the red phone rings in the emergency department. It's a hot line from ambulance([车辆][医] 救护车) control straight into the resuscitation(复苏) room. Oh yes, it actually is red. A nurse takes down the essential details on a pro-former(在前的) and rushes( 冲) through to pediatric A&E to relay the headlines. 15-year-old stabbing, wounds(创伤) to chest and abdomen, ETA, 10 minutes. She gives us the heart rate.
It's too fast. The blood pressure is just about holding steady(稳固的). We put out a trauma([医] 外伤) call to assemble(集合) the emergency team with all the life-saving skills this young person needs. This is my team and we're preparing to receive this critically(批评性地) injured young man. My name's Becky. I work(使工作) in the emergency department and I'm there in the moments that change people's lives.
There's a frenetic(发狂的) kind of excitement about being part of this team that's at the cutting edge of medicine, pushing the boundaries(分界线) of care, saving lives that few other teams can. In this room, experts in their field are at their best, dealing with life and death. This is a stuff of drama. Grey's Anatomy(解剖), stand aside(在旁边). You ain't seen nothing yet. The adrenaline(肾上腺素(使激动兴奋等)) junkies among us get a regular fix(困境) in this space and I'm here for it.
But there's this other part of me, the part that's not about adrenaline. It's about compassion(同情) and care. As a nurse and a mother working in paediatric ED, it's maternal(母亲的), it's nurturing(养育) and it's protective(保护的). It's the human in me. This part of me listens to 15-year-old stabbing and he is child because that's what he is. A child who needs care.
When the door opens, my first glance(一瞥) tells me he's in trouble. He has multiple(多重的) stab(刺) wounds(创伤). Without urgent(紧急的) medical intervention(干涉), he won't survive. He's riding the wave of a huge adrenaline rush with all the bravado that brings. He's cocky and he's brash. I tell him my name and I say, I'm here for you.
I know you must be terrified(恐吓), but you're safe now. We've got you. I'm looking around the room to see who's there with him from a family or a personal perspective(透视画法). But there's no one. So I stay beside(在…旁边) him near the top of the bed. As the team do their thing, the level of urgency(紧急) is clear.
I see realisation dawn(黎明) as he looks around him at the number of people working(使工作) on him. The equipment involved, the speed, everything is happening. The bravado starts to unravel(拆开) to reveal(显示) a frightened boy, a vulnerable(易受攻击的) child, because 15-year-olds are children and children need their mums.