New Ship, New Role, New Karl

Posted on Thursday June 29th, 2023 @ 5:51pm by Master Chief Petty Officer Karl Shay & Lieutenant Commander Ysabeau Saint-Pol

1,308 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Shore Leave
Location: Sickbay, CMO's Office

Karl walked off of the transporter Pad as the beam disengaged. He look at the transporter chief, giving a nod of appreciation for not beaming him half into a wall. His first stop aboard the ship was sickbay, to meet the Chief Medical Officer that he'd be working under. As a Paramedic he was used to working alone, or with one other, and running the show himself, but he looked forward to the new challenge.

He'd been contacted by the XO of the ship, a Colonel Graydon, to start up a response team of EMT's and Paramedics, to assist the medical department in first responding to incidents around the ship. He'd like the sound of the idea and had accepted on the spot. With this new position came a promotion to Master Chief Petty Officer, which he appreciated greatly, as it was a rare position to hold on a starship. He also hoped to learn a great deal from his team, as well as the medical staff onboard.

Karl walked the short distance from the transporter room, to sickbay. As he walked in he put his bag down out of the way in the corner. His bag was a complete EMT bag, which he always carried on him when on duty, just in case he was needed. He walked to the CMO's Office door and rang the bell, waiting for an answer.

Ysabeau he been supervising a new burns treatment and noticed someone at her door. Walking over she touched him on the shoulder. “Are you looking for me?” she asked. “I’m Ysabeau Saint-Pol the CMO around here.”

"Yes ma'am. I'm your new Paramedic, Karl Shay." Karl replied, giving a smile. Karl had a very heavy irish accent, which at times could be hard to understand, so he hoped the CMO was able to understand him ok.

“Wonderful, please come in, sit down. How lovely to hear an Irish accent, two of my friends in college were Irish….the times we had..…” for a moment she looked wistful remembering. “Would you like something to drink? And, please call me Ysabeau or Ys when we are alone.” She smiled.

"Now if we were off duty i'd ask for something strong. But while we're on shift an apple juice will suffice, thank you." He said with a toothy white smile.

Ysabeau procured his apple juice from the replicator and indicated the chair again”please sit, let’s get to know each other, May I call you Karl?”

"Of course! What would you like to know? Ask away!" He said, taking a seat, and then a sip from his juice.

“One of the first things I want to know is what drives you to do this, is it something from your past, family, I’m interested?” She sipped her tea.

"Well I first started my training after an encounter at my old school. One of my classmates collapsed, and they sent an ambulance out. The ambulance staff were amazing, reassuring everyone, while still doing their job. I found what they did was incredible, and it just stuck with me. I think I knew from that point that this is what I wanted to do, so I signed up for classes at the Academy, and just kept training from there. I spent a brief period, probably about 2 years running medevacs for patients that weren't able to be transported for one reason or another, working on a medical shuttle with another Paramedic and a Doctor. The program was becoming less used though with the advancements in the transporters, and so they offered me the opportunity to work onboard a starship as part of the response team." He answered.

Ysa nodded, impressed by the seeming core and work ethic. “How do you see yourself fitting in here, sorry I mean to ask you if you had full rein what would you see your role as?"

"Ideally? I would see us as first responders, much the same as planet-side. Going to calls for help, stabilising them in the field, then bringing them back here if needed for you guys to fully sort them out. Of course some things can be easily dealt with in the field, in which case they could be discharged on scene without the need for a visit to sickbay, take some of the workload away from you guys. I'd also see us being attached to away missions for medical support as required, and of course helping out in here as required." He replied.

She smiled, “of course you are going to need a team. We’re you thinking about that, surely you would not be available all the time?

Kyle nodded. "I believe at the moment, as it's somewhat of a trial basis, there will be 10 of us, and we'll be available on a rolling shift pattern, with two to three of us on shift at any one time. Of course incase of emergencies then the rest of the team would be 'on-call' to assist if needed. Hopefully that can cover everything." He smiled.

Ysabeau smiled, “are we talking about advanced medical training?”

Kyle nodded again. "So I myself am trained to a Critical Care level. I believe 3 others are also trained to that level, while the others are trained to Paramedic level. To cover what the Paramedics can do, they have a set list of medications that they can give as an emergency, as well as dealing with most injuries and illnesses. As Critical Care we can do all of that, as well as give a few more meds, and we have further training in assisting Doctors in more complex procedures as required. We keep all of our skills up to date by completing Continuing Profesional Development sessions, which are either classroom base, such as lecture sessions, or through more practical sessions, such as holodeck simulations of things like mass casualty incidents, or lesser seen things such as major traumas and childbirth." Kyle responded. "I have a list of everything on the PADD which says who can do what etc. The aim would be to have a Critical Care Paramedic with each team to maintain a set level of cover."

Ysabeau smiled, “you have given this a lot of thought and preparation…….” She paused, “What I would like to do is meet everybody and have a general discussion about everything on your agenda. What about possible planetary situations, working under fire, working in eva or bio suits or even working on alien beings?

"All of the team can do most of that. The only things that most can't do is the EVA or Bio Suits and working under fire. I think there's myself, and one other who are trained to work in those. The other person is an ex-marine medic, he was discharged from the marines due to some personal issues he was having, but he's clear to work on the ship. We can look at training others up as well." He replied.

“I must say how enthusiastic I am about these proposals. The Federation Medical Council has asked for report from me as to whether I think it is viable. Obviously we need to begin testing so, I suggest we begin with a few shifts with you. Are you up to that Karl?”

"Well that sounds there like a plan to me." Karl responded with a beaming smile.

Ysabeau beamed back warming to him. “Well how about tomorrow 0800? You meet me here and spend the day and we will see what comes up?”

"Sounds good. I'll see you in the morning." Karl said with a smile, standing and heading back out the way he'd come in, collecting his bag on the way out. His next stop was his quarters.

=/\= End =/\=

Lieutenant Commander Ysabeau Saint-Pol
Chief Medical Officer
USS Poseidon

&

Master Chief Petty Officer Karl Shay
EMT
USS Poseidon

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