We Rise By Lifting Others

Posted on Sat 14th Jan, 2023 @ 6:10am by Elizabeth Anderson M.D. & Makila i'Hartelhai

1,363 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: A Fresh Perspective
Location: Brown Sector
Timeline: MD 5, 1420

Dr. Anderson came to the entrance to Dr. s'Siedhri's Dawnstar clinic, and found the waiting room filled with patients. Seeing so many obviously sick people, pale and sweating, stirred something in her. She wasn't sure what, but she would sort that out later and see what was developing. For now, she had to help. She looked for one of the Romulan doctors, and saw Makila i'Hartelhai kneeling near a woman with a child, over in a corner opposite the door. The woman glanced her way.

Exhaustion hammered at Makila, but when she heard the chime without a rush of emotion to go with it she had to look up. Meeting the eyes of Dr. Anderson she understood at once what was going on. The woman was a blank, a telepathic void and Makila was curious as to why, but not enough to explore that now. Her emotions were a little raw at the moment, and she didn't quite know what to do with the disaster that was unfolding before her very eyes. A baby that she'd delivered two months ago, had died in her arms an hour ago from the ravages of the modified influenza which was tearing through Brown Sector.

"Doctor Anderson?" she asked a question clear but unspoken in her voice.

"Hello, Doctor i'Hartelhai. I've just become aware of this deplorable situation. In addition to counseling, I have an MD degree. I'm here to help. What do you need most?" Elizabeth made it simple. She could see the crying need for more help, and there was no time to lose. Makila herself didn't seem far from dropping with exhaustion ... and almost despair.

"The children, I hope you are proficient in pediatrics." There was a note of desperate hope in her voice as she indicated three of them, clearly struggling to breathe as much as the one that she was currently caring for. "Too young and now too unstable to be inoculated and the virus has taken hold in a particularly nasty pneumonia. There's also the fungal aspect that we found in the first case, the infant boy who is still in sickbay. "

Elizabeth nodded, looking at each of the little ones. "Show me where I can sanitize, and I'll start with a look at the one in sickbay, then see what I can do for each of them. I actually do have some experience in pediatrics," she smiled kindly at the other woman. "We'll do the best we can, and pray for it to be enough."

"There are critically ill patients on the beds in the back, father has them now." Her eyes closed for a bare moment and she took in a breath to continue speaking. "The antifungal formula is in the med replicator, just to your left. You can use that bench table as a bed if you want."

Makila had scanned the girl she was working on, and pressed an aerosol mask over her mouth and nose. Activating it, she set it to nebulize the antiviral medication, as well as some bronchodilators so she could get it directly where she needed it. The blueish mist poured out of the mask and the girl breathed it in, not having enough energy to fight it. Her mother, was watching with tired grey eyes, her eyes and nose running with the effort of not breaking into sobs herself at how sick everyone she knew was. Sagging, Makila saw the blue tinge leave the girls lips, and the work of breathing ease a little bit. "Good girl, just keep breathing it in."

After sanitizing and masking, Elizabeth picked up the child who looked most affected by the disease, since the doctor had the beds in the back. She checked the airways of the child of about three, and ran her own tricorder over the child's body, picking up the pneumonia Mikila had mentioned. She wished she had a fully stocked Starfleet sickbay, but it would be difficult to help these children, even with that. She thought about what drugs might be effective with the pneumonia and perhaps give strength to the little body she touched.

Ribavarin aerosol? It was effective even centuries after its development, but normally used on adults. Would a child tolerate it? Quickly, Anderson connected to the computer and searched dozens of files in nonoseconds. Yes! There was proof that it was effective and safe for children! Now where could she get some? Again, she looked at the formula. Could she replicate it, even if she had to use her own replicator rations?

"Doctor, can you med replicator handle making Ribavarin aerosol, if I use my own rations to provide it?" she asked, looking over at the child Makila had just brought back from blue.

"It's an advanced model, so it will handle anything," she answered without looking up, her mind chewing on the effectiveness of the medication she'd suggested. "That's...ancient medicine, does it maintain its effectiveness?"

"It does. I've consulted the database, and all the parameters look good for effectiveness with children and safety. I'd say we don't have much time, and this is ... a hopeful treatment. It's your clinic, though, and if you'd rather I not, then I understand." She glanced down at the small child. "I don't think we can wait for something better to come along."

"No, I'm not sure we have the time. Try it, if it works we'll dose them all," she answered and smiled softly a thought in the back of her mind nagging at her. How had she managed to consult the database for ancient therapies so quickly, when she'd not even seen her Access the database?

Anderson nodded, stabilized the child on the table, and stepped over to the replicator. It didn't take her long to enter the parameters for the medicine, enough to dose a dozen children, because there would surely be more coming in. She entered her personal ration number and in a few seconds, 12 aerosols appeared inside the replicator. Taking them out, she stacked them on the shelf, put two in her pocket and took a third one for the child she'd examined.

Sticking with the dosage of the original research, 2 g over 2 hours, Elizabeth almost immediately began to see an easing of the breathing difficulties. Her shoulders relaxed slightly, and she moved the child to a ventilation box to continue treatment for 2 hours. If this worked, the child would be treated for five or more days, but she would be alright. Anderson squeezed the shoulder of the child's mother and smiled at her, but made no diagnosis comments or prognosis. She was not the doctor in charge here.

Making the rounds of the other children Makila had pointed out, Elizabeth got each of them started on the same regimen, with similar results. This wasn't an instant, magic cure, but the first results were immediate, and continued improvement happened over several days, with at least six hours between two hour treatments. Finally, she came up next to Dr. i'Hartelhai. "How's yours doing?" she asked.

"The baby I sent up to sickbay, but this one..." She glanced down at the young boy that she had with a similar aerosol mask on his face, "is doing rather well. I'm having the computer culture the sputum. I managed to get a clean sample." Her shirt, which once had been a pristine white had spots of yellow and green on it, which led the imagination to exactly how she'd gotten a sample.

Anderson nodded. "Being a doctor isn't always glamourous, but it is always worthwhile. Direct my hands wherever you need them. I think our youngsters are set for a couple of hours, at least. Did you get the vaccinations from Starfleet yet?"

"I've been trying to innoculate the parents of the sick ones." She nodded to a stack of boxes with the Starfleet sigil and a caduceus on the pristine white boards. "I have not gotten very far, because the sick ones are so sick."

"Let me get that going, then, and maybe we'll soon have some help from upstairs, too." She patted Makila on the arm and moved toward the boxes quietly to begin more inoculations.

 

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