Helping Hands - slender blue ones (Volunteering)

[Hookor Crook]

"Professor Augustin teaches at the Academy where I am studying medicine." Hookor answered Rynata. Moments later, a familiar blast of chaos broke loose. Just like before, Hookor thought, remembering the excitement, and terror, of his trials helping Nathaniel and the others in his early Trials on the island. Mangled wounds, broken bones, burns, he had seen bits of all of it then. Now here it was once more. Faith put the wounded in his care, and he nodded, then guided the injured to where proper facility existed. He looked to Rynata, his gaze indicating he would more than welcome her assistance.

Once they were in the ward, Hookor indicated where each would stay. Those with more minor burns, he would have sit in chairs, or on stools. Those with more extensive burns, or burns in vital areas, the hands, face, or more private areas, he would have lay upon gurneys. "Middle drawers, middle drawers", Crook mumbled to himself. Assuming Rynata had stuck around, Hookor would point to another set of drawers.

"In there." he would state, indicating she should get some kits as well. Now the young student tried to remember what Nathaniel and Doctor Shelby had told him about the burns.

"Redness is bad, blisters are worse." he recited aloud. "If the burn is without pain or feeling, that is the worst." he added, speaking to himself. He triaged the victims. An older fellow had bad burns on both his hands. Blisters all over his palms. An older woman, presumably his wife, had soot and burned clothing about a wound on her upper arm. The younger folk seemed to have varied burns, many with blisters. A young child, perhaps only three arcs, had a burn on his back. It was only the size of Hookor's hand, but for a child so small, that was a large one.

"Keep the burns wet, and do not remove any tissue until professor Augustin returns." Hookor announced. He had an idea of what he needed to do, but would not do anything, for now, until Faith returned to instruct. He looked at Rynata to see what she was doing...

[Rynata]

No more illness? That was unlikely. The way Rynata saw it, the battle between doctors and ailments would be an endless one. Much like the game of cat and mouse between pirates and merchants. There would always be something. Still, she understood Faith’s sentiment very well. It was the efforts of people hoping for better that gave even the hope of a stalemate.

Next moment, however, as if to prove her point, general panic descended upon the reception room. She could smell smoke on the sooty injured now stumbling into the clinic. Burns. What else?

“Right, then!” she said without a second thought, quickly circling around to help one patient having trouble on their feet. She had carried boxes and people now, today. She fleetingly hoped nothing larger was headed her way. Following Hookor into the ward, she gently lowered her patient onto a gurney. He seemed to be not entirely present, eyes half shut in dizziness or nausea.

Keeping her ears trained on Hookor’s distracted mutterings, Rynata grabbed medical kits from the drawers he had indicated and flipped them open as he moved about, checking the patients. She was about to go for the bandages when she felt something snag at the back of her mind. Of course. Infections. Her hands. Plucking out a large bottle, she scanned the label. Removing the stopper also confirmed its contents by releasing the clingy aroma of alcohol. Running the cleansing substance over her hands, Rynata picked up a pair of scissors and urgently skipped over to the injured.

She was no medical expert, but she figured one needed to be able to see the wounds in order to do anything about them. Weaving in among the patients, she had those who were able, remove any pieces of clothing that might be obstructive to treatment. Whatever else that looked like removal might aggravate the burns, she snipped away at. As she worked with one of the patients with less serious injuries, they looked to the young child and spoke up in concern.

"Ma'am, doctor, e'll be alright, yeah?"

"I don't know," Rynata replied readily enough. "I'm not a doctor." She straightened up, preparing to rush to her next task. "Oh, you don't have to look like that," she added smiling ruefully as the man's face fell rather pointedly. "You're still in good hands." Hopefully the other two knew what they were doing. Faith probably did.

They needed water, yes? Both to clean the wounds and draw the heat out of the burns. She remembered when she as a child hadn't listened and had gotten handsy near the cooking fire. Cool water had been a welcome relief to her sore fingers then and it was probably what Hookor meant now. He needn't worry about her attempting to remove any tissue, whatever that meant.

"Water, yes? I can run and fetch some if we don't have enough on hand."

[Faith Augustin]

Faith looked at the people in the room she went into and she knew in that moment she was going to be more than a few bits. The people in here had issues of burns, smoke inhalation, there were blunt injuries from people falling and bits of building falling on people. No, this was not going to be a quick job. With a glance, she spotted a green cloak and she smiled. "I need you to go into Room Two, Bren, and help out in there. There are two people, Hookor, a chap who's come to-trial to volunteer and Rynata, a delivery worker." Bren looked at her like her head had spontaneously dropped off and Faith paid that no mind. "They're expecting help, go on, please." Bren shook his head. "No, Faith, they're expecting you." She didn't lift her head from what she was doing. "Well, I hope they live with the disappointment. Now, Bren." The young man glared, frowned and then moved. Faith, meanwhile started working on the patient in front of her.

