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| Dr. Menzies directing in the ER |
"Mass Casualty: Any large number of casualties produced in a relatively short period of time, usually as the result of a single incident such as a military aircraft accident, hurricane, flood, earthquake, or armed attack that exceeds local logistical support capabilities."
At our hospital, we consider this to be 5 patients at once with severe or traumatic injuries. Since all of the nurses tend to eat dinner together (5-7 total), we like to come back from the chow hall into Casualty Receiving (ER), lay on the ER gurneys, and yell out "Mass Casualty" because there are so many of us! Of course, its for our own amusement and that of the nurse, corpsman, and doctor working in the CasRec that night.
But we do have "real" mass casualty exercises, base-wide, in the case that all heck breaks loose and we're triaging at the door, a scene similar to the lipstick-marking of LT Evelyn Johnson (ie. Kate Beckinsdale) in Pearl Harbor. Red = immediate (OR or ER care), yellow = delayed (inpatient), green = walking wounded (clinic patients), and black. You can guess black; chaplains and mental health oversee the "black" category.
Included are a few pictures from my perspective as a nurse in the Casualty Receiving area. We have a great team here, a huge range of skills and wonderful (truly) personalities.
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| HM1 Mowry (radiology tech) with LTJG Rogers |
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| Dr. Menzies teaching in the Trauma Bay |
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The girls! (LT Maura Adams, LTJG Rachel White, me, and LTJG Sarah Rogers) |
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