This Is The Reason I Honor Our First Responders

I awakened from a dream this morning, 9-11-16, and my first thought was the first responders. Let me back up for a moment to tell you about my dream.

I was in the operating room, removing a large tumor from a patients face, carefully dissecting and preserving the nerve that moves the patients facial muscles. There were all the typical bizarre dream elements: the room in which I was operating looked more like a cafeteria, with at least ten patients having surgery at the same time. One of my associates, also a head and neck surgeon, was operating on someones stomach. In the middle of this dream surgery, the junior resident assisting me decided to remove his glove and feel the tumor, contaminating the entire surgical field.

So, in this dream, I walked back to the scrub sink to scrub my hands getting ready to reestablish sterility. It was at this point I woke up, and I found myself rubbing each hand over the opposite hand and arm as if I were actually scrubbing for a surgery. It seemed so instinctive, so rote, so intrinsic in my brain to do this activity. No hesitation, no reservation just a natural part of my day.

Fearlessness in Uniform

And then, I thought of the first responders police officers, fire fighters, EMTs the people who instinctively go into the danger, into the uncertainty, without hesitation, without trepidation. I realize that this mindset is similar to that of our military.

In fact, the U.S. Marines commercial states, There are a few who move toward the sounds of chaos, ready to respond.

This fearless mentality, so honorable in our military, is readily evident in our first responders. They go into chaotic, emergent situations, prepared through training and knowledge, but still facing the unknown. Yet they do so with great commitment, great dedication, and great loyalty to the greater good.

When I am in the emergency room and the EMTs come in with a patient, describing the accident scene from which they extricated the victim, I am amazed at the adeptness with which they are able to assess the devastation and expedite treatment. These are the difference makers, the people who give such victims a chance.

How a Surgeon's Contributions Compare

People have said to me that they are in awe of my ability to drive into the hospital in the middle of the night, to perform an emergency tracheotomy and save someone who is suffocating from airway obstruction. Yet I am humbled by the efforts that I see the first responders make.

When I am driving in to perform that surgery, I already have most of the facts I need. I am already formulating a plan.

One night, I was called in to place a breathing tube in a fourteen-year-old whose airway was obstructing from a peanut allergy. I had the local police escort me to the hospital, because time was of the essence. We were able to save that young lady. But in my mind, the case was already done.

Contrast that to an accident I stopped at that was up the street from my house. I was on my way to work on a Saturday morning and was one of the first people to respond to the accident. A car that had driven off the road struck a tree and split down the middle, and the engine was thrown out of the car. The victim was gasping for breath inside the car. While I knew what I could potentially do once I had access to the victim, I was powerless.

First Responders in Action

The true first responders were the ones who could extricate the victim, who would be the first to assess the situation, who would have to make the quick decisions while the victim was still trapped. That particular victim could not be extricated until after she died in the car. In that moment, I saw first hand the chaos faced by first responders.

Ive also witnessed their unselfish dedication to others. I was called to the emergency room one afternoon to establish an airway in a young man who attempted suicide by drinking Drano. The substance is so caustic that it literally melts the tissues of the airway and esophagus. This poor man had had second thoughts after drinking the Drano, and he called 911.

When the first responders arrived, his airway was closing, in effect suffocating him. The EMTs attempted a cricothyrotomy (emergency opening into the airway), but the airway was too fragile. When the patient arrived in the emergency room, I proceeded with the cricothyrotomy and inserted a breathing tube, and we ventilated the patient.

It was clear that the inner aspect of the trachea was dissolving before our eyes. It was also clear that, if the airway had been established in the field by the EMTs, this patient still would not have made it. In fact, the patient did die. The EMTs were inconsolable. There was no convincing them that this patients death was inevitable, that this was a near impossible airway to establish in the field, that this was really a no-win situation. But their dedication to others, and their selfless determination, unfortunately left them with an undeserved sense of failure.

So now consider the first responders on 9/11. They were arriving at a chaotic scene that we have never seen before in this country. Using every bit of their skill and knowledge, they had to enter a disaster that they realized they may never escape. Their primary goal was to save others.

These first responders were leaving behind their own families, friends, and even their lives to unselfishly protect and save others.

Ive seen the documentaries about 9/11. I remember exactly what surgery I was doing the day I heard about the attacks. That was a pivotal event for me, and it's helped shaped the person I am today.

A Personal Thought to the First Responders Who Serve Us

Time and time again, I try to imagine how I would have faced such a situation. My conclusion is always the same complete awe of those first responders, and overwhelming gratitude for their actions and, in many cases, their ultimate sacrifice.

Last night, I attended a Blue Mass for the firefighters, police officers, and EMTs in our region. At the altar was the iconic picture of the firefighters raising the Star Spangled Banner at Ground Zero. I was so moved. I felt that my own efforts as a surgeon, usually in a controlled environment, seemed so diminutive compared with the efforts these first responders made in the midst of the chaos of 9/11, and that they've continued to make in the 15 years since then.

So I take off my surgical cap and, with great respect, say to our first responders, Thank you and God Bless You. You are the American Spirit.

Arthur M. Lauretano, MD, MS, FACS

9-11-16

This post first appeared on Dr. Lauretanos website. Please visit his blog here .

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