Whose Child Is This?

And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death . . .

—Excerpt from “The Journey of the Magi,” by T. S. Eliot

Painting: Untitled. Oil on Linen, 10" x 8" by Julianna Paradisi 2012-2013 Painting: Untitled. Oil on Linen, 10″ x 8″ by Julianna Paradisi 2012-2013

Julianna Paradisi, RN, OCN, writes a monthly post for this blog and works as an infusion nurse in outpatient oncology. The illustration of this post is by the author.

There is a nurse who loves running for exercise through a downtown park. And lo, it came to pass, one very cold day last year in December, that she came upon a host of people gathered around an unconscious man as he lay in the cold, wet grass.

Among them, three Wise Men were on their cell phones, calling 911.

These are my criteria for lending nursing skills to strangers:

▪    I witness the accident

▪   I’m the first one on the scene of an accident

▪    Others are first on the scene of the accident, but they don’t know what to do or are doing it wrong

This unfortunate man’s situation clearly […]