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It is another holiday approaches that as many of you might be on a trip to a place that we hope you never see and meet some people. We hope never to talk about you the way they do others that you'll hear about throughout the program. I would like to thank the Maryland State Police who particular bill Clark's office for their assistance in the production of the show. And finally on a personal note for writing the original theme that you'll hear at the conclusion. Well initially the shock trauma unit which I do about it read quite a bit of doubt came to my attention because we actually started the system. Other states were copying Marilyn system. I received mail from Illinois for example pointing out
the efficiency of their system how it was working. Yet here in Maryland where we originated the idea there are people who are going uphill more to help set up the Illinois system. The people in Maryland were not recognizing the fact that we had an efficient operation here. Secondly I've had the opportunity to see it in action somewhat. Flying in the helicopter myself I hear the cars coming in over the air several times I was in helicopter and had to land so that they could go pick up a passenger up off of the ground there was an action taken to the hospital. On other occasions I'd be just ready to go to some meeting in helicopter and a call would come through and I'd have to cancel right talk take the helicopter and go pick up the injured person and we cancel the trip or take the automobile. And I became interested in the system
itself and I was operating and when I saw the statistics of the licensure say they were being saved because fast efficient method of getting them into the issue didn't help that they were getting it. I just thought that it should be expanded to short term. It's really a very specialized facility and to help the doctor all over the state who haven't got facilities of the room to deal with a critically ill person it's a specialty of referrals and also to provide immediate 24 hour access for any accident victims who need to look through the whole thing and the clinical clinical. Biggest single.
Killer it's the biggest killer and it's a big. Shock shock from this from losing. And I think something like four people killed and a lot of them could be saved. A lot of people coming to
the country for the expensive and it cost something that is very much about thought you don't fly a single patient in the shop. Now the other helicopter systems that have been tried have just as much as $900 per patient. So this is a very successful long run and that is working in association with the state police. Doing the police route. Between them and pulling in the
helicopter between them coming. From the helicopter to come in. It's about having a crush according to the rough side and you're doing fine now the doctor that meet. The patient on the helical. Capable with the first step in any part of the body. There's an ambulance waiting and the doctors in those places for an emergency admission coming in. For
what you would think a patient following this thread was putting it all on that doesn't mean in the fall. It's taken from a helicopter.
And.
Will you.
From the red line which lead from you. They're.
Beginning to get sometimes. With two or three. For the first. Hour. There. Is.
Another. Whether to give him. One of the most important. Things to Know. Because. That's. What we call it. And that's why we're here and we're going to turn I'm going to a little bit. Your
time. Because. I mean he's responding so the tiger can also swing a hundred. Dozen and. Just send off another. You know it was respiratory misery. Right now suffering as a sponsor and fund for. Writing and supporting him. What's to deliver. Right now the sorting of. So they can during the latter because to do the. Adult. Have to have been him.
Otherwise to. Put on his pulse and taking as you know better than four minutes to give a readout of his now he starts to go. On. About 60 so they can type uncrossed his insensitivity and they can do a complete get a readout of all the different. Red and white but. Then when you're in the. Hospital when you're in the culture. And a route. And then. Every person but when you're starting at a you know
other words and thinking two or three one. You're sure this is only known in the state of the world state institution in the United States. From your friends within the family of Truong over the coming few years ago in the United States you go to all these other places to shop from the center and you'll find all the glorified things like. You.
Know we have it all the normal. Rate that we have an operating room ready. We don't have to ring up and say Could we have an operating. Room if you're We've got two cases going on. And you're calling them to get in you're offering room said no when you come by that time and don't know. You can forget. And you've got to have everything set up for moving me. We have an 80 percent survival retreat a thousand. And that line in almost every other sentence in the country around the world. You get something like. 40 or 50. Right right. So we think that 15 we have survival and not put it up 5 percent of them.
And the main reason having the fish which is fast moving. A lot of these cases is a bad one for that role. If you're doing star treatment. Some of them will require that you find in the first people. Very critically. You might have to operate immediately. You might have the operation. Because they're going to look into it. Doesn't wait for you in them. It's really worthwhile someone coming. You're going to get it and I will be.
