#neveroffduty

"He just fell! He just fell out of that tree!" One of the people inside the house said with concern.

I was facing away from the window chatting about something benign. I was at a friend’s family party, 90% of the guests didn't know I was a nurse. I was perfectly OK with that, I try to not be a pushy nurse when I am around strangers. If they need me, OK. If they don’t… I leave them be and don’t mention my occupation. Seconds after he fell, his mother had him scooped up and ran him into the house. As she burst past us, I cringed. He was sobbing, the mom looked panicked.

My friend's dad looked at me expectantly. I set my drink down quietly, straightened my shirt and walked to the room where they were. 

Her eyes were desperate and as I knelt beside her, she was already scooping him back up. “He said his belly hurt! I'm taking him to the hospital!!” She said in a shrill voice. I backed off. She knew her kid better than me. I hadn't even seen him fall.  The kid’s face changed at the mention of the hospital and he stopped crying.  I walked back out on to the porch as she ran back through the house. She finally settled on the couch to regroup and see what they should do. I looked around and then sat beside her and spoke to them quietly. I wanted to reassure her and assess what was actually wrong. I was 99% sure the belly pain was from the wind being knocked out of them and he was scared. He was moving everything so a back injury was unlikely. He had two small scratches on his back from the rocks he had fallen on. He wanted to keep playing and ended up going back with the other kids before long. They decided to not take him to the hospital and we all went back to the party. My friend laughed at me as I resumed my seat. “Was that your calming nurse voice?” She asked grinning. “Ha! It was! Did you hear it?” I said with a laugh. “Yup. Nicely done.” She said. I laughed as the conversation resumed its steady flow all around us. I hadn't even realized that I had used that voice when talking to the mom. It was instinctive.

The same way it was instinctive for me to assess, clean and bandage my friend’s cut on her foot hours earlier. The same way it was to listen to stories about medicine or medical issues. The same way it was to diagnose people as they talked diet, exercise, and genetics. The same way it was to glance outside to assess the kid, who fell out of the tree, every couple minutes as he walked around. It was instinctive.

It was cute because I heard her mom say, "(name) isn't that Ms. Collins, aw come on, she's your favourite teacher"...

Then I looked up and was surprised to see them. My student's face was LITERALLY 50 shades of red. 

I laughed.