"Hi! My name's Bren and you're Hookor and Rynata. Faith's busy so yes. Um." If appearing confident was half of the battle, then Bren was not likely to win the war. "Ok. So, what do you know about the treatment of burns?" Was that really the thing he should be asking, he wondered. Probably not. He wasn't the most confident and he needed to get that way quick smart.

"Right, so, I'm the medic in charge here, and I'd like a..." He gave a slight frown and then nodded, "status report on these please? I'll get working on this lady here, alright." And then he glanced at Rynata as she offered to carry and help. "No, you assist him, and that way you'll learn from each other." That seemed sensible. The young man looked at the two of them and then let out a sigh. "So, we keep communicating. First thing, that is check that they're breathing alright and lets get everyone taking nice, deep breaths, please."

He was doing his best but the reality was, his medical knowledge was barely better than Hookors and, as such, they needed to help each other. Faith, meanwhile was working and doing her best to be as quick and efficient as she could. As soon as the green cloak Rami came back in here, she'd be able to leave but until then she needed to be doing her thing and that was that.

Off Topic

NPCs are open for you guys to control.

[Hookor Crook]

Hookor nodded quickly at Bren entered the room. The half Eidisi grabbed some nearby cloths, and then dipped them in a nearby basin full of water. He moved to the young child, and placed one of the cloths on his back. It completely covered the burn. He lifted the infant up and handed it to one of the older, less injured children.

"Keep that cloth on his back." Hookor told the teenage girl as she held the child. He then moved to Bren.

"Hookor Crook." he informed. "The child has a large burn on his back. It covers a large area, so I would consider it severe. The older man..." Hookor pointed to the old fellow,

"...he has both of his hands severely burned." he added. Hookor took the other damped cloth he had with him, and began to wrap it around the man's hands.

"Keep this on your hands." he said. He turned to Rynata.

"You can inform him about those you are caring for. We have to keep the wounds moist so that tissue destruction and loss is minimal. Healing is also better if the wounds, the burns, are moistened." Hookor had learned that much from Doctor Shelby and Nathaniel. Suddenly one of the middle aged children began to cough. Then the cough became gasps. Hookor turned to see, and then he noticed it. her face, her mouth, were pitch. The student moved toward the preteen girl and quickly squeezed the child's mouth open. Inside it was black as well.

"This child has inhaled significant soot. Her ability to breath may become compromised." Hookor told Bren. Sure enough, even as he was telling the green cloak, the child's breath became labored.

"I have seen Doctor Shelby sedate such vicitms, and then put flexible tubes made of resin, down their throats and into their lung tubes." he stated. He could tell from Bren's expression, that the medic had not likely done such a thing himself.

"If you cannot do it, then I suggest you get professor Faith, to see if she can." he said. With that, Hookor turned back to the child.

"Lift your arms above your head, and take deep breathes." he advised. The child did just that. Hookor then looked to Rynata.

"Have you seen if there are any creams or savs about?" he asked. He himself then began to look to see if any healing creams could be found in the room. All the while, in his own mind, Crook was hoping and praying that Faith would soon return.

Cough cough!

The child's coughs and gasps became more frequent. Hookor looked to Rynata once more.

"If Professor Faith does not return, we may have to breath for that girl." he said, a look of grave concern on his face...

[Rynata]

If Rynata had been expecting a seasoned medical expert to come striding into the room, which she supposed she was, she was disappointed. Bren seemed unsure of himself and it quickly became clear that he was not a commanding presence in the room. Still, there was no time to dwell on it. Like she always said, help was help.

“The madam here has superficial burns along her left arm, if you could take care of that,” she reported to the new arrival in the cloak. “The man there,” she continued. “I don’t think it’s burns, but he seemed unsteady on his feet when we came in. Might want to take a closer look at that ankle. Could be a bad sprain or the like.”

Zipping around the room, Rynata followed Hookor’s suite, wetting squares of clean cloth and passing them to Bren. She herself also applied the cool cloths to some of the more minor burns, instructing the patients to hold them in place before herding those who were in no immediate danger into a little group away from the action.

“Keep the cool areas on the burn,” she suggested to them. “We’ll soon bandage them up.”

Sliding over to the gurney, Rynata eyed the man’s ankle, visible due to the now discarded shoe and rolled up pant leg. Perhaps fortunately, there was no break in the skin but the joint was already starting to swell up into a heated red. She grabbed a folded blanket and carefully propped his injured foot up onto it. Taking a soaked wash cloth she draped it around his ankle in hopes that it would draw out some of the heat. Until someone with proper knowledge could set the ankle or secure it in a cast, it might be best to keep the swelling down. The man himself looked more clear headed than before, but perhaps due to the pain, his features had turned a little green.