There almost near death. You get into this area here. And you start to recess and you either recess or stabilizing. And stabilize. Excuse me and then move into the operating room and then you can see I'm upstairs on the floor. Yes shock trauma unit itself. And that's the majority of the cases. We consider all the patients coming here to be our patient and the patient is going to be away. This patient is also considered a shock trauma patient. Sometimes you just feel so bad especially if it's a young person because you do have a lot of young people coming in and you can see that they're they have a lot more to live in their life. And. When they go. It's kind of hard to take and you. Sit down thinking maybe that could have been you. A lot is taken away from you when you see someone die but you get an awful lot out of it when you see someone make it and. If you do it all the
time and there wouldn't be any people down here working. If they didn't know they were doing something they were getting something out of I think maybe I know I wouldn't be patient. I'm going. To interrupt your day order which is very bad but he is fine he's going to make it and he just wouldn't believe the pleasure you give me right now compared to what he was three weeks ago. Describe when it becomes impossible to save this patient and you lose that patient. Can you put into words how you feel. When we come in thinking that we were given a chance I mean better than you get in most places
and have a. Recovery for the stabilization. And this has come from station electronically for all the difference that we record and the system so that it gets to me.
For a few days if you could do all those things to a patient fairly good shape. But if you didn't have a very sophisticated and I like to keep it for another few days a lot of them would again critical to maintain the stabilizer which has provided money on every patient for things like the pulmonary status cardiac state intracranial pressure all sorts of things that are not measured. So you have two problems with it. You have a mechanical problem. Straight
to the body. It's quite expensive and it cost around about five hundred and forty dollars a day to be in this particular. Home which is to say that
it would be just the gas I would get probably six million. We have run about 200 people all together. That's including everybody that works in the. We have about 20 doctors and we have about 35 nurses or something like that. Technician attended Coleman. And you breathe it's a new concept in that you've got to forget a lot of the traditional teaching. And begin to think of something much faster moving and much more dynamic and aggressive in approach. I think certainly with the new
takes a particular temperament. First of all I have to be very much more expedient. Because we're not dealing just with children dealing with the not just dealing with the not just dealing with head. Thing. They have to be that they have to have a look because you know. The average doctor will put in. A hundred a week without any plan. And then put in the same time but they still put in more than all of Cali. And on the other we have teams of about
20 doctors specialists from all the different specialists every day. So again you don't go into a hospital you know taken by an ambulance and try to find a doctor or else you're seen by someone who's never in all this. The minute the helicopter has a doctor beginning treatment on the if necessary. There's another down and out admitting the other patients for the minute treatment immediately begin to. Make the problem that exists is one of education and it's education position outside
Baltimore Baltimore it's the facilities that are available. The work is challenging. When you think of the alternatives in practice either in this country you and I thinking that. Something in the bone that's the job of the money of the people would consider those that specialize in these documents and have been over that thought in mind. But there is the continual challenge the world trying to bring somebody through an almost impossible situation. And then there's the success that it does but it's also the system and this is this is not just the job is working within the system as we know it is highly possible for somebody to
run into a come through their own fault or somebody else's fault on the Beltway and severely rupture this and that if they don't get to the hospital in half an hour they could be dead. I enjoy nursing very much. This unit is a break for me in all honesty away from the children. I mean I just love my kitties they're terrific. But it's very stimulating to work here. I keep it is you know eventually because I need more stimulation. And the other units really want to give you such a fantastic challenge to work here that I sort of just think really for it because most of them would probably die without the thought of. I think the. Thing.
