TTC

You know you're working in a small town when the trauma team is activated for "a Bancroft".

In summer, a Bancroft is an ATV collision. In winter, it's a snowmobile crash. I was trauma team captain on Saturday, and we had a Bancroft of epic proportions. Chest tubes were placed, blood drained from lungs (600mL looks pretty impressive on the floor of the ER), eyeballs pushed back into place. All in all, an exciting and successful night. Nobody died.

That night I also worked an evening shift. (Trauma team sometimes doesn't get called in, so they try to maximize our working hours in a 24hour period.) During this shift, I chatted with the ambos as they brought in patients. You get to know them pretty well during our ride-arounds, and they start to recognize you. "Sam! We've got a Sydenham special for you right here!".

The police are also becoming familiar. This is both wonderful (Sam, I'm just gonna stay in the room cos this guy has already attacked two officers and we heard you're pregnant) and terrible. When I see Officer X, I know there's a troubled psych patient coming in. He has the kindest demeanour and most experience, so they call him out when someone is really frothing.

I don't know what it will be like to come back to a big city hospital. At St Mike's, we had regulars, but no sense of community. Too much turnover between police, paramedics, residents and patients prevents you from building relationships. Yes, you'll see more pathology and more exciting cases, but you may never get the high five from the officer when you convince your patient to take his meds. You won't get the heads up from the ambo that the patient has bedbugs, so you should be wearing a gown. You won't get a page that simply says, "Bancroft ETA 15mins".

I'm gonna miss this place.