GOODE – Several hundred people turned out Saturday to a benefit event for a Bedford County rescue-squad member who spent the past 30 days in the University of Virginia Hospital recovering from wreck injuries.
Holly Hogan made an appearance Saturday evening at the festivities that were being held in her honor. She had been released from the hospital just a few hours earlier.
“The accident happened on Dec. 7 and we started planning this on Dec. 8,” said Ashley Bryan, who organized the community turnout at the Goode Rescue Squad building on U.S. 221.
Live music for grownups and an opportunity for children to look inside the Centra One medical helicopter were among the top attractions.
About 75 people and businesses pitched in with donations for a silent auction and bake sale, or with their time and cooking skills that went into serving plates of barbecued chicken and all the fixings.
“We cooked for 500 people,” Bryan said, and an estimated 200 adults and children showed up in the first hour between 3 and 4 p.m.
It was scheduled to last another six hours.
Hogan, a member of the Huddleston Rescue Squad, is a registered nurse in the emergency department at Lynchburg General Hospital. She’s also a wife and mother of two children.
Bryan and Hogan work together in the ER. They became friends while taking emergency medical technician courses together in 2005 in the Bedford County Fire and Rescue program.
“She’s an amazing person. I don’t think she’s ever met anybody who walked away not liking her,” Bryan said.
Hogan’s recovery from the wreck injuries has gone well, Bryan said, and Hogan is able to move about using a walker.
Funds raised during the event will help Hogan’s family with medical expenses and other costs while she’s out of work, Bryan said.
Hogan’s injuries occurred Dec.7 in a two-vehicle collision on U.S. 460 at Bethel Church Road.
Three other people were injured less seriously in the crash.