Day 109

Sometimes I take for granted how blessed I am to work in a hospital where i have all the supplies I need. Having spent my career in hospitals in the U.S.,  I have never had to really work under poor conditions, or in cramped spaces.

Today we toured the U.S.S. Yorktown, an aircraft carrier that carried hundreds of soldiers across the ocean. It was a floating city, but it was no cruise ship that's for sure. They had everything you could think of though- galley, multiple laundry rooms, post office, garbage room, church, galley, dining areas, meeting rooms, a larger-than-expected dentistry area, and of course, a sick bay.

Whoa. They had their own pharmacy, full of vials and bottles of liquid and powdered chemicals to mix and match. Several treatment rooms, and a "quiet room" which was either a quarantine room for someone contagious, a mini ICU room, or possibly somewhere to put a sailor who temporarily loses it from being cooped up in a metal coffin for weeks on end...

I could tell that keeping the men healthy was a huge priority on these floating bacteria petri-dishes. When looking at several of the captiain's daily logs, I noticed that "sick call" was done twice per day. Meticulous records were kept on each sailor, and a strict schedule was adhered to so that each man was evaluated on a regular basis. Everyone had a job on that boat (or 2 or 3...) and therefore illness or injury to even a small amount of men could be devastating. 

The Operating Room was crazy. There were pics on the wall of actual surgeries in progress, and I took a moment to think about what that would be like. Let alone the fact that you are cramped in a room with limited supplies- it was on a ship, which I'm sure meant motion....please be careful when handing me the scalpel,right?!

And then there was the sick bay. About 20 cots in one big room. There was a big metal cylinder in the middle of the room, and upon closer investigation I discovered it was a "glove conditioner". There were no handy boxes of small, medium, or large gloves on the wall. You must have had to place your gloves in this cleaning machine, then turned the handle one way to dry them and the other way to powder them. Crazy!

I'm sure sick bays in today's aircraft carriers are much more updated, but it still gave me a moment to pause and be thankful to work in a nice, non-moving environment. I give thanks to those who did serve and work on these ships to care for others, for I'm sure it was challenging, especially in times of war. 

Today's pic commemorates those who have served in our armed forces to heal others. Doctors, nurses,medics, and dentists- I salute your dedication and ability to make do with what you have.