Red Duke (1928-2015)
August 25, 2015 11:08 PM Subscribe
James Henry "Red" Duke passed away today at the age of 86. With his Texas accent and folksy expressions, Dr. Duke was most famous for his 15 year running TV series Health Reports which covered topics like hyperthyroidism, kidney stones, and even stress management.
Besides his experience in front of the camera, Dr. Duke also had a long history as a medical educator. In 1972, he joined The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston where he was a professor of clinical sciences. Less well known is that in 1970, Dr. Duke moved his family to Jalalabad, Afghanistan where he was a professor and chairman of surgery at the Nangarhar University School of Medicine until he returned to Texas in 1972.
Besides his background in medical education, Dr. Duke was a respected trauma surgeon. After returning to Texas, Dr. Duke built the trauma center at what is now Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, TX. In 1976, he also founded the hospital's Life Flight program - Texas' first air ambulance system.
Dr. Duke is also remembered for treating and saving the life of Texas Governor John Connally on the day of the Kennedy assassination.
When asked about his personal motto, Dr. Duke replied: "I learned this in the National Guard: Stay in the high grass and don’t raise your head in the same place twice."
Besides his experience in front of the camera, Dr. Duke also had a long history as a medical educator. In 1972, he joined The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston where he was a professor of clinical sciences. Less well known is that in 1970, Dr. Duke moved his family to Jalalabad, Afghanistan where he was a professor and chairman of surgery at the Nangarhar University School of Medicine until he returned to Texas in 1972.
Besides his background in medical education, Dr. Duke was a respected trauma surgeon. After returning to Texas, Dr. Duke built the trauma center at what is now Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, TX. In 1976, he also founded the hospital's Life Flight program - Texas' first air ambulance system.
Dr. Duke is also remembered for treating and saving the life of Texas Governor John Connally on the day of the Kennedy assassination.
When asked about his personal motto, Dr. Duke replied: "I learned this in the National Guard: Stay in the high grass and don’t raise your head in the same place twice."
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posted by scatter gather at 3:45 AM on August 26, 2015
posted by scatter gather at 3:45 AM on August 26, 2015
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posted by Monsieur Caution at 4:23 AM on August 26, 2015
posted by Monsieur Caution at 4:23 AM on August 26, 2015
It's impossible to overestimate the importance of Life Flight. It brought almost everywhere within a 150 mile radius of Houston to just a 15 minute helicopter flight away from Hermann's trauma center -- including the middle of traffic jams and oil rigs in the Gulf. More important, the choppers themselves are equipped with advanced lifesaving equipment and nursing/paramedic staff. When they land on the scene of a car accident, for example, they will clear the entire intersection. Houston drivers know to just park and wait if there's not a way to go around -- Life Flight doesn't just swoop in, pick up the patient, and leave. They will frequently spend an hour on the scene getting the patient stabilized, doing CPR, intubating, transfusing blood, before loading them up and taking off. I grew up in the suburbs -- a 45 minute drive from the medical center on the best of days -- so I knew several people whose lives were saved by Life Flight. Car crashes were the most common, but near-drownings, near-electrocutions --a whole lot of "nears" that would have been actuals if they hadn't been Life Flighted to Hermann. And I mean that as no knock on our local ambulance crews, who were superlative. But it was still a potentially 1 1/2 hour drive in bad traffic in a standard ambulance vs. 15 minutes of no traffic in a super-well equipped air ambulance; or choosing the mediocre nearby hospital over a world class trauma center headed by Dr. Red Duke. Until very recently, the medical crews still had regular skills trainings with Dr. Duke.
Honestly, when I was a kid he was a bit of a figure of fun -- his accent, his earnestness, his sometimes goofy ways of saying things. But we knew who the hell he was because he was always doing some educational program, like the Health Reports, or the RV/bus he sent around to schools that was all tricked out with TV monitors playing video clips of him talking to us "about something very special...your _____" (eyes is the one that comes most readily to my sensory memory because his accent did otherworldly things to the word) and interactive models of our eyes, ears, etc. And the older I get the more I'm blown away by how much he dedicated himself to health education, on top of building Memorial's trauma department into the powerhouse that it is and creating the Life Flight program -- only the second of its kind in the nation. He was the only medical director Houston Life Flight ever had. He was a true pioneer.
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posted by katemonster at 4:31 AM on August 26, 2015 [10 favorites]
Honestly, when I was a kid he was a bit of a figure of fun -- his accent, his earnestness, his sometimes goofy ways of saying things. But we knew who the hell he was because he was always doing some educational program, like the Health Reports, or the RV/bus he sent around to schools that was all tricked out with TV monitors playing video clips of him talking to us "about something very special...your _____" (eyes is the one that comes most readily to my sensory memory because his accent did otherworldly things to the word) and interactive models of our eyes, ears, etc. And the older I get the more I'm blown away by how much he dedicated himself to health education, on top of building Memorial's trauma department into the powerhouse that it is and creating the Life Flight program -- only the second of its kind in the nation. He was the only medical director Houston Life Flight ever had. He was a true pioneer.
