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Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Code Blue, What I Didn't See

Recently I was involved in a Code Blue that struck me a little different than most. I’ve seen a lot of things in my 15 years, stuff you can’t make up and stuff you can’t unsee. This particular Code Blue was a doozie easily makes my top 10 list of doozies. I’ll spare you the gory details of what I saw because today I want to tell you what I didn’t see.
I didn’t see a Muslim Man doing chest compressions or squeezing bag after bag of donated blood into this patient's body. I didn’t see any Indians ventilating the patient or checking blood gasses. I didn’t see a black guy cleaning up blood and running supplies to and from the room, I didn’t see a Mexican handing medications to the doctor or nurse. I didn’t see Christians relieving a Muslim after 2 minutes of arm numbing chest compressions. I didn’t see a "woman" checking the femoral artery for a pulse or a "Man" pushing Critical IV medications. I didn’t see Republicans or Democrats running blood to and from the lab. I didn’t see any Jews, or Gentiles Checking leads, drawing blood or reading the cardiac monitor. I didn’t see Asians, Middle Easterners, or Anglo-Saxons in the pharmacy mixing vital meds for this patient. I didn’t see Gays, Straights, Catholics, Protestants, Hindu, Atheists, Mormons or Muslims putting years of training and experience to use during this critical hour.
During that Critical Hour, what I saw, was a Team, a Family, Good Friends who knew each other, worked with each other, trusted each other, cried with each other.
In a world where the media focuses so much on our differences, and strives to divide. When it came down to it, in that critical hour, I didn’t see any of that.
...What do you see?
-Adam B. Christensen