Cameron Bangs, M.D.
Graduating class: 1955
Inducted into Hall of Fame: 1997
Hall of Fame Category: Lifetime Achievement
After graduating from the University of Vermont Medical School, Cameron
Bangs went out to the Pacific Northwest for a one year adventure with the Mt. Hood Ski Patrol.
In 1967, after a three day search for lost climbers, Cam found themi _ snow cave; one was dead, one with frostbite and the third hypothermic. Cam performed the newest technique for frostbite for the first time in the Northwest Cam became an instant authority.
He eventually became an avid mountain and ice climber and climbed all of the mountains in the Pacific Northwest; Mt. Rainer, Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens.
Cameron Bangs was asked by the Governor of Oregon to create and run a medical facility for a state-sponsored 1970 rock festival similar to Woodstock His successful operation of the facility earned him a Guinness World Record for treating the largest number of bad LSD trips. During this festival, the first helicopter medi-vac in the state was performed.
Cameron Bangs was asked to assist in medical care on medi-vac : mountain rescues and search procedures. Over the next number of years he logged 55 search and rescues into the mountains, forests, and rivers of Oregon .
In 1976 he was flown to 11,000 ft. Mt. Jefferson to rescue two survivors from a plane crash. For this he was awarded the Avco-Lycoming Helicopter Rescue Award presented by Barry Goldwater and cited in a three-page article in People Magazine.