I spent a lot of last weekend volunteering in the ER. It was quite a powerful experience.

Saturday had my first straight-out-of-a-movie incident. A car pulled up to the ER ambulance bay at high speed, honking repeatedly, and screeched to a halt. "Somebody help!" the driver shouted. "My friend has been shot!" Several firefighters and I transfered the victim to a gurney and pulled him into the ER. He was in the operating room soon thereafter, but I heard that he didn't make it through surgery. Several times that night, I ran (literally) to the blood bank unit of the hospital to get blood for incoming trauma patients. On Saturday I also saw my first patient with eye trauma. Ugh. I can handle a lot of disgusting scenes, but I don't think I'm meant to be an opthomologist.

Sunday was even more intense. Another shooting victim was brought, and the paramedics were performing CPR when the ambulance arrived. The patient died in the ER trauma room, just a few minutes after he arrived. Apparently one of the bullets had nicked his heart, and there was very little that the trauma team could do.

Despite the pain and suffering inherent in the emergency room, I almost always leave in a good mood. Or maybe an optimistic mood. I have two reasons for this. First, I am continually impressed by the dedication and emotional stamina of the ER staff. More importantly, I think I could work in that environment. The controlled chaos of the ER is a spectacular sight. I've never seen a dozen people work so effectively side-by-side in such a stressful environment.