First I have to say I loath the “Nightly News” but the WF watches regularly so I imbibe.
CBS broadcast a story on the Colorado shooting that happened 1 year ago last week.
What peaked my interest in the story is how the commentary discussed the Aurora hospitals and the way they were over whelmed by the shear number of casualties it received. Most hospitals up until this time only practiced service for 12 trauma victims per hour. This particular Aurora CO. hospital took 23 in that hour, and most were delivered by police cars, there were not enough ambulances. The system nearly collapsed.
A study was commissioned to identify the weaknesses in the system after this tragic event.
Those AAR’s were read and applied by the head of the Boston Hospital Trauma Center that took the majority of the Boston bombing casualties. Because of his foresight and training of his staff they were able to take all the Boston bombing casualties without to many issues. During the interview the lead trauma doctor described that taking that many casualties in a such short span was what you would see in a war.
I found that last statement compelling and a bit chilling. And actually surprised that it wasn’t edited out of the news story. What that doctor described is what I feel is a new paradigm, or that new normal we have all heard about.
In reality Israel has been dealing with mass casualty situations for decades in coping with terrorist bombings the Palestinians have put on that country.
Here in the US this type of mass causality event is a new phenomenon. Granted Boston and larger cities have larger facilites and the ability to stock the equipment and supplies needed in such an event. Would your local or county hospital be able to handle the influx of patients? I would bet my local facilities would not. And the Life/Care flight aircraft wouldn’t be able to transport a fair amount of patients to larger facilities either as mechanical and crew fatigue set in. As the crow flies, it is still be a good 30 mins. flight time even if the forecast was severe clear in my area of the country.
On the plus side, there are a large number of returning medics,corpsman, doctors and nurses that have settled back in to their civilian medical jobs from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and have the knowledge to prepare and weather such a event if it occurred again.
What you would see in a war.
What a vast majority, lets call them the 99 % to over use a political term, are clueless that we are still at war and the Global War On Terrorism is still on going and will for a least another generation. American’s are so blind by reality shows and tuned out, that the events that happened in Boston will continue to be a reoccurring scenario in the future. It doesn’t take a government study to show that Al Qaeda and its acolytes are bringing the war to us and inside our country.
We can only hope that these medical professionals continue to think and plan ahead. Our government is way to preoccupied with re-elections and scandals to give a crap.
Ad Parare 