Hearing the commotion over at the young girl’s side, Rynata rushed over. Sedate. Flexible resin. Lung tubes. She could almost feel her eyes spin in confusion at Hookor’s suggested treatment. No doubt it must be effective, but it sounded terribly complex to the freelance sailor turned emergency medic.

“If it’s salves I think those should wait until later,” she ventured warily. “Father always said water for burns. I heard creams prevent the wound from breathing properly.”

While the professionals figured out how to proceed, she plopped down a basin in front of the girl and pressed a cup filled with water into her hands.

“Here. Rinse your mouth and try to clean out your throat. Tilt up and garble.”

Concerned but trying not to seem worried she rubbed her back in what she hoped was a soothing manner to calm her coughing fits.

[Hookor Crook]

There wasn't much time to analyze, or argue. The young woman's point about creams was based on one theory of thought. There was another theory, based on some scientific study, that covering the wound with sterilized bandages, as well as special oil or water based savs, would not only reduce the chances of wound festering, but would also hasten healing and reduce scarring.

Of course there was no time to discuss any of this.

"Please just put the savs on any open wounds or blistered burns." he said to Rynata. His tone was not impatient, but more pleading. His immediate attention after the request was to the girl who was clearly struggling to breath. She was getting worse, now audibly gasping for air, reaching for her throat reflexively. The water Rynata gave her helped clean out her mouth, but the girl nearly choked on some of it, as she was gasping for clean air.

'We don't have time to get the professor." Hookor said aloud. Crook scanned the room. He needed a small tubing, and something to blow air into her with. An alchemy kit. There over on one of the shelves. He moved to it, then checked in a drawer under it. Two pieces of tubing. One of them might just be small enough to work.

"An empty water skin!" he said. He looked about but could not at the moment find one. "Milk of the poppy." he spoke more to himself then Rynata. He turned to a room off to the back of where they were. He moved to it, and then went to open the door. Locked.

"Damn it." He looked to Brenn. "I need Milk of the poppy. I am sure it is in there." Hookor said. He hoped that the medic had the key. Brenn nodded, though he seemed a little irritated that the young volunteer seemed to be running things at this point. Hookor then added.

"I need a waterskin too. Quickly." Brenn pointed to a closet.

"In there, attached to my outer jacket." he said. Hookor moved to it with uncommon speed and grabbed the item. He then took out his dagger. He cut the tubing to about a foot long. He then cut the mouth piece of the water skin, and attached it to the tubing. It seemed to fit, so he took it off, to be applied later. Brenn returned with the poppy milk.

"Give her the appropriate amount for her size." Hookor said. He was now recalling a similar situation he and Nathaniel had been in. On that occasion, Nate had had a light source, and was able to get tubing into the victims throat with ease. Hookor remembered the medic telling him how on rare occasion he had to do a 'blind insertion'.

Brenn had given the girl the medicine. She began to get dopey after a few moments. Hookor could see their time was running out.

"Get her to lie down." he said. Brenn did just that. Hookor then turned to Rynata.

"I need you." He called. Assuming she answered his call, Hookor gave her the waterskin. "Once I have the tube in, you must attach that waterskin to the exposed end, and begin squeezing it." He told her. "If we see the stomach go up and down with the squeezes, then we must take out the tube and try again." he added. Hookor then took the tube, and moved to the young girl. He opened her mouth, and with what little light he had, looked into her mouth.

Blackness.

There was no time to complain, or go for another option. This girl would die if they did not get the tube in.

"Here we go." he said. He then began to insert and forward the tube. It seemed to go quite easy. Once it was in, he motioned to Rynata, to begin with the waterskin. He would watch for the stomach. If it did not go up and down, then he would breathe a sigh of relief, and ask Rynata to continue the bagging. If the stomach did go up, the Eidisi half breed would try again, knowing each failed attempt would be wasting her precious time.

[Rynata]

Rynata took one look at Hookor’s expression and nodded. It wasn’t the sort of face she had the heart to argue with. She’d have to trust that the man knew what he was doing. Throwing open one of the cupboards she fetched a container filled with a clear, gelatinous salve. She then went around to the other patients, applying generous slathers of the soothing substance onto their burns. She motioned for Bren to help her in wrapping up the treated wounds. With the two of them passing bandages back and forth, they soon had the rest of the patients cared for. Reddened and blistering skin was now safely secure under swaths of clean white cloth.

The problem was the girl. Flying over to Hookor’s side when she was called, Rynata took the waterskin she was handed from his hands. Eyes darting over the tube and the skin she nodded as she put the two together in her mind.

“Understood,” she confirmed, following him over to the girl’s side.

