By Bruce Miller

President’s Message

Are You Ready? Are We Ready? Ready for What?

At our chapter inservice on “The Nursing Role in Mass Casualty” this January, there was one thing that caught my attention. It was, “Are we ready for any national disaster like hurricane Katrina?” It was best put by one of our hurricane Katrina volunteer speakers. She told of meeting a fireman in a strip mall that had been turned into a disaster center in Gulfport Mississippi. She asked this big guy, who was apparently a seasoned veteran, why it seemed our government was so slow in responding to this terrible disaster. He bent over, picked up a perfectly good leaf, and crumbled it in his large hand. He opened his hand and asked her, “Can you put this leaf back together?” Of course this disaster was more than I, our government and perhaps even God could fix. I realize he had shown me that there is no way to prepare for a disaster of this magnitude.

We are experts, each of us, with health care systems to implement promptly in the event of emergencies in the community or our own operating rooms. In our daily lives we have systems that help us meet the challenges man or nature gives us every day. I say each of us is ready to meet both routine and emergent situations every day. We meet our patient’s needs, and we are accountable for patient outcomes! We all possess clinical knowledge, judgment and critical thinking skills based on scientific principals. We plan and implement care to address the physical, psychological and spiritual needs of those we care for daily. We rise to the intensity of the occasion every day, both planned and unplanned to provide positive outcomes for our patients. Remember, each patient deserves and is entitled to a perioperative Registered Nurse!

Respectfully, Bruce Miller, RN, SN IV

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