Saving Lives
Posted on Tue Oct 4th, 2016 @ 12:48pm by Lieutenant Commander David Deschanel M.D. & Ensign Jenna Steel
Mission:
Brave New World
Location: Starbase 332 - Promenade
Life since coming to Starbase 332 had been... interesting for David. Or at least, that was one word for it. After his last few postings on starships, coming to a station was a significant change of pace. Not that he was unfamiliar with working on a starbase; he'd been assigned to Starbase 129 for the duration of the Dominion War, and even though that meant a lot of travelling around to various places that needed the station's medical assistance, he was the station's assistant chief of medicine for a while before seeking starship assignments. The difference was that 129 seemed tiny in comparison to Starbase 332 - the enormous station was like its own floating city in orbit. The sheer amount of people and spread of medical facilities boggled the mind. And on top of that, he'd reported aboard just prior to the Sojourner attack, so had well and truly dived in at the deep end. As some small piece of consolation, he was grateful to be working under Commander Komack, the station's hospital administrator. She dealt with all of the administration that typically came with the Chief Medical Officer's role, which freed David up to spend more time as the station's foremost physician. Or at least, that was the theory.
In truth, it had taken him quite a while to not only get accustomed to his new station-bound life, but to get his house in order, both in terms of the paperwork which still crossed his desk (and that he had inherited from his predecessor) and in working with the vast array of staff under him. He'd had to remind himself to go out and get some food at normal times lest he stop eating.
Unfortunately, not even meal times could ever be truly work-free. Just as he was to take a bite into the sandwich he'd grabbed from one of the promenade's many cafés and delicatessens, he heard a ruckus from a little around the way, followed by cries of shock and the words "Somebody get a doctor!"
Leaving his lunch on a counter, he ran over, pressing through the crowd as best he could. "Make way!" he called. He didn't need to tell them his profession; the teal uniform and white doctor's jacket clearly identified him for them. The crowd had rapidly formed a circle around a man who lay face down on the floor, blood oozing from a gash in his back, and a burly Klingon who two station security officers were attempting to restrain. They were soon joined by two more who latched onto the Klingon and helped to wrestle him to the ground. Pulling out his medical tricorder, David knelt next to the injured man and ran a quick scan.
Damn. The Klingon had clearly used a bladed weapon, like a mekk'leth in his attack, and the cut had gone to the bone of the man's spine. Moving the patient would now be very tricky; a transport was too risky, but any undue movement of the spine could paralyse the man for life. He tapped his combadge. "Deschanel to medical. Get a paramedic team to my location, now!"
"Steel to Deschanel, we're on our way doc!" Jenna said, tapping her commbadge and picking up her kit bag. She turned to her colleague, an EMT by the name of Erica. "Doc called for us, unknown situation so follow my lead!" She said smiling and tapping her wristband to transport her to the doctors commbadge signal. She materialized seconds later next to Deschanel and the victim. "What've we got Doc?" She asked, placing her bag down next to her and kneeling opposite the doctor, taking in the scene.
"Single laceration to the spine. Looks to be a clean cut, but it's deep; it's cut through the muscles and scratched bone. Possible nerve damage, but I won't know more until we get him on a biobed," David answered, standing and stepping back to give the paramedic pair room to work. "We need to get him to one of the medical facilities quickly, without moving his spine, or we'll risk further damage."
"Ok, Erica, get some clotting agent into the wound, but don't move the patient, we need to control the blood loss." She thought for a moment. "I know a way to keep this guys spine still, but it's a bit old fashioned." She motioned the doctor to come over. "Ever seen one of those old fashioned scoops?" She asked, tapping a few more commands into her wristband.
"A spinal restraint board?" Deschanel asked. It was an old technology, but one still used every now and then when the situation called for it. "It'll be tricky getting him on without moving his spine while he's face down," he commented. The thought occurred to him that a restraining field might be able to keep the body rigid long enough to turn him over onto the board, but it would take too long to set up a portable emitter unit.
"Any suggestions to get him turned?" Jenna asked, thinking.
Deschanel thought for a moment, glancing around at the growing crowd. They needed to get the man off the promenade soon, or else get security down there to cordon the area off and move people along. "There's a type of expanding foam, usually installed in ground vehicles. In a crash, it fills the cabin and hardens, keeping the passengers from any further injury by locking them in place, but its porous, so they don't suffocate. See if you can replicate some; if we can contain the foam around his upper back and head, it should hold him in place enough for us to get him turned over and on a stretcher."
Jenna nodded, jogging over to the nearby replicator, and finding the correct replicator program in the database, before running back over with 2 cans of the foam. "Ready?" She asked Deschanel.
Deschanel took off his outer jacket and held it in such a way as to be able to loosely contain and shape the foam as it expanded around the neck. "Ready," he said, nodding.
Jenna nodded, starting to apply the foam around the patients neck. She looked over at Erica. "Get the stretcher ready to move him over to, and then we'll get him down to the medical center!" She continued putting the foam around the patients neck, seeing a nod from Erica. The two cans completely covered the neck, and would hold till they got there at least. "Right lets roll him onto the stretcher." Jenna said, helping David to roll the man.
With the foam applied (and David's jacket now stuck to it), the pair were able to roll the man over onto a stretcher, where Jenna and her partner could carry him to the station's nearest medical facility. "Get him there as fast as you can without causing him further injury," the doctor said, standing again. "I'll go ahead and prepare for the surgery."
Jenna nodded, grabbing the other end of the stretcher, and lifting it at the same time as Erica, before walking away swiftly with the stretcher. "Good work Erica, we make a good team." She nodded, smiling.
"Deschanel to transporter control; beam me directly to surgical suite papa-alpha-three." Once his call was acknowledged, the doctor disappeared in the blue haze of the site-to-site transporter beam.
Doctor David Deschanel
Chief Medical Officer
&
Ensign Jenna Steel
Paramedic
Starbase 332
OOC Note: This occurs before Commander Varren replaces Deschanel as the station's CMO