That I think about a lot. In talking to other people. Like I think you. Would like it if you're talking like you know like person like my next door neighbor. Well she might have heard that. Thing. But that's not you know I feel you're doing good. Most of the people who were working put up with a lot of abuse. They can sometimes a lot of abuse from relatives and they must have a certain amount of tenacity and knowledge of their doing the best they can before this place is humanly feasible. For that I think it's very difficult to pick up a hundred years and so that this describes the
person we want or that should be working this job for them even when there's been them as well but it was it is very the rewards at the end of a long stretch of work by on Sunday seem to be pretty minimal but nevertheless it does have its rewards. It's very so difficult to watch. People standing there. Children are so I don't know exactly what to do. In life but. She's a young woman who is involved in an automobile accident with her husband. She's been here for quite a long time and you know everybody knows her and. Sort of born that she makes it. To see her gone through so much. That you know sort of really going downhill and. Everybody is sort of
sad really concerned. For her. She it's like out of our hands now to get Shane's on the doctors everything else. She stood up and her husband was rendered a quadriplegic which means that he is paralyzed from here down. He is getting some of it back I should say he's weak from here down because he is able to get some of it back. He's in a. Convalescent Home now self and his daughters were not injured I'm not sure if they were in the accident. I think they had a go at a lot of chest injuries an awful lot of chest injury she had a liver injury a bad liver injury bad really bad liver injury. She had fractured ribs and she had a broken leg and she was just one of our local boy multiple injured patients. And she was doing all right. She developed what we call shock long which is sort of just the way a long response to injury when it's been when the body's been in shock for a while it's a very very lethal
disease. Very few patients survive it. And we all became attached to her we treated her you know very aggressively as we do normally with lungs but it's just it's really a very very sad case. I hope I can make it through this she has two little daughters and her their pictures hanging over her bedside so she can see them and we can see them and they're just little young kids that little bright faces and freckles. And we know that her husband you know wanted to come in to see her when she got really bad. He tried to come in to see her but emotionally with unable to it was too much of a strain for me and it's you know this woman's been so close to death. Maybe four or five times. And it's very hard for us to come in and see her like this. Like on mother's day her little kids brought her special gifts. Being a mother it's hard for me to see this but. You know she's mine that a lot of us have become really attached to and you know we're just really hoping that something will happen to save her but it's just really difficult. She's had almost all the complications and it's just really
hard to see her pictures of the kids and nobody comes. You know us Roya say to yourself but get health care that. You know here we are. Got everything. So. Somebody. Shot it. You know that decided that. You know nurses might not be in terms of wheaten but exhibited and love them. Perhaps one of them could function with a job but not be able to retire. Going home extremely depressed but not to verbal. That's a thing you have to be one of the visiting physicians from another hospital said it was and I sort of really think it's true. He said he doesn't think he can explain how he feels when he has a critical patient and no blood available
in his hospital and nobody to help him and you know nobody there to help the patient. And when he hears a helicopter he said it's like such a thrill such an emotional release for him to get goose pimples he said just to know that there is someone there to help and I think I've been here three years and the advances that we've made medicine wise are just fantastic. When we see the patients come in 10 minutes later 10 minutes after that they're going to go. Strings of blood and then you treat them a vegetable and I walk out of there and we're going to drop as a rule. You know I get absolutely hundred percent behind and I have a terrible time. Yes we do get involved with our patients. Many of us get extremely involved. And you know it's I can talk about this now but I used to from before we had our psyches on nurse who works with us now. And many of us who do get upset and who do get involved the families in who do private
patients die. She has worked with us a lot to help us see that this is an asset and not a liability that you know it's difficult to reach out of ocean like to a patient and to a family you know who you know are facing death knowing that you know we ourselves are going to be hurt when a patient dies. But. You know. There are a lot of us who do it. You know you got this emotion inside of you that's got to be a some way. That will. You know I've heard you say well I can't they said. Cry. Talk about it. I know because so much. When the patient dies if it's been a hard life. OK. That's it. Obviously there's somebody bigger than we are up there who's decided this is it. Because when you've got all this equipment and lose medical minds working. And still you can't bring. With it said. But like when I cry
