Following my experiences in the Division Psychiatrist’s Office and a hospital ward, my next assignment was to work in the emergency room — the ER — at the 91st Evacuation Hospital. It was a challenging yet fascinating assignment
Our most common patients in the Emergency Room were soldiers who had been injured out in the field. The soldiers might have received their initial treatment from medics on the ground or on the helicopter that brought them to us.
But their wounds were serious enough that they needed to come to the hospital.
As the chopper arrived, the crew would describe the injuries so we would be prepared to help the patients right away.
We would meet them on the landing pad and bring the wounded soldiers to the Emergency Room.
When we got the soldiers into ER, we would transfer them to an exam table where we would quickly check their injuries, which sometimes required us to cut off their clothes.
We had special scissors that would cut through just about anything. We could cut through uniforms, belts, even the jungle boots the troops wore out in the field.
While we were checking vitals and cleaning wounds, the doctor would examine each soldier to determine what needed to be done in Emergency Room before sending them to Pre-Op.
If it was a single soldier, he would get several medics working on him. But if several wounded soldiers arrived at the same time, each of the medics had to work quickly to see that every soldier received the needed care.
A Variety of Wounds
Remember this was a war zone and, as could be expected, there were a variety of wounds. Some soldiers had been hit by bullets, some had been injured by shrapnel from grenades, some had tripped a land mine.
The goal was to quickly stabilize them, get them ready for surgery, and encourage them that they would be well cared for.
The Chest Wound
I remember one soldier who had been wounded in the chest. The medic in the field had managed to stop the bleeding and bandaged him, but when we cut off the bandage to check his wound, a stream of blood spurted straight up in the air, reaching nearly to the ceiling of our Emergency Room.
Apparently, an artery had been severed and the doctor quickly stepped in to deal with the situation. The wound was controlled, and the soldier was rushed to pre-op.
Cleaning Up
After we moved the patients to pre-op, our less-than-glamorous job was to clean up the Emergency Room and get it ready for the next patients who might arrive.
I remember cleaning up blood, used bandages, clothing, and anything else that might contaminate the area.
One time I was mopping up the floor and realized that I was actually mopping up brain matter that had spilled out of a head wound.
The Burn Ward
I’d like to just mention one area of the hospital that I didn’t work in but that I often passed by during the day.
It was the burn ward.
In addition to soldiers, they dealt with many civilians who suffered serious burns.
You couldn’t just walk into the burn ward because it was a super-sealed off area. With burns, they were very concerned with potential infections.
But often, as I walked by that ward, I could hear screams coming from their patients.
I couldn’t imagine working in that environment.
I had the opportunity to talk with a nurse who worked in the burn ward and asked her how she handled the emotional stress of working with people who were in such severe pain.
She explained that she knew that the things she had to do to treat the patients, which often caused great pain, that those treatments would help the patients recover. That was important for her to remind herself as she worked on them.
Another thing she said that was very helpful to her, was the realization that most of the patients she worked with, would have no memory of the pain they experienced during their treatment.
The pain was so bad, the mind would block it from their memory, when they recovered.
I really respected the people who worked in that ward.
Now, back to the Emergency Room.
The Dog Handler
One patient that sticks in my memory was a dog handler.
A dog handler was a solider who worked with a trained dog out in the field. The dog handler and the dog usually developed a close relationship as they worked together in various dangerous situations.
The dogs had been trained to identify enemy soldiers, booby traps, land mines, and other potentially lethal situations.
On this day, the dog handler was walking point — out in front of the others — with his dog, trying to identify potential booby traps.
It was a routine patrol, and then a land mine exploded.
We received a call from the Medevac chopper that they were bringing in a soldier and his entire body was covered with shrapnel wounds.
When the chopper arrived, we rushed to bring the soldier in on a stretcher. The dog was with him and was tied to a spot near the landing pad.
I remember working on that man, and as we cut off his clothes, I couldn’t believe how many wounds he had. His entire body was covered with the wounds caused by the small pieces of shrapnel from a land mine. It looked like hundreds of wounds, but it was probably just a few dozen.
I didn’t know how he could still be alive, but miraculously no major organs or body parts had been damaged.
We worked quickly to clean him up and the doctor got him ready to go into surgery, but I was amazed at the soldier.
First of all, I was amazed that he was still alive.
Not only was he alive, but he was talking to us constantly about his dog and telling us it wasn’t the dog’s fault. While they were walking point, the dog tripped a wire that caused the explosion.
The soldier was in great pain but kept insisting it was an accident and that his dog was not to blame.
He asked me to go tell his dog that it wasn’t its fault and to reassure the dog that he, the soldier, would be all right.
It was a serious request.
Talk about bonding between man and animal.
I did talk to the dog and tried to reassure it.
It was the least I could do for the soldier.
The soldier recovered but I never found out what happened to him.
Was he shipped home as a result of his injuries?
Did he and the dog ever work together again?
I never found out.
There were a few important lessons I learned from my experiences in the Emergency Room.
LESSONS FROM MY DAYS IN OLIVE DRAB
Provide your best service at all times. I learned that precision and skill at doing your job are critical issues. Providing your best service is a must. And it’s important to get ready for the next crises that might come your way.
Remember you are dealing with people. As you engage with people who are hurting, even if what you are doing might cause pain at the moment, don’t forget you are working with a person. Comfort, reassure, and encourage them.
You don’t need to work in the medical field to apply those lessons in the job you are currently working at.
Seek to be excellent on whatever the job the Lord has given you to do.
I hope you will join me in the next episode, where I’ll share what I learned when I worked in Pre-Op.
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