Doggtyred
En-Route
"From the University of Texas Health Science Center, I'm Dr Red Duke"...
That was the sign off that many of you in the 80's in 30 or so states nationwide heard from the illustrious James "Red" Duke, MD giving his folksy medical advice as part of the evening news
He was a Texan.. an Eagle Scout.. a Fightin Texas Aggie... a seminarian.. an armored soldier.. an officer and a gentleman in the United States Army National Guard.. A surgeon... a friend of the pre-war afghan people.. a medical director to fledging EMS training programs in the late 70's... One of the first three surgeons to join the new UT Medical School in Houston... the founding medical director of Hermann Life Flight, the second oldest Helicopter EMS outfit in the US... head of the division of Trauma Surgery and a mentor to thousands upon thousands of doctors, nurses and paramedics over the past 40 years in the Houston, Texas area.
A living legend. I crossed his path an innumerable amount of times.. Him climbing out of a helicopter and into my ambulance.. Bringing him patients to the trauma rooms via ambulance... Seeing him round on my patients when I became an ICU nurse... and having him join us for lunch during my Nurse practitioner clinical rotations... I couldn't tell you if he knew my name, but he knew my face. He knew how to be humble. And to humble others when they needed it.
There were a pair of red boot prints on the floor at the foot of each of the 8 level 1 ER Major Trauma Room stretchers. That was his spot. If he was there you didn't stand there. If he WASN'T there you still didn't stand there.
The past few years I'd see him at least once a week. Taking leftover food from the doctor's dining room to the Trauma ICU waiting room to share with families. Rounding on trauma. Passing in the hall.
The last year or two also were telling.. that this day was coming.. and it was rough to watch such a legendary man gradually but progressively get old.
A living legend losing the spring in his step, not standing as tall in his boots, and then on to not standing at all. He practically lived at the hospital these last years, as many legendary surgeons I've known of have done. He once quipped they will have to scrape him off the OR floor when he dies. It damn near came to that. In the words of another local legendary trauma surgeon, Dr Kenneth Mattox, "He ran out of fuel"... "his body wore out"..
Today I woke up in the afternoon, being the nocturnal fellow that I am professionally, and noticed that one of my friends at Life Flight had posted a picture of Dr Duke late this afternoon. As I scrolled down my timeline, I saw another post from another medic... and another post from a pilot.. all showing pictures of themselves with Red Duke... and realized that today was the day. An announcement in a private group dominated by Life Flight alumni confirmed what I'd suspected. Having had the privilege of working in his shadow over the decades, I was privileged to be one who learned early of his passing, hours before it made it to the local media and then on to national news (CNN at least).
Godspeed Dr Duke. Rest in Peace. And as only Aggie's and their friends will understand... "Here".
That was the sign off that many of you in the 80's in 30 or so states nationwide heard from the illustrious James "Red" Duke, MD giving his folksy medical advice as part of the evening news
He was a Texan.. an Eagle Scout.. a Fightin Texas Aggie... a seminarian.. an armored soldier.. an officer and a gentleman in the United States Army National Guard.. A surgeon... a friend of the pre-war afghan people.. a medical director to fledging EMS training programs in the late 70's... One of the first three surgeons to join the new UT Medical School in Houston... the founding medical director of Hermann Life Flight, the second oldest Helicopter EMS outfit in the US... head of the division of Trauma Surgery and a mentor to thousands upon thousands of doctors, nurses and paramedics over the past 40 years in the Houston, Texas area.
A living legend. I crossed his path an innumerable amount of times.. Him climbing out of a helicopter and into my ambulance.. Bringing him patients to the trauma rooms via ambulance... Seeing him round on my patients when I became an ICU nurse... and having him join us for lunch during my Nurse practitioner clinical rotations... I couldn't tell you if he knew my name, but he knew my face. He knew how to be humble. And to humble others when they needed it.
There were a pair of red boot prints on the floor at the foot of each of the 8 level 1 ER Major Trauma Room stretchers. That was his spot. If he was there you didn't stand there. If he WASN'T there you still didn't stand there.
The past few years I'd see him at least once a week. Taking leftover food from the doctor's dining room to the Trauma ICU waiting room to share with families. Rounding on trauma. Passing in the hall.
The last year or two also were telling.. that this day was coming.. and it was rough to watch such a legendary man gradually but progressively get old.
A living legend losing the spring in his step, not standing as tall in his boots, and then on to not standing at all. He practically lived at the hospital these last years, as many legendary surgeons I've known of have done. He once quipped they will have to scrape him off the OR floor when he dies. It damn near came to that. In the words of another local legendary trauma surgeon, Dr Kenneth Mattox, "He ran out of fuel"... "his body wore out"..
Today I woke up in the afternoon, being the nocturnal fellow that I am professionally, and noticed that one of my friends at Life Flight had posted a picture of Dr Duke late this afternoon. As I scrolled down my timeline, I saw another post from another medic... and another post from a pilot.. all showing pictures of themselves with Red Duke... and realized that today was the day. An announcement in a private group dominated by Life Flight alumni confirmed what I'd suspected. Having had the privilege of working in his shadow over the decades, I was privileged to be one who learned early of his passing, hours before it made it to the local media and then on to national news (CNN at least).
Godspeed Dr Duke. Rest in Peace. And as only Aggie's and their friends will understand... "Here".
