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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

3 comments:

  1. Thank you, Adam, for painting such a beautiful picture of the same things I have not and have seen many times over a 32 year career as an RN. My great fear is that we may end up not seeing many or all of the essential people you described because they aren't there any longer. We won't know if or when they'll return, because the mass deportation, imprisonment, and closing of our borders to people who are not "like us" will be be "until it is no longer necessary." I think I may get to stay; my ancestry consists of mostly Celtic lines. However, I'm not sure if my 1/8 Native American ancestry qualifies me to continue being here. What if it turns out that my mother was on vacation in Canada when I was born?

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  2. I too have been part of thousands. Now as a prison administrator a big part of what I don't see is that the patient is a murderer, rapist, drug dealer or pedophile. It's all of our jobs to do our jobs. Bravo. Love this.

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