<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>[INT] 17 Sep 2161 :: Sickbay & Remote :: Dr Emily Garroway, PO Danny Cullen (npc) & PO Rick Martin (npc) :: "First Call"</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT FACE="Optima, Times New Roman"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'>// Intrepid Sickbay // <BR>
<BR>
So far, injuries had been simple ...relatively; a crushed finger, a few minor burns caused by flash fires from overextended console circuits, a concussion resulting from the hard impact of a human head and a bulkhead. But being a veteran of the Battle of the Ghost Nebula, the doctor knew that it was just a matter of time before she would be, perhaps quite literally, up to her elbows in patients. <BR>
<BR>
Emily felt her stomach lurch again as the inertial dampeners struggled to keep up with the sudden impact of incoming fire. The ominous boom reverberated throughout the ship. She spread her feet wide on the deck and grasped the restraining bars along the length of the biobed and held on until the ship steadied. Without the retractable bars on either side of the bio-beds, her patients would easily have been tossed to the floor.<BR>
<BR>
As the ship righted itself from that blow, the alarm sounded, a call for a trauma team to D Deck. <BR>
<BR>
"On it," called paramedic Danny Cullen, his communicator already out and online to the auxiliary medical crew on D Deck, as he headed out the Sickbay doors. "Schultz, meet me at the Polarization Generator." During battle, the lift was technically reserved for authorized emergency medical transport only. The middle of a battle was a dubious time to depend on a lift in any case. Someone more critical than he might be needing the lift, so Danny raced directly down the corridor to the jeffries tube access beside the turbolift. It took the athletic corpsman only moments to climb up from E Deck to D. Then he sprinted down the corridor toward the bow, to the Hull Polarization Generator front and center on the ship. Schultz, who generally worked as a Science technician, but served medical during Red Alert situations, met him and they entered the room together. <BR>
<BR>
It smelled of burned insulation and solvents or oil. Four damage control personnel hustled around the room, and one looked up to see the two medics. "He’s over there, against the wall," the man hollered. Danny didn't ask more, but raced to around a bank of equipment to find his patient.<BR>
<BR>
The man's bleeding head was thrown back in a hard grimace, as he lay sprawled on the floor. Danny quickly assessed that the minor laceration on his brow was not the worst of his injuries. Both of the man's hands we pressed into his left side, blood oozing between the fingers. <BR>
<BR>
"Hey guy. I'm Danny. I'm here to help you. What's your name?" <BR>
<BR>
"Martin. PO Rick Martin. How do I get this thing out of my belly," he croaked. <BR>
<BR>
"Well, let me see what you got there," Danny replied, trying to pull reluctant hands from Martin's side. Schultz proceeded to press a wad of dressing against the bleeding brow.<BR>
<BR>
"Don't pull it out! You gotta knock me out before you pull it out," Martin replied with obvious fear. <BR>
<BR>
"No, no, not pulling anything here. Just wanna see what we are working with," replied Danny, taking a large wad of field dressing from the other medic. He peeled Martin's hands away and realized there was the blunt handle of a screwdriver protruding just above the man's left hipbone. The screwdriver had imbedded a good 5 inches into the man’s side. Danny wrapped the dressing around the handle and replaced the man's hands upon it. <BR>
<BR>
"Okay, Martin. You try to hold that there. No worries. This is gonna be fine now, just work with me here a few minutes, okay?" Danny's voice was calm and deliberate, and clearly the man was beginning to trust that the medics were not there to cause him more pain. Danny’s comforting voice droned on. "We don't want that to go in any further, right, and we don't wanna take it out yet. We'll let Dr Garroway do that back in Sickbay. But we need to get you TO sickbay." The paramedic gave his patient a hypospray of painkillers and anti-shock meds, and the man measurably relaxed. He nodded his head “yes” in agreement with everything Danny suggested.<BR>
<BR>
Schultz had already pulled out the transport gurney, and fitted the telescoping side bars into the canvas hammock on the left side. Between the two medics, they turned Martin a little on his side, spread the canvas under him, rolled him to the other side, and while Cullen settled the patient back onto his back, Schultz fed the other side bar through the loops on the right side of the sling. "Ready?" asked Danny, prepared to lift the man's shoulders. <BR>
<BR>
"Ready," replied Schultz at his feet. They lifted together and though Martin cried out softly to indicate his discomfort, they started moving toward the exit, scurrying as quickly as possible to the lift at the end of the corridor. It took only seconds for the lift to arrive. <BR>
<BR>
"Sickbay, this is Cullen, we are incoming, ETA two minutes. Single abdominal stab wound. Name PO Rick Martin." It took them only moments to reach E Deck, where they shuffled quickly down the passage directly into Sickbay. Dr Garroway and her physicians assistant, Jack Daniels, were ready and waiting at the surgical table in the center of the room. <BR>
<BR>
Once anesthetized it was not difficult to remove the offending screwdriver. Scans showed the man had been extremely lucky not to have puncture or even nick his colon or intestines. The sharp instrument had slid right in between the folds of his entrails and saved him a great deal of agony and septic involvement. Emily said a small prayer of thanks for the ghost crew of the Intrepid for whatever protection they had extended to Rick Martin today. She hoped all her patients would be as lucky. <BR>
<BR>
~~~<BR>
Dr Emily Garroway <BR>
Chief Medical Officer <BR>
ESS Intrepid <BR>
& <BR>
PO2 Danny Cullen (npc)<BR>
Paramedic/Corpsman<BR>
ESS Intrepid <BR>
& <BR>
PO Rick Martin (npc) <BR>
Damage Control Tech <BR>
ESS Intrepid <BR>
<BR>
<BR>
-- That which you would change must first be accepted as it is. <BR>
<BR>
</SPAN></FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>