Triage

Last week as July temperatures soared above 90 degrees, our air conditioner broke. It sounded as though a helicopter had landed inside the house walls.

Ginny and I have been saving toward having the whole 20+ year-old system replaced but we can’t afford to do that job yet.

After we weighed options about what to do for a long while, I called my former neighbor Rex, whose family moved out into the country a few weeks ago, and I asked him to come back and repair the AC for me.

I hated to bother him because he’s in the midst of job changes, outfitting a new house, caring for an adopted child and an elderly mother-in-law, and preparing his old house for sale.

But in spite of his own full plate, Rex drove back into town immediately. He disassembled our helicopter, identified the problem (the thing he calls a squirrel cage is out of round and vibrates anchor screws loose), and repaired our ac so it will work for at least another couple of months.

Thank God for Rex! He’s such a good neighbor to come at once and take such pains for us when he no longer even lives in this neighborhood. I don’t know what we could have done without him; I have neither the strength to lift out the heavy machinery, not the sight to see into the dark crevices where the loose screws hide, nor the knowledge to fix the problem myself. Thank God for Rex!

He’s a one cool guy who keeps us cool too.

Ginny and I attended another Civilian Emergency Response Team training class last night.

The evening’s class covered disaster medicine triage, a heavy subject.

People are going to die in a major disaster.

That’s a given.

Our training assumes that the number of live but severely injured victims will far exceed us amateur rescuers and trained professional help will be a long time (maybe days) in arriving at the scene.

We are learning the START method of triage to give the injured the best chance of survival. Our goal is to do the greatest good for the greatest number as we race against the clock with limited non-professional resources.

The time element looms large because we’ll have about 30 seconds per person to determine who among the injured lives or dies. We must evaluate, institute rapid treatment, and move on to the next person as quickly as possible.

Last night’s training scenario involved the wreck of school bus with only 28 students aboard. In a major disaster of course there’d be many more victims needing immediate help. And you’re working in a non-sterile, and maybe dangerous, environment.

If you spend too much time on Victim Three (say trying to give him CPR) , then victims four, seven, twelve, nineteen, and twenty-three may bleed out. START triage trains us to do what we can for Victim Three as quick as we can, then tag him dead, and move on to the next person trapped in the wreckage.

Heavy stuff.

It weighs on me that out of the 57 homes in the horseshoe formed by our street, Ginny and I are the only people who signed up for this training.

We’ll do what we can for folks, but as our instructor said, “Sometimes, you just have to let ‘em die”.

As we studied the START triage method, I thought of the Rich Young Ruler told about in Matthew 19 and in Luke 18; Jesus gave him his best chance at survival but when the young man refused, Jesus let him walk away.

Jesus did not chase after him.

I’ve heard the idea of God pleading and pleading and whining for us to repent and believe on the risen Christ for salvation.

I doubt if that’s a true picture.

Sometimes in the divine triage, He just lets us die.

In one place God said, “My spirit will not always strive with men”. In another place the Scripture says, “Today is the day of salvation”.

Triage is heavy stuff.

On a lighter note (this is for the Kid In The Attic)

My journal hardly ever mentions politics but there is a presidential campaign going on in the US right now.

The Republican candidate is John McCain; the Democratic candidate is Barack Obama.

I do not plan to vote for any Republican because I see them as consistently making life harder than it needs to be for poor people; I do not plan to vote for a Democrat because when I voted in the Florida Primary, the Democratic party refuse to count votes from Florida.

After the Florida Primary, I decided that I’d write in the name of some other candidate on my ballot in November.

Now, here’s what’s funny:

Last week the Republicans ran a political tv ad comparing the democratic candidate to media celebrity Paris Hilton, a young lady famous for being famous.

Essentially the Republican attack ad portrayed both the Democratic candidate and Ms Hilton as ignorant bimbos.

Well, this morning the articulate Ms Hilton, lounging in a bikini, responded by releasing her own campaign ad: It can be viewed on line at http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d

Want to bet that many voters, disgusted with the political infighting of the major parties, will place her name on their ballots?

I will not make such a frivolous choice.

I think only fair that the other candidates deserve equal time.

When I see McCane and Obama in bikinis on tv, then I’ll decide who to vote for.