The Section Above All The Rest

There is a section in our Emergency Room that is different from the others. It looks like a real hospital ward and smells like fried chicken and warmth. Compared with our real Emergency Room downstairs, it is like a hotel. Here, patients with stable vital signs, screened against drunks and the seriously ill, come to rest. They have call buttons, they have TV's, and they have yours truly, S, to serve them during their stay at Hotel ER.

After a few ghoulish shifts downstairs, working in heaven isn't bad at all. The isolation with a select few co-workers is ripe for camaraderie as well as vicious gossip, depending on who is there. It is a place where cougars can fawn over a new nurse and nothing gets done until closing time so no new patients are sent upstairs, or a really great team-leader nurse and attending physician can lead an organized healthcare battalion.

Last night, we had to close the section down early, in the wake of Hurricane Irene's approach. Our day staff did not want to drive home in the weather and drive back in the middle of the storm this morning, so they get to stay in "heaven". A charge nurse even sent cleaning people up to sterilize the room she was staying in. I made sure to stock the closets with extra blankets. I hope they don't ravage my section because I will have to restock everything before patients arrive today!

Stay safe in the storm and if I don't blow away, I will be back to update with adventures of storm-day.

S