As Hospital Corpsman Third Class Cheyenne Daugherty finished up a camping trip in late August, she had no idea moments later she would be in a life-or-death situation on the side of a busy highway.
Daugherty, a General Duty Hospital Corpsman assigned to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Cherry Point, was traveling back from a weekend trip on I-95 near Lumberton, North Carolina, when, after nightfall, she came upon the scene of a motor vehicle accident on the side of the highway.
“She did not stand by waiting for someone else to take action, she stepped forward and did what needed to be done.”
“Myself along with another bystander, who was a nurse, saw someone had a compound fracture,” said Daugherty, a native of Brevard, North Carolina. “I asked [the victim] if they had a tourniquet, they said ‘no,’ and we [the nurse and I] turned and screamed to other bystanders if anyone had a belt.”
Lacking a formal tourniquet, Daugherty and the nurse improvised with a belt provided by a bystander, applying it high on the victim’s thigh, getting it as tight as they could, and used gauze from a first aid kit to hold pressure from where the victim was bleeding.
“Upon assessing the patient, she [Daugherty] recognized a life-threatening hemorrhage and immediately applied a [improvised] tourniquet. Her quick thinking, knowledge, and willingness to act made an extraordinary difference,” wrote Mr. Nick Stone, Deputy Commander of Lumberton Rescue and EMS. “She did not stand by waiting for someone else to take action, she stepped forward and did what needed to be done.”
“Remember your training, remain calm, and provide care within the scope of what you are trained to do”
Daugherty stayed at the scene of the accident on I-95 that night to treat and comfort the victim until emergency medical service personnel from Lumberton Rescue and EMS arrived. She briefed the first responders about the situation and worked alongside them until the victim was evacuated.
“Daugherty’s actions that night demonstrated the exceptional Sailor and Corpsman that she is,” said Command Master Chief Cory Butler, the facility’s Senior Enlisted Leader. “Her training kicked in, she provided critical medical care in a difficult environment and most likely saved her patient’s life.”
According to Stone, the trauma physician treating the victim noted the victim’s outcome would have been very different had Daugherty not acted as quickly as she did.
“Remember your training, remain calm, and provide care within the scope of what you are trained to do,” said Daugherty when asked about advice for her fellow Corpsmen. “Do what you safely can to help the patient until EMS arrives, just as you would when caring for a patient in a hospital, field, or clinic.”
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