Rocky Mountain Reunion. Tina Radcliffe

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       Chapter One

      “Anne, ambulances are en route.”

      Anne Matson looked up from the tidy pile of paperwork on her desk. “Was that plural?”

      Marta Howard, RN, stood in the doorway of Anne’s office. She reached up to tuck a strand of short gray hair behind her ear. “Afraid so. Accident at Paradise Lake. At the construction site.”

      Anne straightened the bud vase on her desk that held a fragrant pink rose bloom from her garden and put away her files.

      “How far out are they?” She stood and grabbed her stethoscope before slipping a pen into the pocket of her navy scrubs.

      “Seven minutes.” Marta winked, her severe countenance warming. “And you thought it was going to be a slow day.”

      “I should have kept my mouth closed.” Anne hit the light switch as she followed Marta into the emergency department hall. “What’s the extent of the injuries?”

      “The first is a male—thirty-two, in serious condition with broken ribs, upper quadrant and lower extremity lacerations, abrasions and possible internal injuries.

      “Second patient is also a male, thirty-one, possible ankle fracture with minor abrasions and a head laceration. I’ve already paged Dr. Nelson. He’s on his way.”

      “Surgeon on call?”

      “Daniels.”

      “Notify him. Call Life Flight and give them a heads-up, in case we need transport.”

      “Got it.”

      As head of the Paradise ER nursing team, Anne was proud of her department, but she fully understood the limitations of the facility’s trauma unit. The majority of the center’s patients were the tourists that flooded the San de Cristo Mountain area and the close-knit mountain town of Paradise, Colorado, in search of seasonal recreation. Anything outside the scope of the small hospital’s care would be transferred straight to Alamosa and often to Denver.

      “What’s going on with the patient in five?” Anne called out as Marta moved quickly to the unit secretary’s reception desk.

      “Discharged. I called Dr. Rogers.”

      “Sara?”

      “No. Ben. He said he’d stop by tomorrow with his mobile unit and check the patient’s incision.”

      Anne nodded and smiled. “That’s why I like working in Paradise. All the efficiency of big-city medicine with the personal touch of rural medicine thrown in.”

      In the distance a siren could be heard. The familiar wail grew louder as the entire fleet of the Paradise Valley ambulance company approached the glass doors of the emergency department.

      An instant later paramedics slammed through the ER doors. The late July heat met the hospital air-conditioning as a paramedic called out the first patient’s stats while he steered the moving gurney.

      Anne slid her hands into disposable gloves. “Get this one to triage,” she directed. “The other can go to exam room two.”

      Marta and two orderlies followed alongside the gurney that sped into the curtained triage area while Anne grabbed the hospital copy of the paramedic’s worksheet and shoved the papers into a metal chart.

      “Move him over,” Marta called. “On my count. One. Two. Three.” The first patient was smoothly transferred to a hospital stretcher.

      Anne noted the dwindling contents of the IV and hung a new bag as the medics left and Dr. Luke Nelson entered the room. Everything ran smoothly when Nelson was on the schedule. Though he was new to Paradise, he was their most qualified ER physician.

      “What do we have?” he asked, already assessing the patient.

      “Scaffold accident.” Anne read the chart. “Probable cracked ribs. Left abdominal-penetrating laceration, along with several minor lacerations to the scalp and face. BP is eighty-eight over fifty. Pulse, one hundred. Oxygen at three liters. Pulse ox, ninety percent.”

      He began a head-to-toe physical examination as an orderly sliced through the man’s bloody shirt then wrapped an electronic blood pressure cuff around the patient’s arm.

      “Any relevant history?” Nelson asked as he peeled back the crimson-soaked abdominal dressing. He nodded to Marta and she applied a clean gauze pad.

      “None noted,” Anne said.

      Nelson leaned over the patient. “Mr. Seville, I’m Dr. Nelson. We’re going to take good care of you.”

      Seville? The name tripped a distant memory Anne couldn’t quite grasp. Frowning, she dismissed the thought.

      The dark-haired man, whose upper half of his face was obscured by dirt and blood and the lower part by an oxygen mask, gave a weak shake of his head.

      “Open up that IV,” Nelson continued. “I need a CBC and chem panel. And type and cross for four units. Get X-ray down here stat.”

      “We’ve got another patient in exam room two,” Anne said. She tossed her gloves and scrubbed her hands at a stainless-steel sink before leading the way down the hall.

      “Are you going to the fund-raising dinner?” Luke Nelson asked, his steps in sync with hers.

      “Apparently it’s expected.”

      “You don’t sound too enthusiastic.”

      “Don’t I?”

      He chuckled. “Politics, Anne. You have to play the game if you want to move up the career ladder. And since the money goes to expanding the emergency department, you should be excited.”

      Anne shook her head. Hospital social events were low on her list of things to СКАЧАТЬ