Once she was signaled, Rynata joined the tube with the waterskin and carefully put pressure on the bag. The soft material offered a slight resistance as the air inside it ballooned away from her pressing hands and escaped through the attached tube. Along with Hookor, she eyed the girl’s form, watching for any irregularities. However, it was not the girl’s stomach that moved as it took in air. Instead, her chest gently rose and fell. If it had not been for the tube protruding from her mouth, Rynata would have believed that she was breathing rather normally.

“It’s working, yes?” She searched Hookor’s tinted face for reassurance but kept her hands busy with the makeshift breathing device.

[Faith Augustin]

There were too many of them, and not enough of the healers, was the short version of this. Faith had been working in the room next door, breathing for a man who had inhaled smoke. His heart had stopped twice and she had done all she could. With so many of them, some were almost inevitably going to die, but Faith never saw it that way. Every one of them who did was not a statistic, not an inevitability, they were a failure to her. A way in which she did not meet the standards of service she had set for herself. So, she had worked on the man and worked some more, keeping the breath in his lungs and his heart beating. The movements of that were exhausting, carrying out chest compression meant that she was putting her weight into it, and she didn't have much of that so she needed to really force herself, but she continued. She was determined that she just needed to keep him breathing long enough for this to clear, and it would be fine.

Eventually, he gulped in a whooshing gasp of air and breathed on his own. Faith felt relief flood through her and she smiled to the green cloak who had been very much of the opinion that they should have stopped. It was a fine juggling act, there was no doubt, but she had faith in droves and she was as driven as could be. Glancing around the room that she was in, Faith felt confident that the medics in here now, such as they were, could deal with things and so she turned and ran into the other room where Hookor and Rynata were working.

And what she saw in there made her pause just for a moment with wide eyes as she took in the scene. Then, she gave a slight smile and nodded her head as she stepped forward. "Good work," she said. Not only were they doing the right thing, but also they were doing it the right way. The first time, her stomach had started to move and they'd taken the tube out and replaced it. But the second time, just as Faith walked in, they had it there. She watched them for a few moments and then, nodded. "Carry on, I'm here if you need me but you're doing fine. Just make sure to keep those movements even and slow." Faith moved to a patient on the next bed, beginning her examination. But as she did, she smiled at the two of them. "Good work, doctors. You should think about joining up." It was to both of them she spoke. Knowledge, after all, could be passed on - but the ability to keep calm in a crisis? That couldn't be taught.

Off Topic

I think we're done - do you guys want to do one more post each? If so fab. Either way, when you're done send me your knowledges and I'll pop up the review!

[Rynata]

The moment Faith walked into the ward to join them, Rynata felt the corners of her mouth curve up into a relieved smile. The way she saw it, they were saved. The technicality that she had not been the one in danger was lost on her. Gazing attentively at Faith as the woman examined their work, Rynata nodded at the instructions sent her way. Even and slow. That was simple enough.

Turning to Hookor, she gave him an appreciative nod. "That was amazing!" she said. "I didn't know anything like that was possible. Where do you learn these things from?" All the while, her hands kept up their rhythmic and steady movement, ensuring that the girl could still breathe. "It's Chrien's luck that you were here with that technique." Rynata didn't put much stock in luck. Fate, either, for that matter. They amounted to the same thing in the end, she sometimes mused. However, whatever had been their benefactor this time, the little girl was saved.

While Faith suggested that they would not go wrong in joining the organization, Rynata was a little sheepish to admit that healing wasn't her calling. She certainly thought it a priority to help people, but that could be done in a lot of ways. For now, she was content with being a person who could doctor, despite the fact that she was no doctor. This break had already been the most eventful in recent memory, after all.

2574 words

[Hookor Crook]

"Yes professor." Hookor said, acknowledging her appreciation with a simple nod. Faith was clearly of the "let them learn by doing" philosophy. There was a part of Crook that appreciated that way of learning. Still, the Eidisi in him always yearned to bury his nose in a tome. As Faith moved off to tend to others, Hookor returned his attention to the young girl they had just saved. Rynata was continuing her "bagging" as it was informally called, and the child's breaths were even and ample.

"I only just learned it a few Trials ago." he answered the young woman. "Shelby...err...Doctor Shelby and Nathaniel, A surgeon and his assistant, showed me...well more so they performed it several times while I was with them." Hookor answered about the technique. He purposely avoided the fact that this was the first time he had actually done it himself.

"And yes, it was amazing!" Crook agreed. The rush of action, the excitement of having someone's life in your hands, and working to save that life, was all at once terrifying and intoxicating. It was something the half-Eidisi could see becoming an addiction for him. While Rynata continued to pump air into the chest of the young girl, Hookor went around to the rest of their "patients" and tended to their needs. He would indeed become a member of the volunteer staff for this clinic. Beyond the pure rush it offered, it was an excellent augmentation to his didactic learning at the Academy. As well, it seemed to cure his need to constantly count things...