Emergency Response (5 page)

“Hi,” Mackenzie greeted an older woman seated at the front counter behind a glass window assuming she must be the receptionist.

The desk obviously doubled as the main triage area of the small emergency department. The woman, who looked to be in her mid-fifties, peered over the top of her black-framed glasses and returned Mackenzie’s greeting with a look of curiosity. A white polo top stretched across her ample bosom, doing nothing to hide the rolls around her middle.

Mackenzie shuffled her feet. “Um, I’m Mackenzie Jones. I’m supposed to be starting here tomorrow. In the emergency department. But no one met me at the airport and I’m not sure where I’m supposed to go.” She indicated her suitcases sitting forlornly on the pavement where the old man had unceremoniously dumped them before roaring off down the road in a cloud of dust. She hadn’t even remembered to thank him.

The woman’s eyes widened as she looked Mackenzie up and down. She then glanced at her watch and hit her head, as though remembering something. The gray knotted bun on top of her head bounced.

“Bloody Tom! I knew I should have reminded him the new nurse was comin’ today.” Her voice was cigarette-gruff, matching her features. “Give me a sec love and I’ll get him on the blower. He can come and pick you up here and take ya around to your house.”

She took another long look at Mackenzie before shaking her head as she pressed buttons on the phone and lifted the handset to her ear. Mackenzie stepped back from the desk to give her some privacy, but she needn’t have bothered. As soon as the phone was answered at the other end, the woman screeched into the handpiece.

“Tom ya bloody idiot. You were meant to pick up that new nurse … today …
yes
today, not tomorra … yeah … she’s here now …” The woman glanced in her direction and Mackenzie shifted beneath the intensity of her gaze. “Yes,
Mackenzie
.” There was a long pause. “That’s right.
She’s
standin’ in front of me …” Another pause. “Yes,
now
…
how long will it take you to get ’ere?” She looked at her watch and shook her head in disapproval, making a tsk sound in the back of her throat. “I’ll show her around then. Call me on the phone when you’re out the front.”

Who was Tom? Probably this woman’s long-suffering husband.

“Well come on then, I’ll show you ’round. Won’t take too long. Just don’t go expecting a warm welcome. Doc’s not known for his charming bedside manner.”

The older woman, who hadn’t bothered to introduce herself, got up from the desk and walked across to a set of glass doors. A lanyard hung around her neck with a plastic identification card. She swiped the card against a black box on the wall and the doors swung open inward. Mackenzie was surprised at the level of security at the tiny hospital – she certainly hadn’t expected that in the middle of the bush. She smiled to herself. Some paper-pushing bureaucrat had probably decided they needed it. Mackenzie shivered. Perhaps they actually did need the security. Mackenzie shuddered again, imagining all manner of reasons why she would need to stay behind a locked door in the middle of nowhere.

As she entered and followed the other woman, Mackenzie surreptitiously glanced around her. The whole place was an anomaly. Peeling paint gave the place a rundown feeling but she was certain she could have eaten off the ground. The floors were so highly polished she could almost see her reflection in them. The place was spotless and smelled of cleaning products. Mackenzie sniffed again. Yep, someone had been very heavy-handed with the eucalyptus oil that morning. It was also deathly quiet and completely empty. She frowned in confusion. The nursing agency had told her it was a busy emergency department and she would be one of only a handful of nurses who worked there. Instead, the place was completely unoccupied.

The door had opened into a large room and Mackenzie spied two narrow beds, side by side with a pale blue curtain between them – standard hospital issue. One side of the room appeared to have been set up as a resuscitation bay with a small ventilator and other equipment. Mackenzie took note of the well-equipped cubicles and fully stocked boxes of supplies at the head of each bed. Everything was neat, tidy and meticulously organized. She could have been in an emergency department anywhere in Australia. Two large fridges stood to the side – she assumed for immunizations and medications. Somewhere overhead air conditioners worked overtime and Mackenzie rubbed her bare arms. At least she’d be happy to be at work on hot days if they kept the place this cool.

They passed another large room, which was set up as a four-bed ward. All the overhead lights were off, but four perfectly made beds stood in the quiet room, as though desperate for patients. The patterned bedspreads were pulled tight with immaculate hospital corners. Probably some old-school nurse took pride in keeping everything shipshape and tidy.

