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Marathon Bombings Bend, But Don't Break Nurses

 |  By Alexandra Wilson Pecci  
   May 07, 2013

At 8:15 on the night of Monday, April 15, I finally got the phone call I'd been waiting for all afternoon.

"I'm OK," my friend said. "I'm on my way home."

One of my best friends, an ED nurse at Boston Children's Hospital, had just lived through one of the most horrific shifts of her life, witnessing the carnage of the bombing at the Boston Marathon finish line as of its 10 victims were rushed into her department.

Life as an ED nurse at one of Boston's busiest and most renowned hospitals is never calm, never easy. But that day, which started out so clear and triumphant, was different. Boston hospitals were turned into a war zone, caring for wounds found on battlefields, not road races.


See Also: Boston Bombing Hurt Hospital Staff, Too


This week, May 6-12, is National Nurses Week. But as the more than 260 people who were injured in the Boston Marathon bombing will undoubtedly tell you, patients don't need a special week on the calendar to appreciate nurses.

Since that terrible day, I've heard amazing stories about nurses who tended to the wounded in the minutes and days after the bombing. As the weeks and months slip by, we'll surely hear many more. In honor of National Nurses Week, and in honor of heroic nurses everywhere, here are a few of those stories:

Cleaning Shrapnel Under Investigators' Gaze
The Associated Press caught up with several nurses from Massachusetts General Hospital, who reassured panicked patients that they were safe, even as they were wrapping up their wounded legs and inserting IVs.

One nurse tried to clean shrapnel from people's bodies as investigators watched, telling him not to remove debris from a wound so they could investigate it for blast patterns. Another nurse is coping with the emotional aftermath of that day by thinking about the progress and bravery of her patients, especially those who've lost limbs.

"Blessed to be Able to Care" for Bombing Victims
"One runner at a time, one victim at a time." That was the mantra of Florida-based RN Katie Powers, who was taking a runner's blood pressure as a volunteer in the marathon's medical tent when the explosion rocked the race.

She saw patients with shrapnel wounds and with their legs blown off, but says, "I was blessed to be able to care for those innocent people." She and the other medical personnel weren't evacuated from the area until two hours after the explosion, according Powers' account of the day in the Bradenton Herald.

Reaching Out to Families
Tufts Medical Center ICU nurse Stephen Segatore was volunteering in the marathon's medical tent when the bombs went off, and swiftly went to action caring for the victims, including one of the three people who died.

Segatore performed CPR on her for 10 minutes and told her he was a nurse and would take care of her, even though he knew she probably couldn't hear him, he tells CNN. Now he's reaching out to that victim's parents to let them know that their daughter didn't die alone.

Spontaneously Forming Trauma Teams
At Brigham and Women's Hospital, nurses "began mobilizing as soon as [they] saw the news flash onto a television screen," according to The New Yorker. Although the nurses were scheduled to change shifts at 3:00—ten minutes before the bombings occurred—no one left.

The nurses readied operating rooms, halted scheduled surgeries, ordered equipment, and coordinated with blood banks. Nurses and doctors were ready for patients as they arrived, spontaneously breaking into trauma teams to care for the wounded.

Five and a half hours after the bombing, my friend emerged from her shift, exhausted and scared. But despite her own feelings, she didn't run, didn't cry, didn't panic. She put her head down and worked.

I'm so proud of my friend—my brave, brave friend. May every week be Nurses Week.

Alexandra Wilson Pecci is an editor for HealthLeaders.

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