as when I see the doctor they stayed up all night standing by the bed just looking dejected because it's over there's nothing else you can do. I want to see the family coming. And hearing the side of the family with the patients that that's me you know and I'll stand there and I get tears in my eyes right. Hysterical crying I don't think any one of us really does lose control. Of their own duty that kind of thing that we would share some of. Which I think people are a little surprised. Because there's this. There's some kind of a myth going around that nurses are very hard hearted. You don't. Get. Upset. If you took these things home with you. They would destroy you as a person. Therefore when you see this hospital this unit you have to make up your mind that you're going to move all who stands here also and go home. And a lot of these on lot of these nurses these nurses are married and have children you know they have to go home and they think of a good family
friend who is very much like me who has come to you know to say just to be able to talk to her is a big relief. Again that psyches honors that we have has conferences with us that allows us to work out our feelings and you could talk about anything like why this particular doctor yells at us all the time and how we can handle that situation to how we felt about an infant who's 10 month old little boy whose head was that killed by the neighbor's car and you know we just we do discuss things like this in a group so that we can you know get strength from knowing that other people you know feel the same way and release our emotions and try to come up some kind of solution. Good for you. His death was very difficult to take but what was even harder was this is difficult for me to say to his mother wrote a letter to us and you know she accepted the fact that he died you know and she said it was God's will that she would accept it. This always upsets me because he was such a cute
little boy. But she asked if if she said you know could someone just write to me and let me know how it was when he was here you know when you squeezed his hand did he squeeze it back all that forgive me and you know he was just he was very I didn't want to read a lot of pride because it just she was really reaching out to us and she wanted to know about him and he was just very difficult you know to be able to even talk to her on the phone and to write back to her. But we DID YOU KNOW. And that's what I can't talk. Difficult but that's what they it was just very difficult. You in fact become attached I think inevitably when you're dealing with human beings. The secret is you have to detach yourself. That's a decision to feel less emotional about so than you do the procedure as a problem and then the better for the patient.
We're still mostly. Right here sir and I shouldn't either but I would bet you were you were insured you know a movie like this where I would never know where I live without. But I have a small I was a former I was going on that will happen ever. It was the first thing you remember when you
were really knew what was the next thing you remember and the next thing you remember. I know that I've got to go. I will. Weeks ago with a very severe question to his chest broken ribs on the left side of his jaw on the right side of his jaw. Also the opening arrived he was very short of
getting rather sort of recover. It will be our little miracle patient. He was rather modest when he was talking about himself but he was he was very severely injured. He did have bilateral fractures. That's refreshing on both sides. He did have a blast. We had a lot of trouble. He was on a machine it was breeding. We had a lot of trouble keeping him on net and trying to get where they needed. But he did have a ruptured they were to me in the aorta is the main blood vessel that comes off the heart down along here and feeds the rest of the body here and very few patients actually survive a rupture they order. But his was caught very early. He was in the unit off. He had tubes coming out of his chest because of the refresher so we could see immediately when something happened in the operating room is available downstairs. There was just a matter of minutes before he was taken down there
and this man. Normally patients who do survive the surgery have liver complications kidney complications any kind of complication you can think of and he had none of those. He was you know within several days afterwards and it's just fantastic. We're really in fantastic shape. I must say one thing that really helped me.
You know they constantly want to take your family if you have a story. Especially when the little ones are. I'm going to run your way through the trauma ward 7 and his
kindly light. You know some patients some Russian words which we are facing. Some of them just like you're leaving. Truck driver. You're going to lose your butt. I lost my glasses but if I had my glasses but it
wasn't just the one who was thinking. I think the only important thing is can we create a total system for the state that will result in the saving of lives on the highways. If we can do that. It's going to cost us some money to do it. It's worth it. You just can't put a value on human life. I don't think any person that's in that position would say to you. Well. How much money should we spend to save human life. I don't think that ought to be even considered in calculating the value of
the system I think the question is can we save a human life. Can we run person if it's just one I think last year the total. I'm just trying to recall something like 59 people who were brought into the shock trauma unit who would have died if they hadn't gotten that fast treatment that they received and the specialized treatment that you see. We call them miracles. Well there are miracles that that happened because of the of getting them into treatment immediately. Now how can you calculate the value that you can't calculate what a person's life is worth what is a good word. Rule you know in a system like this. Certainly one point or another it becomes a medical problem but I was a governor because it's a total medical problem. It's not a problem of government from the point of view of treatment that's not where the governor the governor is involved with the government.