The woman pointed out the pan room, the bathroom and the small, almost empty storage room. In the dimness, Mackenzie spotted plenty of equipment and she was pleased to see things didn’t look as outdated as she had been expecting. The IV trolley looked ancient though, and someone had haphazardly screwed a sharps container onto the side of it. How had it passed accreditation?

Eventually they exited through an external door and Mackenzie shielded her eyes against the late afternoon sunshine. The door slammed behind her, making her jump in surprise. When her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw a scruffy-looking man sitting outside in the sun with his feet up on a table. He was lazily dragging on a hand-rolled cigarette. Thick black hair slicked across to one side, dark eyes and a bushy beard made him look like Ned Kelly. She could barely make out his mouth but she was sure she’d caught sight of piercings on his lip. He wore faded navy blue scrubs and dirty rubber Crocs on his feet. Dark tattoo sleeves covered both arms, finishing in neat lines around his wrists.

“G’day Doc, this is Mackenzie Jones. The new nurse.”

Mackenzie stifled the shocked sound that threatened to escape from her mouth. He was the
doctor
?
Her blood pulsed loudly in her ears.

The man stared lazily at Mackenzie before stubbing out his cigarette in an empty coffee tin and blowing a cloud of smoke in her direction. She fought back the urge to cough.

“Thought we were supposed to be getting another bloke.” He ignored Mackenzie, addressing his comment to the other woman. The English accent surprised her, but not the sentiment behind the words. It wasn’t the first time her name had caused someone to think she was a man. Obviously that’s what had happened here.

“Clearly someone stuffed up,” the woman replied.

The man swung his legs off the table and stood. He must have been at least six foot six as he towered over Mackenzie’s five-foot-one frame. She took an involuntary step backward. It felt as though she was standing beneath a giant tree straining her neck to look up at his face. When she saw the glowering expression there, she quickly averted her gaze.

“Wouldn’t be the first time someone has made a mistake out here, eh, Debbie.” He turned to face her and she looked back up at him. “I’m Doc,” he said. “You’re my replacement.”

“What?” Mackenzie blurted out. “Your replacement?” She spun around to face the woman. Debbie. “I think there’s been some sort of mix up. I’m just a
nurse
, not a doctor.”

“Don’t ever call yourself
just
a nurse,” the man growled down at her. Mackenzie swung back around to face him. His dark eyes shone. “’Round here, nurses run the place and do a damned fine job of it too. Worth remembering that when you find yourself in the thick of it and there’s no hoity-toity city doctor in his smart suit and tie on the other end of the phone when you get yourself in a spot of bother.”

He looked her up and down, causing anger to bubble within her. The man had taken an instant dislike to her, as she had to him. While he was right – she wasn’t
just
a nurse – he didn’t have to be so rude about it. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him.

“I happen to be a very good nurse. I’m ICU trained and I’ve been working in a major trauma center in Sydney for the past fifteen years.”

He took another long look at her. “Bloody well good for you, love, but have you ever worked in an emergency department in the middle of the bush? No trauma team to support you out here.” He brushed dust off his hands and shoved them deep in the pockets of his scrubs, rocking back on his heels as he stared at her. His face wore a smirk. At least that’s what she thought it was. It was hard to tell what was really hiding behind that beard.

Beside her, Debbie snickered. “Told ya Doc’s got crap bedside manners.”

Mackenzie turned back to her. “I’m sorry, Debbie is it? There has obviously been a miscommunication with the nursing agency. They said I had a three-month contract here. As a
nurse
,” she emphasized for the doctor’s benefit. “I’m meant to be filling in for someone.”

“Like I said, love. You’re my replacement. You’re filling in for me.”

Debbie chuckled before leaning over to punch the man lightly on the forearm. “Think we’d better introduce you properly.” She turned to Mackenzie. “This here is Doc. We call him that because his name’s Daniel O’Connell. Doc. Get it?” She laughed as though it was the funniest thing she’d heard all day. When Mackenzie didn’t even crack a smile, the woman’s face fell. “It’s his initials. D-O-C,” she explained slowly, as though Mackenzie didn’t get it. “He’s a nurse, but one of the best ones you’ll ever meet. Jeez, if I were sick I’d choose him over any of the doctors any day of the week. Guess that’s another reason why we call him Doc. He knows his stuff.”

