helenoftroy
18th March 2011, 11:38
I am a nurse,didn't matter about the severity of the damage at home & loss of all services,my family was safe & I was due at work for a night shift as a Duty Manager at Burwood Hospital
Left an hour & a half early for what is normally a 5-10 min journey.It was a nightmare,I waded thru knee high liquifaction/h2o with my uniform in a backpack to get to my car which had been moved to the footpath around the corner earlier to escape the rising water.The roads were horrific I drove into a slump hole & truly don't know how I got out but I did, yay! & the car still seemed to drive ok!
At Burwood the main entrance had been damaged,a side door was the main access.A huge amount of organizing had been done in the hours before I arrived & a triage area had been set up where we dealt with assessments,fractures,plastering suturing etc etc.Casualties arrived at the door in the back of utes & station wagons.Transfers from rest homes & evacuated wards at CPH arrived in beds,stretchers & wheelchairs in the back of huge freight trucks.Ambulances were only for the most seriously injured......
We were on generator power,no water and...worst!! managing 140 patients with no sewerage system was a challenge!!
What we did was not as extraordinary as what some people on the street did.We were in a professional environment with processes & structures to work with & amazing staff.
At the Emergency Department At CPH the flow of patients turned into a floodTheir staff were amazing doing the best possible in incredibly difficult,traumatic & emotional circumstances.Patients arrived on surf boards,ironing boards,the backs of utes,on top of police cars,bits of fences as well as ambulances.As well as crush injuries & broken bones,lacerations & head injuries were common.Helicopters were landing on the road,army vehicles were stationed at the lights...it was like MASH
Some normality is returning,we are doing elective orthopaedic surgery again & the flood of multi-trauma spinal & brain injured that were transferred around NZs intensive care units are returning to Burwood for ongoing care & rehabilitation.There are many horrifically injured people from the earthquake & the number of traumatic amputations exceeds anything reported in the media......
In the weeks ahead we will look after our staff -nurses whos homes have been destroyed or badly damaged,whose husbands/partners have lost jobs,children at displaced schools,elderly relatives that need support -some of these nurses will hit the wall....
Left an hour & a half early for what is normally a 5-10 min journey.It was a nightmare,I waded thru knee high liquifaction/h2o with my uniform in a backpack to get to my car which had been moved to the footpath around the corner earlier to escape the rising water.The roads were horrific I drove into a slump hole & truly don't know how I got out but I did, yay! & the car still seemed to drive ok!
At Burwood the main entrance had been damaged,a side door was the main access.A huge amount of organizing had been done in the hours before I arrived & a triage area had been set up where we dealt with assessments,fractures,plastering suturing etc etc.Casualties arrived at the door in the back of utes & station wagons.Transfers from rest homes & evacuated wards at CPH arrived in beds,stretchers & wheelchairs in the back of huge freight trucks.Ambulances were only for the most seriously injured......
We were on generator power,no water and...worst!! managing 140 patients with no sewerage system was a challenge!!
What we did was not as extraordinary as what some people on the street did.We were in a professional environment with processes & structures to work with & amazing staff.
At the Emergency Department At CPH the flow of patients turned into a floodTheir staff were amazing doing the best possible in incredibly difficult,traumatic & emotional circumstances.Patients arrived on surf boards,ironing boards,the backs of utes,on top of police cars,bits of fences as well as ambulances.As well as crush injuries & broken bones,lacerations & head injuries were common.Helicopters were landing on the road,army vehicles were stationed at the lights...it was like MASH
Some normality is returning,we are doing elective orthopaedic surgery again & the flood of multi-trauma spinal & brain injured that were transferred around NZs intensive care units are returning to Burwood for ongoing care & rehabilitation.There are many horrifically injured people from the earthquake & the number of traumatic amputations exceeds anything reported in the media......
In the weeks ahead we will look after our staff -nurses whos homes have been destroyed or badly damaged,whose husbands/partners have lost jobs,children at displaced schools,elderly relatives that need support -some of these nurses will hit the wall....