E.R. Nurses by James Patterson

Author:James Patterson [Patterson, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: None
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Tom O’Hara

Tom O’Hara grew up in Ticonderoga, New York. When he turned eighteen, he joined the navy and served all over the world, including in Afghanistan. Tom now works as an ER nurse at a level-one trauma center.

The hospital calls me at home. “If you can take a pay cut or if you want to go on a nice long vacation, let us know. Because the way things are going, we’re getting to the point where we’ll have to start furloughing people.”

The reason is that COVID has led to widespread shutdowns, and hospitals are losing enormous sums of money. Surgeries—especially elective outpatient operations—are huge moneymakers for hospitals, but now everyone is staying at home and avoiding procedures they can put off until it’s safe to go out again.

I feel sick to my stomach. I’m a relatively new nurse. I have only eight months of experience under my belt—and I have a mortgage and bills to pay. My wife and I just purchased a house we and our kids haven’t even moved into yet. We’re still living with my wife’s parents.

For five months, I worked in the hospital’s MICU, or medical intensive care unit. Now I’m working in med-surg (medical-surgical services), where I deal with a broad range of patients—those who are preparing for or recovering from surgery and those suffering from a wide assortment of medical issues. It’s said that if you can make it in med-surg, you can make it anywhere in nursing.

“Do I have any options?” I ask the caller.

“Well, the company that owns our hospital owns others that are in COVID hot spots. They’re swamped and really need extra hands. If you don’t want to risk getting furloughed, you could volunteer to get redeployed. That’s the best way to keep getting paid.”

“I’ll do it,” I tell the guy. “I’ll volunteer.”

I’m sent to work in the ICU at a Chicago hospital.

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