Things I Am...Trauma Pioneer

I hope the title leads one to say, uhh.  No, I'm not a pioneer in the traditional sense.  I'm not building log cabins, milking cows, and doing things the hard way.  I'm pioneering in a modern way!  At the military hospital I work at I am building a Trauma Service from nothing.  I have 1 General Surgeon, 1 Physician Assistant, and me, an ER/Trauma RN.  The initial venture began several months back while I was in Afghanistan but upon my arrival and the pending deployment of the RN before me, I received the torch and have had to start from near nothing.  The former RN, a friend of mine, did an outstanding job for not having anything to go on and no resources.  She laid a very basic foundation that enabled me to step in and start building and coordinating with the surgical and emergency departments, operating room, and now the intensive care units. 

Here is our mascot...don't laugh, I didn't understand it either at first but after hearing the following story I think it fits.  We had our graphics department adjust it a bit and I'll post that later.  OK, here's the story.

During our very first presentation to the commanding general we had three pictures up, a dragon, a little kitty cat, and this puffer.  The explanation went something like this...Everyone thinks of trauma as being this big ugly beast (dragon) and doesn't want to go near it or have anything to do with it.  It's not that at all.  What trauma is NOT, is this little cute kitty cat.  Trauma is somewhere in the middle (puffer).  We should not be afriad of it but we need to be cautious of it all the same. 

So far, we've made quite a bit of headway.  Being recognized by the state as a participating self-declared military trauma center.  That basically says we will take any and all of our DOD beneficiaries instead of letting the state hospitals care for them (with a few exceptions).  We have always taken civilians but we've always had to since EMTALA was introduced.