In the Emergency Room where I work, most of our patients are elderly. I live in a community where the average age is about 65, and we are not a trauma center.
Yesterday, a twenty month old sweet angel was brought in. Her mother had accidentally run her over in the driveway. She thought her baby was playing up on the porch.
The EMS guys who brought her in removed themselves from the ER immediately, so no one would see them crying. The nurses worked diligently on doing the best they could through their own tears. The physicians cleared their heads of thoughts of their own children, and how horrifying this must be for the parents, so they could do what they do.
You could almost hear a pin drop in that ER. The collective emotions of deep compassion for the family and an unspoken understanding of one’s own mortality and that of their children hung in the air. It could be seen in one another’s faces as we went about caring for the other patients. I tried to hold back tears while explaining to a patient, who wanted to know what was taking me so long to sew her finger laceration, that we had a critically injured baby who took priority. “Are they going to make it?” she asked. I couldn’t answer.
This sweet baby angel, whose time on this earth had ended, left behind forty people she didn’t even know. Forty people that will be forever touched by her presence in this world, and the countless others in the community who would hear of her story.
Her purpose was fulfilled, she does not suffer, it is those left behind who do. I pray for her parents and their loved ones that they may find peace in their hearts. Please say a prayer for them.
Love to you all.
Krista Gorman, PA-C
Matters Of Life And Death 