Interfering with Darwin, an ER Nurses Blog

WE INTERFERED WITH DARWIN, I have made it my life's mission to not bubble wrap, not overly sanitize, and teach my kids to explore their world and their surroundings yet due to the changes in the world that we live in, they don't have some of the opportunities and adventures we did as children, after all this social isolation I want to have more adventures with my kids, family and friends, OUTDOORS. Please share with me a childhood memory of something you loved/enjoyed as chil...dren that "society" would either not appreciate or not understand today and at least one thing you plan to do to get back out in the world. Let me start with a Quantico, Virginia. Circa 1987 Malinda Tillman Richardson, Lori Messer Brown and I would leave our homes as soon as the sun came up. Cold nippy winter days in Virginia, snow on the ground and the sun making it glisten like shiny crystals (ice) laying on top of a fluffy comforter of snow. It was probably 30-40 degrees outside and well the sun was up so the day began. We layered on our clothes, jackets, gloves, and hats and grabbed our sled. We would hike up to the top of the hill where our neighbors would have already prepped the rain gutter/drainage ditch with a showering of water from their yard hose and created our very own Lyman Park Toboggan run. We would play outside until we were hungry and or soaked with freezing water and make our way back to my house, where we would fix a warm cup of cocoa and a sandwich, while our wet/mud soaked clothes tossed around in the dryer. I admit now, that was probably not a good idea putting dirty wet clothes in the dryer but well we were kids. After we ate and our clothes were dry and toasty we would head right back out into the cold to do it all over again. We built forts of snow and ice and made snowballs ( mine were dipped in water/so they were more iceballs) and covered again with packed snow in preparation for "WAR" with the neighborhood kids. This is just one of the fun memories I have that my kids in Southern, California have not experienced. Sure they have beach experiences, technology based entertainment and internet explorations but we have padded them for a society that has changed but I think we need to prepare them for the real world with real experiences and learn to problem solve and be innovative.

The calm before the storm? ER's and EMS agencies have been far less busy than we have been in the past but listening to our predecessors, now is the time to cross train, to iron out the kinks in our game plan. Just like a tsunami, the water is all sucked away into the ocean to amass the great wave that is building and will come thundering back to the very beach whose tide just became eerily low. As Californians we have our selfishness to thank for the slower spread. We ride ...around by ourselves in cars next to the guy next to us by himself in his car, probably daily, probably even to the same destination but we have to be our own islands, we have fewer carpoolers and our mass transit is not as robust as inner cities. We primary don't live on top of each other in buildings housing thousands upon thousands in just 1 city block because they built up and not out, where ventilation is probably shared. I am not at all saying this is a bad thing but unfortunately it made for easier transmission of this silent assassin. Please continue to socially distance, always wash your hands, cover a cough or sneeze (that should have always gone without saying), take care of your mental health but don't become paranoid; Be educated, be aware, be diligent. This is how WE can Interfere with Darwin.

This blog came to me, like a palm to the face! Today as I was pumping gas in the midst of this pandemic which has now consumed all of our lives, TV's, news and social media,I would like to take a step back and find the twisted humor in our future. As I said I was pumping gas and next door is a Carl's Jr. close enough that you can see the interaction between the cars and the cashier in the window. A car full of young adults 18-25 my guess, all gloved and not socially distancin...g at all in their 5 seater sedan, all eight of them. All wearing blue nitrile gloves, as to protect themselves from the invisible assassin that surrounds us. Fine you say, at least they are using protection,well that's when Darwin danced across this scene and kept going...one young lady proceeded to rake her hands through her hair and put in her contact lenses from the front seat, wearing the said gloves that who knows how long she had been wearing. Yuck...ok then the driver pulls out cash (who uses cash anymore?) they probably all put their stash together to make the burger run with gloved hand and handed it to the cashier, then they drove to the pump next to mine, all reaching into the same bag with the very same gloves and eating their fries and licking those nasty gloves of the salt and God knows what else they have managed to pick up. PSA gloves are a barrier, they are not a force field that deflects, negates, or cancels out the potential nasties you may come in contact with. This would be where I would take the time to educate these poor saps the error in their ways but alas their music blaring and the plumes of vape and marijuana billowing from their cracked windows would not allow me to "INTERFERE WITH DARWIN"