Best of Both Worlds

Chapter Eleven

The two words every doctor dreaded hearing were Mass casualties. Those words signified a lot of negative feelings like pain, sadness, anger, hopelessness, loss, and worst of all death. The whole trauma unit had been cleared of the pre-existing patients to accommodate people who were being brought in, due to a building collapse that occurred an hour ago.

Ambulances dashed in and out of the hospital, delivering critically wounded people. The building belonged to a local high school. It was on every news station, newspaper, and radio station. It turned out that the foundation of the school was not solid and had collapsed. Some of our doctors were dispatched to the site of the casualty to deliver onsite immediate medical attention while the rest of us remained in the hospital to receive the incoming patients.

The hospital was in a state of pandemonium with doctors running around the place trying to help as many patients as possible. Patients were wheeled into the hospital every minute. Relatives of the affected flooded in and out, trying to find their loved ones. It was just terrible. I remained at the hospital because of my pregnant state. That way I could help people the best I could in a safe and stable condition. The hospital was reaching its max and soon enough, the ambulances would have to be redirected to other hospitals in New York.

"Aaaaarrrrhhhhh!" A teenage girl in bay 3 screamed out in pain.

She was wheeled in all bloody and hysteric due to the trauma. We administered some nerve blockers to reduce the pain she was feeling and sent her up for imaging to get a clear look at things before we go in for surgery. From the looks of it, during the course of the collapse, her left hand and right leg had been crushed due to weight.

With a limited amount of time and doctors, we had to speed things up. There were no assignments, it was a 'help as many as you stumble upon' situation. I made to move to attend to the next patient I could find but was stopped by a big, middle-aged woman. Her eyes were wide. Her dishevelled straight brown hair revealed signs of repetitive tugging and tossing. She had a firm grip on my forearm but through the sleeves of my navy blue inner tee, I felt her trembles.

I tugged off my bloodied gloves, balled them up in one hand and used the other to hold onto her upper arm. "How can I help you, ma'am?"

She parted her lips and then shut them as she glanced around her. Another bloodied patient wheeled past with two doctors yelling orders as they sprinted. Her shaky pupils followed the gurney to the elevator. Her trembling hand left my arm and travelled to the base of her pale neck.

"Ma'am. Look at me" I gave her arm a gentle squeeze. "Come with me"

With a strong hold on her arm, we meandered past the chaos and luckily, found an empty chair in the waiting room. I thrashed the soiled gloves in my palm into a nearby trash can. Then, I applied a decent amount of hand sanitiser, which I carried around in my pocket.

She sent a sweeping glance around her before settling on me. "M- My daughter... she goes to that high school." She pushed her fingers into her hair and tugged at the roots then massaged her scalp. "I can't find her... I don't know wh- where to look,"

I nodded, my hands rubbing circles on her shoulders. "Calm down, ma'am. What's her name?"

She craned her neck and attempted to rise from the chair as a gurney with doctors wheeled past. "I don't know if she's in- injured or..."

In this situation, these types of cases occur. With afflicted patients transported to different hospitals across the state, the relatives of affected patients tended to flock in and out of hospitals, looking for their loved ones. It was a really terrible time.

I reduced myself to a squat to reach her eye level. I took her hand, placed my two fingers against her broad wrist and applied a little pressure. "What's your name, ma'am?"