Adaptations

Camille Madison woke early in anticipation of the changes the day would bring. She brewed a pot of her favorite French Vanilla flavored coffee and took her first cup out on the terrace. When she purchased this condo several years ago it had been the terrace that she had fallen in love with.

The white café table and chairs that adorned this favorite place of solace had been the first furniture purchased; the bedroom ensemble second. The living room and combination dining areas filled up with plush furnishings as well. The condo now reflected the independent yet totally feminine head nurse of the largest ER in Los Angeles County.

She lifted the steaming cup and breathed in the aroma before taking a sip and tasting the strong coffee beans laced with the sweet nectar of vanilla. Her eyes closed in appreciation as she took another sip.

Today marked another cross road in her well ordered world. Camille had experienced much change in her young life. Fresh out of nursing school she found herself at a recruiter's office signing up as an army nurse shipping out for a field hospital in the Pusan perimeter, a small area in South Korea. Upon returning to Los Angeles she found that she had to re-invent herself. The horrors she'd faced in Korea made working in a private physician's practice tedious, and manning a nurse's station on a patient floor at the hospital a monotonous chore.  She needed to be where the action was. She needed to get at the heart of the impulse of why she became a nurse to begin with: treating the injured and gravely ill in an effort to give them a chance at life.

After acquiring and departing from several nursing positions, she found herself assigned to the emergency department at Harbor General Hospital where she excelled. In a few short years she had advanced to the position of Head Nurse.

She worked well with the administration and especially with the staff of physicians, but with all good things comes change and with change comes the need for adaptation. Today a new physician would be joining the staff as the new head of the emergency department. Today Dr. Benjamin Boyles, graduate of John's Hopkins who also trained at Mayo, would be taking over the reins.

Cammie had seen him around the halls; had even been formerly introduced, but her first impression led her to believe though obviously very skilled in patient care and extremely good looking, the man presented himself with an overly pompous air of appreciation for his own abilities, and that could either be a benefit or a detriment to a leader; the test of time would determine which it was for Harbor General's ER.

She sipped some more of the fragrant brew and listened to the sounds of an awakening city.

 After two cups of coffee, a quick shower and last minute touches to her hair and makeup, Cammie felt ready to face the day. She hurried from her fourth floor condo, breezed into the elevator and out into the bright sunshine. It was another beautiful California day that held much promise, and she planned to make the best of it.

***

Dr. Benjamin Boyles pulled his two door Chrysler Imperial into the reserved parking space outside Harbor General's ER, shut off the engine and stared at the nearby automatic doors that would lead him to his new future. It was a long way from Boston, his home town, but he knew a good offer when he saw it. And the hospital administration here had given him an offer no one could refuse. Sure he would miss the snow, but he could always visit his family during the winter and have all the snow he needed. At least in LA he wouldn't have to deal with the snow plows burying his car next to the curb under 20 feet of snow, or have to worry about freezing his ass off just making his way from the hospital to the parking garage.

First on his list of self imposed duties of the day was a meeting with the key members of his staff of physicians, and the head nurse. 'Maybe she can take notes.' He thought to himself. 'That way I won't need a personal secretary. That salary can be redistributed to adding another nurse or medical tech to the staff. There's no reason the nursing staff can't handle any notes or dictations that need to be added to the patient charts. I bet some of them can type too.' That decided he slid out from behind the steering wheel, grabbed his briefcase and locked the car.