In 1989, whereas stationed at Fort Bragg right here in North Carolina, Dr. Donohue parachuted into Panama as a surgeon within the medical crew of the 82nd Airborne Division, and nearly instantly started treating casualties. He remembers working in a Ahead Surgical Staff tent subsequent to an airbase runway, treating wounded at that location; all hospital buildings in close by Panama Metropolis have been in energetic fight zones. The photograph above reveals the crew working on a younger Military Ranger who had been caught in an ambush, sustaining a number of wounds. The younger man required a blood transfusion. And thankfully, Hugh and his crew of medics had sufficient blood readily available to save lots of the person’s life. However that wasn’t at all times the case.
Throughout Operation Desert Storm, then-Colonel Hugh Donohue commanded Fort Bragg’s 28th Fight Help Hospital, main it over 100 miles into Iraq. In the future, a soldier arrived needing fast surgical procedure. The medics knew that he couldn’t look forward to the crew to safe extra blood. After which one thing occurred that Hugh will always remember. On the spot, one of many nurses, whose blood sort matched the affected person’s, donated a unit of blood to save lots of his life.
“I made a vow that I’d assist to take care of blood reserves by making blood donations, after seeing how crucial its want was,” Hugh mentioned, considering again about his time within the army. And he has. Hugh has been donating blood for half a century now. He has a straightforward system in place that he follows to maximise his donations: “Each time I donate, the blood drive group provides you a paper. It lists how quickly you’ll be able to donate subsequent time, which is about eight weeks later. I put a reminder in my calendar for eight weeks so I can donate once more.”
Hugh is not clinically energetic, however, he mentioned, “That is the one factor I can do to nonetheless assist.”