Our veterans: His love of caring for people grew through military service

Kraig Hunter is a nurse in Legacy Emanuel Medical Center’s Neuro Trauma Intensive Care Unit where he does trauma resuscitation and works with the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) team to provide life-saving care for critical patients.

Hunter’s love for medicine and caring for people grew in the military. “I wasn’t quite ready for college so I joined the National Guard,” says Hunter. He served two years and decided to enlist in the Army and was stationed at Fort Hood, TX, in combat arms.

He served his five years and took a civilian job as a generator mechanic for a 296-bed hospital in Fort Lewis, WA. "I learned teamwork and serving and protecting others," says Hunter. Finally ready for college, he enrolled in a local community college and discovered he had a high aptitude for science. “I was good at anatomy and physiology,” says Hunter. “I see the body as an amazing thing and was eager to learn more.”

Hunter graduated in nursing and joined Legacy Health. In 2012, he received a Daisy Award, a national recognition given to extraordinary nurses. He helped evacuate patients during an electrical fire in a since remodeled area of the hospital. “I can’t picture myself doing anything else,” says Hunter. “I love caring for people, saving lives through trauma resuscitation and just helping people.”  Hunter and is married to a nurse and they have a teenage son. The photo is from his days at Fort Hood.

Read stories about a few of Legacy Health’s veterans at http://bit.ly/2fJVjbp

For more information, contact Vicki Guinn, 503-413-2939, or vguinn@lhs.org.

Photo: courtesy of Kraig Hunter, RN.