,” she said.
Another physician referred her to Helm, but being a nurse can make one picky about doctors, she said. Her husband happened to have attended Caruthers High with the doctor, graduating in 1984, and spoke highly of Helm, she said.
“He was very instrumental in giving back my balance,” she said. “He had a good bedside manner — calm, very matter-of-fact, but wanted to help you and find the problem.”
Helm was an easy-going doctor who communicated well with his patients, according to Mary Jo Jacobson, the CEO of the San Joaquin Valley Rehabilitation Hospital. Helm was the medical director for that hospital’s Balance and Dizziness Program.
“He will be a loss to the community for sure,” she said.
“My heart is so sad for him, his family — especially his family — along with his patients and staff,” she said. “The timing of this around the holidays is unbelievable.”
Helm also co-founded the Sierra Remote Observatories in Auberry, where he managed the on-site machine shop and other technical services, according to the agency’s website. He also had a “lifelong interest in astronomy and astrophotography,” the website says.
Fitzgerald said Helm often took part in dives at Millerton Lake to help clean trash from the lake bed.
He said he and other members of the diving community are working on a memorial or other efforts to remember Helm, which he’ll announce on his company’s Facebook page.
This story was originally published December 27, 2021 at 1:45 PM.
