Rescue Team Read Online Free PDF Page A

exactly excited about the idea.”
    “No. She only said that there have been some problems, and now might be a good time to touch base—remind your team of some coping skills. Today, with the baby, couldn’t have helped the situation.”
    “Look . . . it’s been a horrible day. In a miserable couple of weeks . . . that really started months ago. Before I was even hired. But I’m doing everything I can to pull this department together, to keep staff working, patients safe and cared for. And to keep bad PR at bay. I’m going to continue doing that.” Kate crossed her arms and lifted her chin. “I told our CNO that I’d go along with Cynthia’s plan. But in my experience, dwelling on tragedy—overanalyzing these things—doesn’t help anything. I appreciate your help today, Mr. Tanner. And I think it’s great that you found that woman in the woods . . .”
    “But?”
    “I should make this clear: no one here needs to be rescued.”
    Kate aimed her key-chain remote at her car, and when the horn sounded an answering beep, she gave Wes a curt nod and left.
    -  +  -
    Wes watched her walk toward the ER door, her stride surprisingly long for her height. Eager to get away.
    Not any more eager than he was.
    He glanced at her clown-size car. A hybrid, of course—probably ran on recycled alfalfa sprouts. Then he thought of what the social worker had said earlier. That the Austin Graceemergency department had problems that had shaken their sense of teamwork.
    It was obvious now that the problem was Kate Callison. The small nurse with sad eyes. And a giant chip on her shoulder.

A VA S MITH. Reason for visit: Food poisoning.
    “You think she could be the one?” Kate shifted her gaze from the computer screen to the nurse sitting on the other side of her desk. “Baby Doe’s mother?”
    “I guess it’s possible.” The night shift triage nurse, Dana Connor, pressed a hand to her midsection as if she had a sudden case of salmonella herself. “I told the police . . .” Her eyes, shadowed with obvious fatigue, focused somewhere beyond Kate. “I went over this with two detectives and then I had to talk with that nurse the social worker sent. Do we have to do this right now? My husband’s caregiver won’t stay past—”
    “Yes,” Kate insisted, “we do.” She tapped her finger against the triage note on the screen in front of her. “This Ava Smith arrived shortly after 3 a.m.?”
    “If that’s what it says.”
    “It does,” Kate confirmed, wishing it didn’t. She was already dreading the media slant: “Mother of dead baby waited hours in hospital emergency department.”
    “She didn’t answer when they tried to room her for an exam,” Dana explained.
    “After nearly three hours. The ER staff called her at 5:47.” Kate couldn’t keep the edge from her voice. She’d had to wait in line to interview this nurse, and getting her cooperation now felt like pulling teeth. “What this doesn’t say is what happened with this young woman after you triaged her. Hospital policy requires follow-up notes on patients having extended waits. There are none here.”
    Dana’s teeth scraped across her lower lip. “I remember looking for her a couple of times. I thought she was probably in the bathroom. She said she had cramps. From diarrhea, I figured.”
    “You didn’t ask the date of her last menstrual period?”
    “I’m sure I did, but . . .”
    “If it’s not documented, it didn’t happen, Dana.”
    The nurse changed position in her chair. “It was a busy shift. The staff in the back was dealing with a ruptured aneurysm; then that COPD patient deteriorated and had to be tubed. Plus there were still those patients from the p.m. shift waiting for beds in the ICU.” Her teeth tortured her lip again. “The waiting room was packed but people kept coming in. I tried hard to keep up, get them to beds in the ER. The staff couldn’t take them; the patients were complaining—it’s like being