Fighting Against Death: Canadian Medical Personnel in Afghanistan
From 2001 to 2014, Canadian Armed Forces medical personnel served in Afghanistan, providing life-saving care in active combat zones, under constant threat of fire. To mark the 25th anniversary of Canadians arriving in Afghanistan, three Memory Project speakers, all Canadian Armed Forces veterans and medical experts, shared their stories from the Kandahar Airfield Hospital and Forward Operating Bases, as they fought to save Canadians, allies, and even their enemies using groundbreaking medical techniques through some of the fiercest fighting in recent Canadian military history.
For more than a decade, Canadian medical personnel, including doctors, nurses, technicians, and medical transport crews, defied the odds and fought against death in Afghanistan. With an ever-evolving political and combat situation, medical personnel were often forced to perform procedures under rocket attack and during ground incursions, as well as out in the field. Partnering with Canadian Blood Services, the military created the Walking Donor blood bank program, which many credit as a game-changing medical innovation, making whole blood more readily available for patients in need.
This video is produced by the Memory Project, a program of Historica Canada, using testimonies from the Memory Project Archive. For more stories of service, visit https://www.thememoryproject.com
Credits:
Illustrations by Jessie Durham @jessieeedurham
Video production by Bonfire Originals
Featuring:
Major (retired) Ray Wiss, CD, MD
Major (retired) Mark Dauphin, MSM, CD, MD
Captain (retired) Mary Ann Barber, CD, BscN, MN, NP
Stephanie Zidel (narrator)
Additional image and licensing credits:
The image at 4:33 should be credited: Afghan fighter, Kandahar (©David Batten, MSM, Toronto Canada/Canadian War Museum/Major-General Clive Addy/20160297-002/2012).
Jawad Jalali (UNAMA),
Voting at the Hemam Bokhari School, Shahr Kohna, Faizabad,… | Flickr
AK: GC, Afghan Elections 2009 (Kandahar City) / Élections Afghanes… | Flickr
G.A. Volb, Canadian Lieutenant Reaches out to the local Afghan community (5063722349).jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Spc. Phil Kernisan, http://www.defenseimagery.mil/imageRetrieve.action?guid=0f2e8b0a62f447989533b1c92c26a0d83e43a370&t=2
US Department of Defense, Staff Sgt. Robert Hyatt, Operation Enduring Freedom | 020701-A-3085H-025 Canadian sol… | Flickr
ISAF Photo by Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Duran,080826-A-0660D-838.NEF | KANADAHAR, Afghanistan – Canadian S… | Flickr
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