Stories

I needed a place to put story anecdotes to be developed later. . .so here are the teasers. . .

Woman raped by a male nurse.
There was a woman I took a medical history on in triage where I nearly lost it in front of her. An unassuming lady in her 50s coming in with only a few complaints but just hadn't seen a doctor in over a year. After running down my list of triage questions I came to HIV and she paused and said, "You know I should probably get screened. I was raped by a male nurse after Katrina and I never did get tested." I was in such shock, I had no words. A nurse - a patient advocate - during one of the worst storms in 20 years, rapes a patient. It was just too much.

CD of pics from EMS, plenty of gruesome pictures of police shooting back at looters, corpses, and plucking people from their roofs.

The man who had a stroke a year ago because his diabetes was completely uncontrolled because he has no insulin because his clinic closed because of Katrina - just needs test strips because he can't afford them at his local pharmacy. We were giving away meters and test strips, but we were currently out, and so I'm going watch this man walk away from me, into the New Orleans abyss knowing that he has no way to check his glucose and treat his diabetes properly.

Thoughts:
Why people stay. Why people go. FEMA trailers. Corruption in the school board and Louisiana state government. The endless complements on our presence and the wonderful hugs I get all day, every day. Confusion and politics in the good samaritan game.

Quotes:
"I'm tired, I'm cold, I'm wet, and my ass is dragging."
"Kicking tires and lighting fires."
"Patient check-in, STOP sending patients to the medical tent."
"Anybody want a sandwich?"