.........Sharing my past....... Years ago when the now University Hospital Was called the General Hospital, I agreed to work night shift, filling in for a sick nurse. At that time the hospital was connected by pavilions. Walking up the short path that led to the Psych Pavilion I saw one of the residents sitting on the steps. He invited me to come sit with him. I thought it was an unusual request at 10:45 PM, but joined him on the steps. He wanted to know how I got past the police who had surrounded the place and blocked all entrances. I said I just came up the walkway." He explained there was an escaped patient in the bushes who had a gun. (Oh, holy shit.) He spoke to the patient. Telling him he knew me because I was one of the nurses. I had to stand up so he could see it was me. I reassured him i was working that night. I also said that I was afraid and nervous because he had a gun. He was afraid too, he said. After a while we convinced him he had nothing to fear from us. He agreed to lay the gun down and come upstairs back to the unit There were cops by the elevator when we entered the hallway who looked very surprised to see us because all entrances were supposed to be blocked or manned by police. The resident explained the patient decided to return to the unit. They explained they had to take him in because he had a gun but he would see a doctor. The patient did not resist. They did handcuff him and called other officers. Of all the years I have worked as a psychiatric nurse that was the most frightening. All I could think of was that I wanted a drink of twenty year old scotch I had tucked away at home for special celebrations.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 04:54:47 +0000
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