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posted by katemonster at 4:31 AM on August 26, 2015 [10 favorites]
I remember his syndicated segments on the channel 2 news at noon as a kid. Growing up in the Northeast, I think that was probably the first time I ever heard a serious Texas accent.
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posted by Chrysostom at 5:23 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by Chrysostom at 5:23 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I worked at Hermann back in the late 80's early 90's in a small office in the back the main Life Flight offices arranging non-trauma flights during the graveyard shift. Every once in a while he'd sneak into my office for a smoke since it was out of the way.
He was everything you would expect him to be.
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posted by beowulf573 at 5:24 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
He was everything you would expect him to be.
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posted by beowulf573 at 5:24 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
When I was home one summer as an undergrad, a family friend who used to work at Hermann gave me Red Duke's email address, as I was considering a career in medicine. A few weeks later while mowing the lawn, my mom ran outside with the phone, waiving and mouthing "IT'S RED DUKE!"
He spent the next thirty minutes giving all sorts of advice about applying to med school, most of which I can't remember. I do remember being incredibly impressed that such an accomplished person would take the time to talk to some random kid.
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posted by sicem07 at 6:34 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
He spent the next thirty minutes giving all sorts of advice about applying to med school, most of which I can't remember. I do remember being incredibly impressed that such an accomplished person would take the time to talk to some random kid.
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posted by sicem07 at 6:34 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I was just thinking about him the other day. What a fantastic human being.
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posted by fiercecupcake at 7:01 AM on August 26, 2015
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posted by fiercecupcake at 7:01 AM on August 26, 2015
I'm from Houston (and I was shocked to hear about this, but not to know that he was still active with Life Flight as long as possible) and a bunch of my FB friends are talking about their acquaintance with him today. According to them, he was everything he appeared to be: a real class act. We've lost a good one. RIP.
posted by immlass at 7:07 AM on August 26, 2015
posted by immlass at 7:07 AM on August 26, 2015
True Life Twofer from another Blue Houstonian:
1. 20 years ago, I used to habitually eat weekend breakfasts at a taqueria called Cortes Deli also favored by Dr Duke. There was a Dr Red Duke Egg White Special on the menu, and we'd see him in there about half the time.
Cortes got shoved out of its spot when the property owners sold, and never really regained their footing despite giving it a go in at least two other locations (the last of which made the list in a WSJ article about cursed restaurant sites after they went under). Ugh.
2. Last fall, when I had my little medical adventure, I was cared for at Memorial Hermann. Dr Duke's portrait in the hall, as part of a mosaic of the trauma surgeons working in the unit, was visible from my room. I remember being surprised he was still practicing. (No, I never saw him. Dude who worked on me was much, much younger.)
posted by uberchet at 7:16 AM on August 26, 2015
1. 20 years ago, I used to habitually eat weekend breakfasts at a taqueria called Cortes Deli also favored by Dr Duke. There was a Dr Red Duke Egg White Special on the menu, and we'd see him in there about half the time.
Cortes got shoved out of its spot when the property owners sold, and never really regained their footing despite giving it a go in at least two other locations (the last of which made the list in a WSJ article about cursed restaurant sites after they went under). Ugh.
2. Last fall, when I had my little medical adventure, I was cared for at Memorial Hermann. Dr Duke's portrait in the hall, as part of a mosaic of the trauma surgeons working in the unit, was visible from my room. I remember being surprised he was still practicing. (No, I never saw him. Dude who worked on me was much, much younger.)
posted by uberchet at 7:16 AM on August 26, 2015
He also inspired a short lived TV series. It is probably apocryphal but when I interviewed for residency training at either Parkland or Houston (it was a long time ago, I don't recall exactly which) one of the residents told me he began to make his reputation as chief surgery resident at Parkland. When they brought Kennedy and Connally in he took one look at Kennedy and said "This man's dead! Give me someone I can save!" and went to work on Connally while the attending physicians treated Kennedy.
posted by TedW at 7:59 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by TedW at 7:59 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Here.
posted by resurrexit at 10:22 AM on August 26, 2015
posted by resurrexit at 10:22 AM on August 26, 2015
Some recollections of Dr. Duke from the medicine subreddit.
posted by un petit cadeau at 10:24 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by un petit cadeau at 10:24 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by bryon at 1:41 AM on August 26, 2015