Our role as I see it is to coordinate it put all of the elements together into a coordinated system not to have it become enmeshed in any bureaucracy that can slowly grind to a halt. But to put all of the pieces together and make them work. And that's what I think our role is and that's what we're attempting to do. That's why as far as I issued a an executive order creating this statewide system the job is to make the various elements fit into the total. Plan. The medical aspect will be handled by the medical people. Let's talk about the medical people that are coming specifically. Thought Dr. Kelly has been doing this kind of work that was instrumental in creating. It has been a pioneer in the field and I feel that he has contributed tremendously to making unit the success it is at the university. He has
designed plans for state wide implementation of an overall program and I think is his knowledge is ability. I think I just feel that is we're lucky to have a man of that caliber in that position. But we're still you go to a friend who was involved in the troubles because well this was another incident that really made me realize the importance of having a coordinated system. They were doing a great job in the trauma unit. But there was no state wide coordination. In that instance friend of all of us here who had been working here for years as chief clerk of the legislature was seriously injured in an accident. On the last night of the session on his way home to seriously injured he was taken to Frederick Hospital where they diagnosed his injuries because untreated because he didn't have the what they needed. He was then moved to the Egger townhouse.
By this time the people in the shock trauma unit had been notified. Fortunately they sent a helicopter up to the Hagerstown hospital. They had it on its way without even knowing the extent of the injuries but knowing that they were serious enough that they pick him up. Got him in. To the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Unit. He called me in the meantime to notify me about the incident I went into the hospital and got there early in the morning. I saw what they were doing form there and then realized that here was the perfect illustration. He was injured. There was no coordination no one to make decisions no way that decision could be made what hospital would he get the best treatment who should handle it how should it be handled that there had to be a statewide coordinating system because people who are injured in these accidents and
decisions have to be made on the spot a difference of minutes can mean a difference of saving lives Fortunately Jim got to the hospital and his life was saved by the fact that they had moved quickly without even knowing the total extent of the injuries. And here was all the equipment to treat that kind of injury and it was serious extremely serious it was doubtful whether it was live or what I did. Would you really you'll conclude was this if you heard the story it was from Mars when you were in the chatroom. Well that's something that I haven't talked about. Hardly anyone because the scene was right before they were taken up to the opera. It was very early in the morning and he was well just in desperate condition. Well you could hear him just move his arms you could talk with saying anything. He gestured for a
pencil and someone handed the pencil on. The. Move. He was lying flat on his stomach. He just they someone held a pad he wrote a note to me and said Do anything you can. I want to live and I still have that note that he gave me that morning and he just had to be there to feel what that meant. Desperately the individual fighting to live. How can you put a dollar value on that. You think short term of service was always a question that I think they certainly do and I think they do a tremendous job of it. People are very fortunate to have something like this type of existence and I think when we're able to put it all together to a total statewide system I think people. Realize how. Something like this
what the state is really here for. What are we here for your service. The.
Funding and the final funding before the final funding funding and with no final funding with no external funding. With. Record on location by the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting.
Program
Shock Trauma
Producing Organization
Maryland Public Television
Contributing Organization
Maryland Public Television (Owings Mills, Maryland)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/394-924b8vv6
Public Broadcasting Service Series NOLA
SKTR 000000
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Description
Program Description
A look at ERs and medical facilities
Broadcast Date
1973-06-17
Asset type
Program
Media type
Moving Image
Duration
00:58:22
Embed Code
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Credits
Copyright Holder: MPT
Producing Organization: Maryland Public Television
AAPB Contributor Holdings
Maryland Public Television
Identifier: 35756.0 (MPT)
Format: U-matic
Generation: Master
Duration: 01:00:00?
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Citations
Chicago: “Shock Trauma,” 1973-06-17, Maryland Public Television, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 28, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-394-924b8vv6.
MLA: “Shock Trauma.” 1973-06-17. Maryland Public Television, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 28, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-394-924b8vv6>.
APA: Shock Trauma. Boston, MA: Maryland Public Television, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-394-924b8vv6