Dr. Verne Chaney passed away on February 12, 2018. Since the beginning of the Dooley Intermed organization, Dr. Chaney initiated humanitarian aid and medical assistance projects in Nepal, Thailand, Laos, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Haiti, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger and Tanzania. Dr. Verne Chaney has, for half a century, helped improve the health of thousands of underprivileged people worldwide.
His humanitarian service has been recognized with international awards including the Order of a Million Elephants (Royal Government of the Kingdom of Laos), and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine Distinguished Service Award. In 2002 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science Degree by the University of North Carolina.
In 2009 Dr. Chaney was awarded the first Sir Edmund Hillary Humanitarian Award by The Explorers Club “To honor his long-term commitment to humanitarian endeavors, and to acknowledge his devotion to the betterment of mankind”.
September 2018 Dr. Maria Compte, Dooley Intermed Board Member and long-time Director of our Nicaraguan Program visited the Santa Ines Clinic to attend a dedication ceremony of the Santa Ines Clinic Laboratory in Dr. Verne Chaney's name.
Brief Bio
The Founder of Dooley Intermed is the late Dr. Verne Chaney. Born in 1923, Dr. Chaney was raised and received his early education in Kansas City, Missouri. He was selected as a first alternate candidate to West Point by Senator Harry Truman but matriculated at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. As a graduate of VMI, graduating at the top of his class, and the Johns Hopkins Medical School with post graduate training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of North Carolina in Thoracic and General Surgery, Dr. Verne Chaney enlisted in the Army the day after the Korean War started, June 25,1950. In Korea he served in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) for five months, then transferred to the 2nd Infantry Division, 23rd Regiment as a Battalion Surgeon. He also served in a frostbite center in Osaka, Japan.
During the battle for Heartbreak Ridge, Captain Chaney was wounded by a land mine while probing with a bayonet his way through a minefield to rescue three of his wounded medics. For this action, Dr. Chaney received The Silver Star, The Purple Heart, The Bronze Star, and The French Croix de Guerre. Dr. Chaney was one of the highest decorated doctors in the Korean War.
Following discharge from the Army, and completing a Residency in Thoracic Surgery at the University of North Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill, Dr. Chaney volunteered in 1956 to work with Albert Schweitzer as Chief of Surgery at Hospital Albert Schweitzer in Haiti. For his humanitarian efforts, Dr. Chaney was awarded a commendation by the State Department and by the US Haitian Ambassador.
VMI Alumni Review
Read this article from the VMI Alumni Review on Dr Chaney
VENU Magazine - Man of a Thousand Places
Read the article "Verne Chaney, M.D. - Man of a Thousand Places"
by Jeff Blumenfeld