No Room in the Cooler

Cruise nursing had some strange moments. This said by an ER nurse who thrives on adrenalin and strange moments. This was a cruise line that catered to a senior crowd. That meant that a huge percentage of the 1200 passengers were obese, Diabetic and had started smoking non-filtered Camels and Luck Strikes at the age of 14. Now, they were spending 10 days eating 5 desserts a day, drinking heavily and doing the "pursed lips" breathing after dancing. I can't tell you how many would wander down to the infirmary 4 days into the sail and say "I left my medicines (all nine) at home by mistake". The infirmary stocked only a very small selection of medications but would provide prescriptions so the individual could wander off the ship and find a pharmacy at the next port. Pre-existing CHF took it's toll.

On this particular cruise #4 seniors went into full blown CHF and "passed over". The standard procedure was to put them in the cooler down below until the next port, then ship them off to home with their family member. I guess the "cooler" didn't have enough room for all #4. So I was told to "call the flower girl and tell her it was now housing a body and not to freak when she went down in the morning to gather her plants. Can't say I've ever had to make a call like that from the ER.