Page 1 of Code Love
1
Lillian
Debris whipped around the parking lot as Lillian watched out of the huge plate glass windows. She had kept an eye on the storm as it approached the coastline, an extremely rare Pacific hurricane sitting out at sea close enough to make the coastal cities pay attention. The hurricane wasn’t strong enough to warrant an evacuation of the city, though she knew several people who had decided to leave anyway, more out of avoiding the inconvenience that can come with a serious storm than any sense of fear. Still, a category two was plenty strong enough to make sure that the doctors and staff at Oakridge Hospital were kept working for the next couple of days. The meteorologists named the storm Kate. That was also her mother’s name. Fitting, as some believed that her mother could have been compared to a hurricane.
Oakridge Hospital was a landmark in this area of Los Angeles. The building was one of the oldest in the city and housed the students from several local medical schools. While the inside of the hospital was all renovated and state-of-the-art,the building structure was as old as the college campus. Several new wings had been added over the years, which made it an interesting hodgepodge of old and new architecture.
Lillian adjusted her lab coat to head back into the main lobby of the hospital, she didn’t have time for reminiscing, this was going to be an all-hands-on-deck situation. As the Chief of Surgery, she needed to get as many of the surgeons as she could into the hospital, soon calling someone in would be difficult. She had two trauma surgeons and an orthopedic with her, thankfully. They would be needed tonight as the storm raged through Los Angeles. She prayed to whoever was listening that people would take shelter, but she knew as well as anyone that wasn’t always possible.
Lillian straightened her notepads and aligned her pens in her pocket before a quick check in the mirror. Her short copper-colored hair remained locked in place, the slight brush of make-up still looked fresh. The cobalt blue dress was starting to wrinkle, but that would have to do for now. Still, she tugged at the hem trying to pull it straight. Her phone pinged with another message and a little of the tension left her, two more surgeons were coming in.
Lillian straightened to her full height, at 5’11 she was taller than most of her colleagues, which worked to her advantage. She was used to being in charge, even before her position dictated it, and she rarely left room for argument once her decisions were made. Her confidence was not unfounded, however. She had been top of her class in college and medical school, graduating from both summa cum laude. Her efforts for organization and efficiency had earned tons of accolades through her internship and residency and gave her the ability to quickly move up in the ranks at the hospital, which is why at 39 she was already the Chief of Surgery, answering only to Oakridge Hospital’s Chief ofMedicine and the Medical Board. She was no prodigy, but she was very good at what she did.
Her mouth twisted in a grimace when she thought about the current Chief of Medicine. It was no secret that they didn’t get along very well. Dr. Jade Lin was everything Lillian was not. She was carefree and spirited, always making rash decisions that seemed to come from nowhere. She was less than professional, quick to laugh and make jokes. She rarely, if ever, raised her voice or expected the staff to show her the proper respect. She even allowed the interns,interns, to call her by her first name.
Lillian closed her eyes and pulled in a deep breath. She knew she would have to work closely with Dr. Lin tonight considering the storm, and she wasn’t even here yet. As much as she would like to complain about this to someone, though, it felt like she was the only one who felt that way. Dr. Lin was loved by the staff and Lillian had quickly learned that any negative word about the woman was met with almost vitriolic defense.
The only positive that Lillian could see about the woman was that she managed to hire a great staff, because the hospital ran like a well-oiled machine, and Lillian could not see how that was possible given the loosey-goosey attitude of Dr. Lin.Enough,Lillian chastised herself. She didn’t need to bother with how much Dr. Lin irked her. She had to prepare for this storm.
Lillian headed down to the surgery rooms. She had already rescheduled all the non-essential surgeries, much to the annoyance of several patients, but she needed to make sure that each room was stocked with the essentials. She was experienced enough to anticipate the traumas and general surgeries that would be needed tonight, for now the rooms were quiet, but Lillian knew that it was only a matter of time.
The head nurse of the surgery staff walked by, and Lillian stopped her to make sure everything was as prepared as possible.
“Catriona,” Lillian called out as the woman walked by. Catriona was a short, plump woman who had been nursing for decades. Her hair was almost white with age, and her hazel eyes were sharp and focused. She was well versed in what to do and how to do it, organizing everything around Lillian’s preferences.
“Yes, Doctor Holder?” Lillian asked, her hands full of supplies for sutures that she was no doubt bringing up to the ER.
“Rooms one through four have been prepped for trauma?” Lillian asked, her voice sharper than intended. She only noticed the way Catriona flinched slightly.
“Yes,” Catriona answered quickly after schooling her features. “Five and six are prepped for neurology if you want to double check.”
Lillian noticed the way Catriona’s eyes tightened. Lillian almost felt bad—almost. Catriona was very experienced and intelligent. Lillian knew that her nursing staff would not run nearly as well without her. she also knew that Catriona was always on top of her job and rarely needed to be instructed. Lillian could only imagine that her constant oversight grated on Catriona’s nerves, but she knew that without it, the OR would not have the stellar statistics that they maintained.
“Where are you taking those?” Lillian asked and glanced down at the supplies in Catriona’s hands.
“Up to emergency, Ja—I mean, Doctor Lin asked for all of them to be brought out of the storage rooms and readied for use,” Catriona’s eyes tightened at the mention of Dr. Lin, but Lillian kept her composure.
“Would it not be better to have someone specifically instructed to move those supplies, rather than just have them piled up in the trauma rooms?” Lillian asked.
Catriona clenched her jaw. It was not the first time that they had a conversation similar to this one. “Doctor Lin has a system in mind.”
“Is she here yet?” Lillian asked, working to keep the annoyance from her face. Above all else, she had to remain professional.
“She’s on her way,” Catriona answered.
Lillian pressed her lips together and nodded, giving Catriona the permission she needed to escape. Emergency and Trauma were Dr. Lin’s specialties, so Lillian should just let her do things her own way; she knew how much it would grate on her nerves when someone would question how she ran her OR. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder why Dr. Lin would clutter the trauma rooms with supplies.
The operating rooms were prepped and immaculate, as she expected. Tools were prepped and ready to be removed from their sterile packaging and the tables were ready for whatever the night threw at them. Lillian didn’t do much more than glance so as not to break the sterile barrier, but she did check the washrooms and sinks to make sure they were properly stocked and ready. She had assigned someone already as a supply runner, like she had suggested to Catriona, and there was not much else to do at this point but wait.
As though on cue, a loud thump reverberated through the walls, something heavy had hit the side of the building, hopefully nothing that caused too much damage. She decided to head back upstairs. She sent a text to all the surgeons to meet with her in her office to go over procedures before the storm worsened.
She quickly took the stairs, it was unlikely, but if the power were to go out, the elevators would be stuck until the generators kicked in and she could potentially lose precious minutes, so she would be avoiding them for tonight at least.
She made her way back to her office, three of the five surgeons she expected to have on staff already waiting. Hopefully, she would get a couple more in before travel was too difficult. She ushered everyone into her office and looked downat her messages, two more were on the way. That meant that she would have seven surgeons on staff tonight. It would have to do, Lillian still felt like it wasn’t enough, but it was the best she had.
“Afternoon, Doctors,” Lillian said as the five present settled into her office. She closed the door behind her. “I know that tonight will be tense for everyone, and some of us will be working outside our specialties,” she looked at Dr. Noble, whose specialty was cardio-thoracic. “But we need to work together and try not to step on each other’s toes.” Lillian glanced at each of them individually. “Myself and Doctor Noble will be taking five and six respectively, hopefully handling all the spinal injuries and cerebral surgeries that may come in.”
Dr. Noble nodded in response, she also had some experience with neurology, though not as much as Lillian.
