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 Acute Care Nurse Phuong Nguyen checking Anna's* blood pressure ONE OF OUR OWN: When Trauma Hits Home Traumatic injuries can occur to anyone, at almost any time and in almost any place. That truth hit home forcefully when the School of Medicine communications staff was at San Francisco General Hospital to gather photos and facts for this web feature. As they interviewed trauma program manager Patti O'Connor, her pager beeped, alerting her that a critically injured patient was in an ambulance on the way to SFGH. They hurried to the emergency department only to find an empty, blood-covered gurney in the hallway. The trauma team had already assembled and was crowding into the treatment room, giving care to the injured woman that had been brought in by San Francisco Fire Department paramedics. The team was informed that the patient was "one of your own": a UCSF employee who had been assaulted while walking on Divisadero Street, near the UCSF Mount Zion campus. Anna* had been taking a break from her work and was walking up the street to buy an ice tea, when she suddenly felt something hit her neck. Her first thought was that an object had fallen down from an apartment window. It took her a moment to realize that someone was in fact attacking her from behind. She fell to the ground and started to scream, yet the person kept hitting her. Then her attacker fled without even attempting to grab her purse. Knowing that she was injured, Anna briefly thought about walking back to the hospital, but she remembered there was no longer an emergency room at Mount Zion. A woman who was passing by offered her help and called 911. Realizing that she was bleeding, Anna sat down on the sidewalk. Another passerby came up to her and identified herself as an emergency medical technician. She told Anna that she was bleeding heavily from one of her wounds and advised her to apply pressure. The paramedics arrived soon afterwards. "I had seen scenes like this on TV" Two days later, as she was recovering, Anna said she was feeling reassured when she learned that she was being taken to the trauma center at San Francisco General Hospital. "As a UCSF employee, I know SFGH has an excellent reputation as a trauma center. I knew I was in good hands. " Anna had been stabbed multiple times to her head and neck, and by the time she arrived at SFGH, she had lost a great deal of blood. The trauma team immediately went to work to stop the bleeding, evaluate her vital signs, and prepare her for further diagnostic procedures or surgery. "I could see that everybody in the emergency room was very focused on what they were doing, and everybody was very calm", Anna commented later. Meanwhile, the social worker in the emergency department had contacted Anna's husband. "They called me on my cell phone every 10 minutes to keep me updated on her condition, while I was driving to the hospital", he said later. When he arrived at the Trauma Center, the social worker escorted him to the room where his wife was being treated. "The doctor in charge met me in front of the room. He explained to me that there would be a lot of blood, and that I would have to stay calm, so my wife could stay calm." "I was so glad to see him", said Anna. "I had seen scenes like this on TV, but I never thought they would let the husband in room in the midst of dealing with a trauma." "They explained every step, everything that was going on. That was really helpful to me," her husband said. He admitted that he had always thought SFGH was "for poor people," that "nobody there would care very much." Instead, he said, "the level of care I witnessed at SFGH shocked me. I have been to the best hospitals, but had never seen such outstanding care." Sitting in her hospital bed with her husband at her side, Anna "feels very lucky to be alive." "You have to understand", her husband adds, "she's not just my wife, she's my best friend. So all I can say is: the San Francisco Trauma Center saves lives! I don't know how else to express it. I am so glad we have this facility in the city." *While this is a true story, the patient’s name has been changed to protect her privacy. 
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