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Another day, another dollar. Or something like that as Lena ran a frustrated hand through her short hair as yet another call light dinged.
"How can I help you?" She put on her best customer service voice when she answered, forcing a smile as Mr. Hill in bed 8 ranted on about when he would be discharged.
"I will send your nurse in shortly," she assured as the annoyance crept in. Where the hell was Mae to answer these damn phones? Where was Lorelei to get the frequent flyer out of her ER? And why in the Maker's name was the Pulsara now dropping tones from the tablet beside her?
"Fuck!" Ok, she was allowed that one. Not dropping a dollar in the swear jar when the report popped up and it looked this bad.
With every passing day she found herself more and more done with this shit. Short staffing, no raises, and a hospital that was rationing supplies like the apocalypse was coming. Budgeting they called it. Bullshit she said.
This was not what she got into nursing for, but sadly this was reality in the post Covid world.
And yet Tarquin got mad when she joked about quitting nursing for stripping.
"If I could just get five freaking minutes…"
But she couldn't, and she wouldn't. Every bed was full, and the ambulances kept rolling. And judging by the screen in front of her, Star was bringing in a possible STEMI.
"For the love of the Maker, Dr. Pavus are you back there?" she called towards the doctor's area, not wanting to leave her station in case some other bullshit happened.
7 minute ETA. 7 minutes in heaven to make all of this happen. She hit her walkie with a voice like a hardened general as she barked out orders like rapid fire.
"Mae. Quin. Lorelei. I need you to wrap whatever you are doing up and get to the nurses station. Now. I need bed 8 out of here and cleaned. Possible STEMI coming in. And if anyone sees Dr. Pavus, grab him."
She swore she was going to attach a damn bell to the man, though he would probably like that too much and make it a fashion statement.
With 15 seconds to spare they got the room, empty, cleaned (for an ER), and a new sheet on the bed. Quin was in the corner with the EKG machine, Dr. Pavus was wrangled, and Lorelei was standing by to take report as Mae hit the phones and began making calls.
Lena was in the hall when the middle aged male rolled through the doors on the cot looking way too grey, and she knew already it was a real one as she half listened to the report. 41 year old male, smoker, overweight- the usual suspects though she swore they kept getting younger and younger.
She removed ems stickers from the man's chest and slapped new ones on as Quin did the same from the other side. Working in tandem together was too easy, something learned from years side by side as they threaded EKG wires she knew by color alone. She wasn't the kind of charge nurse to sit idle and not get her hands dirty, especially when the nursey feeling in her gut was getting louder by the second.
"Mae, what's the ETA on Dr. de Fer?" she asked over walkie between clipping leads on. If they didn't move soon, they were going to be calling Code Blue instead of Code STEMI overhead.
"Just saw her walk past," the clerk crackled back as Lena sent a silent prayer of thanks to the Maker.
Quin caught her eye then, something silent passing between them before the patient on the cot gave a low groan.
"I need you to be still for just a second, friend." This wasn't customer service Lena, or charge nurse Lena, but something in the middle as she tried to keep the guy still long enough for Tarquin to hit capture on the machine.
And with one small nod as the EKG spit out, she didn't need Quin to speak. She knew what that white and pink paper would say in bold letters across the top, confirming what she felt deep down as she grabbed the IV tray to threw in a second line. 18 g, high in the AC, labs drawn and sent as Dr. de Fer finally made her entrance with a grand sweep of her white coat and took over the room.
21 minutes, door to balloon time 21 minutes. The hospital would rave about that she was sure, take all their credit as they posted it to the Minrathous General Facebook page. They would interview Dr. de Fer, the patient, hell maybe even the EMS crew. Not that anyone would remember the ER, they never did.
Another day, another dollar, another life saved. Or something like that.