10 The Board's Notebook
John C. Prestosh, D.O., FACOEP, Secretary
Do We Run the Wrong Way? just seen, a nurse popped in the charting room and asked if we heard about the Boston Marathon. There were four of us in the room, and I am not sure who was the quickest to pull the news up on the Internet. The headline stated there were two explosions at the finish line of the race, and numerous casualties. I immediately went into a vacant patient room and turned on the television to get more information. The pictures surely reinforced the adage of “a picture is worth a thousand words.” There was misery and shock seen in the eyes of many captured by the television cameras. Blood was everywhere. The cheers quickly
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think strange; however, I did not find it strange or odd at all. I understood what I was watching. I saw many individuals running toward the devastation, toward the smoke, toward the crying, toward the unknown! Medical personnel, firefighters, paramedics were running the wrong way … they were running not from the disaster but into it. This did not surprise me. I expected it. As medical personnel and first responders, we have been trained for moments like this. While I admit we abhor when these situations arise, we have an adrenaline surge when they
" I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone." Excerpt from the Hippocratic Oath pril 15, 2013 … Tax Day … Patriot’s Day …. The day Boston was bombed …
I believe it was a fairly normal Monday for the majority of the people living in the United States. Many, like me, were at our work places, doing what we do. Others may have been working on their taxes to ensure they would beat the midnight filing deadline. Some may have had the day off and were just enjoying whatever they were doing. It was a special day in Boston, Massachusetts where more than 25,000 runners congregated for the annual marathon. Surely this was a day of anticipation and excitement for participating runners. Some, a select few, had aspirations of winning the race. Most had visions of doing a personal best time and still others were running on the behalf of charities and sponsors. Hundreds of people gathered near the finish line to congratulate those hearty runners as they crossed the finish line. Men, women, and children lined the streets cheering the runners during those last few yards. Cheers were heard, laughter was prevalent, and it was a good time with wonderful memories being made. A few minutes after 3PM, as I was completing a chart on a patient I had
the PULSE
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JULY 2013
turned to tears. The wonderful memories now replaced by scars that would never be erased. I am certain at that moment there were millions of eyes watching the horrible scene taking place on the screen before us. It was clear both runners and observers were injured; some worse than others and many emotions were displayed in front of viewers. Many people ran from this scene of devastation, running away as fast as they could to safety. But then I saw something else. I saw something many people would
do occur and our instinct and training take over. Disasters take place and when they do there are those unique individuals who will respond without thinking of their personal safety, instead they only have thoughts of the safety of others on their minds. This is the mentality of first responders, and I believe it is shared by any person who chooses this lifestyle as a vocation. I do not believe such a person thinks of what he or she does for a living as a job, but indeed a calling. See "Wrong Way" on page 26