The crowd erupted into worried chatter. The town was no stranger to snow, but we’d never been cut off before. Only a handful of staff lived here in Mount Mercy. Most people commuted in from one of the bigger towns. Some were already grabbing their coats. Unless they left now, they’d be cut off from their families, their kids.
“We have no choice,” said Bartell. “We have to shut down.”
I blinked. “What?!” I looked around, confused. It seemed crazy: the snow wasn’t even here, yet. “OK, so some people need to leave early but we don’t need to—”
Bartell shook his head. “The next shift can’t get in!”
Oh crap. I hadn’t thought of that. We’d have no staff!
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” said Bartell. “All surgeries and procedures that aren’t actually in progress are cancelled. All non-critical patients are to be sent home immediately. Anyone who’s critical gets put in an ambulance and transported to Colorado Springs: that’s the nearest hospital we can still reach.” He raised his arms. “Go!” He climbed down off the table.
The crowd started to move around me, but I stood frozen, disbelieving. “You think it can really be that bad?” I asked Krista.
She nodded. “Back in 2003, they got three feet of snow in Denver. Up here, with the wind blowing it around, we got drifts seven feet deep. It can get down to ten degrees: colder, with wind chill. Complete white-out. You won’t be able to go outside, never mind get to another town!”
I nodded slowly. I suddenly wished I’d paid more attention to the news over the last few days. The blue skies here had fooled me. The bad weather had seemed so far away...I knew that Denver had already been brought to a standstill, that’s why Rebecca’s parents—
Rebecca!
I launched myself through the crowd towards Bartell. “Wait!” I yelled. He was already talking to a cluster of doctors, trying to organize twenty things at once. “We can’t shut down!”
He reluctantly turned to look at me. “We have to. We can’t function without staff.”
“But there’s a little girl, Rebecca Kemple! She had a splenectomy yesterday, and she’s still in the ICU with an open Tib fib fracture. I need to finish what I started before we can risk moving her.”
He winced. “She’ll have to go in an ambulance to Colorado Springs—”
“That’s a three hour drive! She won’t make it!”
Bartell opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t offer me anything. He spread his arms wide, helpless. “I’m...I’m sorry, Beckett. I have to do the best I can with what I have. If we don’t evacuate the patients, they’ll have no care at all. More will die.”
My shoulders slumped. It wasn’t his fault. He was doing everything he could. I turned and stumbled away from him, feeling sick. I was remembering the promise I’d made to Rebecca’s parents. I’ll keep her safe.
For a second, the room blurred behind tears. As I tried to blink them back, I saw Corrigan watching me, looking as agonized as me. We’re going to lose her.
And then I remembered something I’d read when I first came to Mount Mercy. That might work. But to have a chance of making it happen, I’d have to—
I looked around at the massive crowd. I’d never felt so small, so shy, in my whole life. I can’t!
But if I didn’t, Rebecca was going to die.
On shaking legs, I climbed up onto the table where Bartell had stood. “We can keep the ER open!” I said in a strained, hesitant voice.
No one heard me.
I took a deep breath and yelled. “We can keep the ER open!”
Everyone stopped and stared. I think it was the surprise of me raising my voice as much as anything else.
“Beckett, what the hell are you doing?” snapped Bartell.
I stared down at all the faces looking up at me... and froze. I don’t know how to do this! I needed to not just talk to them, I needed to convince them to join me and I was the world’s least suitable person to give a speech.
“Well?” Bartell’s voice was strained. Not unkind, but he was trying to get the evacuation going and I was holding everything up.
I felt my face go hot. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out…
And then I saw Corrigan, at the back of the crowd. He nodded and mouthed something to me: Go on, Beckett!
“It’s in the emergency handbook,” I said in a rush. “If the hospital is shut down, we can keep just the ER running for emergencies and critical care. It needs way fewer staff. Rebecca could be moved down here.”
Bartell gawped at me and then put his hand to his face and shook his head. “Trust you to have read the emergency handbook. But we’d still need doctors.”
“I’ll stay,” I said immediately.
“You’re a surgeon, not an ER doc!”