Page 6 of Paging Dr. Breakup
He dropped his shoulders, defeated. “Sis, you’re kind of scary. You know that, right?”
Deirdre growled at him, opened the door, and flounced into the meeting room. She stumbled mid-flounce, rocking back on her heels.
Calvin sat on the other side of the rectangular table in his ubiquitous scrubs and what appeared to be the freshly washed Patagonia vest. He shuffled the pages of the meeting minutes on the wood laminate tabletop and shot her a brief smile that froze as her leftover glare at Mav caused collateral damage to all in attendance.
Deirdre sucked in a deep breath and pasted what she hoped was a neutral, pleasant, and professional expression on her face. She pulled out a chair, planted her feet flat on the floor, and consciously unclenched her hands, resting them on the boardroom table. There, all better.
Mav took a seat at the head of the table and winked at Deirdre, triggering another prickle of irritation down her spine.
If fratricide wasn’t a crime, Deirdre would have committed it multiple times over by now.
“Not enough coffee this morning,” she mumbled. Someone snorted. Probably Mav. “Let’s get started on our agenda.” She shook off the equilibrium-shifting surprise of Calvin’s presence.
Of course he was here. Given that he was the only emergency medicine physician on staff, albeit temporarily, he would have been asked to participate on the trauma committee. His insight and experience could be valuable to the group’s work of continuously improving the emergency health needs of the community.
Deirdre asked each person to introduce themselves. The emergency department nurse manager, the CEO, and the chief of staff Dr. Burmeister, all greeted Calvin.
Tulimak Sampson, fire chief for the Yukon Valley service district and part-time deli employee at Three Bears, rolled through the door not missing a beat. He greeted everyone as he sat down and introduced himself to Calvin. “Nice to see you again, Doc.”
“Again?” Calvin said.
“You were a big shot high school senior when I was in third grade. Surprised you don’t remember me. I was scrawny and pesteredeveryone.” Tuli paused while several chuckles died down. “Any objection to being part of my various social media campaigns? I know, I know.” He waved toward the group, pursed his lips, and intoned, “Not in the hospital unless authorized by the public relations department.” He closed one eye and looked at the ceiling. “Do we have one of those departments?”
“I think Deirdreisthat department,” Calvin deadpanned.
Tuli made a face. “Uh-oh.”
Calvin pulled his head back. “What’s this about the social media campaigns?”
Mav gestured. “Tuli here is single-handedly putting Yukon Valley on the map and boosting tourism. He’s doing it by going viral.”
“Viral? Hopefully, it’s not contagious,” Calvin said with a half-smile that made Deirdre’s heart stutter.
“Only in a wholesome way.” Tuli took his phone and buffed it on his fire department uniform dark button-down shirt before stowing it in his chest pocket. “I’m not aware of any public health risk from my Instagram account.” He shot a sideways look at Deirdre. “No patient information is ever shared in anything I do.”
“I don’t understand the social media angle,” Calvin said.
Deirdre pointed to Tuli. “This guy leveraged every single follower on his social media accounts to save our family’s lodge.”
“Wow,” Calvin replied. “That’s impressive. How’s that involve the hospital?”
“We’re in need of more medical staff, and Tuli has the attention of thousands of adventurous social media fans, some of whom work in healthcare.” Anna Smits, the fifty-something CEO, steepled her fingers and shot the team an avid and calculating expression that was best labeled Strategic Recruitment Planning.
Tuli puffed out his chest. “It’s all in a day’s work.” He paused. “Hey, Mav, when am I getting a kickback for my efforts with the lodge? I should charge for my influencer services.”
“Anyway.” Deirdre shook her head as everyone laughed. “Now it’sreallytime for us to start our meeting.” Papers rustled and pens clicked as the group dove into the agenda items.
What should’ve been a boring meeting about statistics, case types, utilization trends, and budget was made more interesting by Calvin’s presence. He was the only emergency medicine specialized physician that currently worked at this hospital. The family physicians, including chief of staff Dr. Paul Burmeister, normally covered the ED when they were on call for the hospital. Given that they sometimes had to juggle laboring patients, clinic hours, and hospital admissions with stepping away to care for ED patients, the family docs were only too happy to have extra ED support for the next few months.
Deirdre studied the puffy bags under Dr. Burmeister’s eyes. Everyone worked way too hard at this hospital. All of the physicians and the staff oftentimes pushed their limits in terms of fatigue and skill. The hospital could hire several more physicians yet still keep everyone busy.
As the local EMS director, Mav finished out the meeting with his report. One ambulance needed repairs. EMS was also looking for more staff to fill shifts so that the current complement of medics didn’t have to work overtime. Or worse, to keep shifts from going uncovered.
What surprised her in the report was Mav’s mention that he might step back from EMS duties if the lodge’s business continued to grow. She hadn’t realized that he was thinking about it.
Good for him. Like Deirdre, Mav had buried himself in work when their parents had died. It was easier than dealing with grief. She knew how avoidance worked. After his efforts over the past few years, he had the local EMS service running smoothly and now the family lodge business was coming along.
What went unspoken was theotherreason he wanted more personal time.
