October 15, 2013

Woke up the usual and timed in for work. Second day on being a nurse with my baby patient in the pedia ICU. I was psyched to get the day over for it was my last day and was the holiday. Holiday meaning double pay for some how staying 12 hours on the hospital.
 

My patient was still awake and her mother was there. Luckily my patient was attached to an oxygen cannula and to the cardiac monitor only, so it wasn’t much of a hassle.
 

Around 8:15 am, I was done with preparing her milk and giving the meds when suddenly it started to shake. I was kinda reluctant that the earthquake would stop but it got stronger. The mother was praying then onto the Lord and held on the baby crouching herself unto the floor. Instinct brought me to keep them priority so I covered them with my body not caring of my own. I was still in calm and I could hear some of my workmates screams. I started to panic a lil when I saw some falling ceiling tiles from the hallway. This was not an ordinary shake and well I think it lasted around  a minute. Instinct drove me again that it wasn’t safe and the three of us should get out.  The mother and her child was still calm and well I just pulled out all the cables and aquapack and headed to the exit. No one was badly injured but those gruesome seconds of the deadly shake was unbearable.

 the Pedia ICU after the earthquake [pic by coworker sasa]

My hands were shaking when all the trembling was over. Good thing my patient was calm enough. My other two workmates were crying and shaking as well. All I could thing next was to provide oxygen for the baby, good thing my senior staff had already secured a portable oxygen. The Pedia Resident was there and checked the baby, said she was ok. My pregnant charge nurse decided to transfer my patient to the ER, an isolation room to be exact. Together with the resident, the baby, her mother and two of us staff nurses, we headed to the ER since my workplace was on the second floor.
 

The stairs were packed of people when we got there. Everybody was in a frenzy including patients who could walk, patients who can’t but where man carried or carried on their beds, medical staff and other people who just wanted to get out of there. The hospital doesn’t have any ramps available on floors so they man carried the beds, breaking along the way some parts of the stairs.
 

When we reached the er, thankfully the isolation room was empty and the baby was still in a calm state. I just hooked her to a portable pulse oximeter and oxygen, she was fine. I was still trying to contact my brother and cousins at home. Like always, the reception was crap. I did reached them after a couple of trys and there were fine. My pregnant charge nurse followed after us and stayed there. She wasn’t suppose to stay upstairs in case some after shocks occurred.
 

Code white was on.
 

I left my patient to the care of my charge nurse so I could help others upstairs. A few people were already on the ER with hyperventilating problems, seizures, injuries due to falling objects and fainting. It was like in a movie scene. I was asking God why during those first few minutes, and thanking Him that I was safe.
 

the entrance of the hospital [pic by coworker nico]

 

tents made from bedsheets and poles built on the parking area [pic from coworker karen]

 the outside street in front of the hospital [pic by coworker siao]

 the other side of the hospital with stable patients sitting down [pic from coworker karen]

Transferring patients who are intubated is not a joke. There were seven patients on the ICU, two weren’t intubated and two adult patients on the pedia ICU both intubated. Our patients on the pedia ICU where transferred to the ICU since it was still in place. The ICU resident in charge was indecisive if to transfer all patients downstairs. News broke out that there was fire on the 5th floor due to some voltage problem but only in a room. The smell reached on the ER when I made my way up on the second floor. The Engineering department put down the fire quickly before the Fire Extinguishers got there. The significant others of the intubated patients went berserk-ed and demanded for their loved ones to get outside. Good thing the chief IM resident was there and made most of the arrangments and decision making. We had to transfer the patients. The non intubated patients were first, followed by the stable intubated ones. We were running like mad men with oxygen tanks on hand, looking for some spare oxygen gauges and ambubags. It was an adrenaline rush! All of them were placed on parking areas and other non critical patients were place on the streets with tents on. E-karts were opened, portable suction machines lined up, doctors were in a frenzy on updating the statuses of the patients and consultants ordering non stop. There was even an emergency CS made on the ER. The administration were also there.

the scenario at the Fuente Circle, Cebu after the quake [pic by coworker keith]

 

The scenario lasted even I was off my shift. It was gruesome and amazing at the same time. You could witnessed all people work hand in hand to get all those patients safe. Even the off duty staffs and alumni were there. The aftershocks were a pain in the asses but there was nothing else to do. Time flew so quickly and all I wanted was for those aftershocks to stop. That duty was so exhausted that even at night I wasn’t able to sleep properly due to the aftershocks; which my brother and I spent it in my cousin’s house in Talamban.
 

The earthquake had the magnitude of 7.2 originally from Bohol, which was a neighboring island of Cebu. It was more lethal for the Boholanos, roads and bridges been blocked and ripped open, no clean water and electricity too. Some of the fine churches were in rumbles. Even in Cebu the Basilica de Sto Niño has it’s bell tower ruined.
 

My university in North Reclamation with the bus flattened [pic from facebook]

the different churches in Bohol that were affected by the quake [pic from facebook]

 the Sto. Niño Basilica with its bell tower in shambles [pic from yahoo]

Other casualties included houses been shattered, my own university was flattened on the ceiling including the bus. Most cars were toppled down with stones and other building debris. A recorded of a hundred people (or more) died and some twenty people still missing.
 

other parts of Cebu that were affected [pic from instagram]

 

civilians who died in a fish market in Pasil, Cebu [pic from facebook]

 It was a total disaster. Even after two days, aftershocks are still present. I guess the earth is getting old. So old that earthquakes and typhoons are often now a days. Is God’s way of revenge? I don’t think so. It’s His way that this earth is not perfect. No matter how human are well trained or well prepared for such incidents, still there are some that we couldn’t predict.