Mackenzie looked from one to the other. “So I’m replacing
you
?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yep. Although good luck with that. I’m actually irreplaceable.”

He strode off, leaving Mackenzie looking at Debbie in horror. This wasn’t the welcome she was hoping for.

“Ah sorry love. Shouldn’t have teased ya, but it’s always worth it to see the expression on the newbie’s face when they meet Doc for the first time.” She held out her hand. “Anyhoo, I’m Debbie. I’m one of the other nurses here. We’ll be working together.” Mackenzie’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Well come on, love, close your mouth or you’ll catch flies. Tom should be here by now and he can take ya to your house. You’ll be living with Charlotte.”

Mackenzie opened and closed her mouth again. Another surprise. The nursing agency hadn’t said anything about a housemate.

Mackenzie didn’t know what else to do except follow Debbie back inside. Debbie talked as she walked and Mackenzie had to work hard to get a word in edgeways with her incessant chatter.

“Does it get busy out here then?” she asked.

From the brief emails from the agency, Mackenzie hadn’t been able to glean much information.

“It all depends. Sometimes you can go a full day without seeing a patient. Other days you’ll go all day without a break. My advice, for what it’s worth? When it’s busy, don’t drink too much water ’cause it’s not likely you’ll get a chance to pee.”

Mackenzie raised her eyebrows. “How long have you worked here then?”

“Coming up my tenth year. The hubby and I were planning to travel around Australia in our caravan. We were going to do the gray nomad thing. We got to Iron Ridge and the van needed fixing. We planned to stay a few nights and we’re still here. Our two boys ended up moving over here for the mines too.”

“You obviously love it.” Mackenzie couldn’t imagine choosing to stay that long otherwise.

“It’s got its good and bad days. It took me a while to settle in, but it’s a lot different now. Lots of new families so it’s not quite so cliquey. Anyway, I’d better get onto Tom again.” Debbie put the phone to her ear and punched in a number from memory. “I need to find out what’s takin’ him so bloody long to get ’ere.”

“So Mackenzie, what brings you out here?” Doc asked.

Mackenzie spun around. She hadn’t heard him come in.

He collapsed into Debbie’s vacated seat at the front desk. Mackenzie started to reply but he held up his hand. “No. Don’t tell me. Let me guess. A relationship breakdown. No? Then you’re out here to
find yourself
.” He used his fingers to make quotation marks. “Not that? Oh
of course
,” he drawled, pulling off an aristocratic-sounding accent which sounded very well-rehearsed, “you’re here to close the gap between indigenous Australians and white man.”

Mackenzie tried not to roll her eyes. She had no idea how to respond to this man. He was the rudest person she’d ever encountered. She wasn’t given a chance to reply.

“Well, Mackenzie Jones, let me tell
you
something. Out here, it’s a matter of survival of the fittest. No one comes to the emergency department because they have a sniffle or they hit their big thumb with a hammer – not like they do in the
city.
”

Mackenzie flinched at the way he accentuated the word. She might not have any emergency nursing experience, but she had spoken to plenty of her colleagues and what he was describing
did
occur in some city hospitals. Plenty of people who should have visited their GP instead wasted everyone’s time and filled up emergency department beds with their non-urgent problems. But why was he having a go at her, as though she was somehow to blame for the failure of the entire Australian health system?

“Out here people only seek help when they actually need it,” he continued. “You’ll see some awful injuries here; injuries which normally require admission to an ICU in the city. Of course, they don’t have that option unless we fly them out. I’ve seen people recover from their injuries by sheer guts and determination – not because of the machines they were connected to.”

“Daniel do you have a problem with me coming out here to work?” she asked. Surely not? The agency said they were desperate for staff. The nurse she was replacing was going back to the UK for three months and obviously, he was that nurse.

“The name’s Doc.”

“Whatever,” Mackenzie muttered under her breath. If she was supposedly his replacement, he’d be gone soon and she’d never have to see him again, therefore it wouldn’t matter what she called him.