RN collecting donations for Orlando responders
The viral image of Dr. Joshua Corsa’s blood-stained sneakers was just one of the many haunting visuals to come out of the recent Orlando nightclub shooting.
The senior resident at Orlando Regional Medical Center was a social media sensation when he posted the now famous picture of his brand new, blood-soaked sneakers hours after working multiple traumas.
The image resonated with millions. It resonated with Devyn Denton, RN, too.
“Right beside that doctor I guarantee you were at least five or more nurses with bloody scrubs and shoes on,” said Denton, an Oklahoma City nurse.
That’s why Denton is seeking donations to send to Orlando to support those first responders.
Gift bags are scheduled to go out July 6th to the 210 Orlando Medical Center nurses and the 225 combined fire and police department responders.
Denton said Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences has donated the bags and 13 teenage girls from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have hand made personal diffusing charms to promote feelings of comfort and peace.
Items still needed include: beef jerky, hand sanitizer, hand wipes, flavored water packets, snack bars, T-shirts, beauty product samples, packs of nuts, mints, gum, (anything fun for fire/rescue personnel, police or nurses) thank you cards, stress balls, good luck charms, scriptures or words of encouragement.
Denton said the hospital is not allowing gift cards of monetary value at this time.
You can find out more about the group on Facebook. The group is listed as Operation Nurses Helping Nurses. You can also email Denton directly at operationnurseshelpingnurses@gmail.com.
Donations can also be mailed to PO Box 2612, Edmond OK, 73083.
Denton created her group after the May 20, 2013 tornado and used her contacts while she was on the board of directors for the Oklahoma Nurses Association, American Nurses Association and National Student Nurses Association to organize an outreach network.
Orlando Medical Chief Surgeon Dr. Michael Cheatham said nine patients died within minutes of arrival after the country’s worst terrorist attack since 9/11.
While the victims kept streaming into the 75-bed facility so did off-duty nurses.
Surgical intensive-care unit director Chadwick Smith told reporters dozens of nurses arrived in tears just to help out any way they could.
“All hospitals train for mass casualties,” Denton said. “They were ready, but nobody is ever really ready for anything like that. When that happened it struck a chord in my heart.”
Corsa summed up his feelings on a Facebook post he intended to be an outlet for what he was feeling.
Accompanying a picture of his blood-stained shoes were these words: “These are my work shoes from Saturday night. They are brand new, not even a week old. I came to work this morning and saw these in the corner [of] my call room, next to the pile of dirty scrubs.”
“I had forgotten about them until now. On these shoes, soaked between its fibers, is the blood of 54 innocent human beings. I don’t know which were straight, which were gay, which were black, or which were Hispanic.”
“What I do know is that they came to us in wave upon wave of suffering, screaming, and death. And somehow, in that chaos, doctors, nurses, technicians, police, paramedics, and others, performed super-human feats of compassion and care.”
“This blood, which poured out of those patients and soaked through my scrubs and shoes, will stain me forever. In these Rorschach patterns of red I will forever see their faces and the faces of those that gave everything they had in those dark hours.”
“There is still an enormous amount of work to be done. Some of that work will never end. And while I work I will continue to wear these shoes. And when the last patient leaves our hospital, I will take them off, and I will keep them in my office.”
“I want to see them in front of me every time I go to work.”
“For on June 12, after the worst of humanity reared its evil head, I saw the best of humanity … come fighting right back. I never want to forget that night.”
As of last week the hospital reported the following stats:
* 44 victims treated
* 9 died
* 23 have been discharged
* 12 remain in the hospital
* Since the incident, surgeons had performed 58 operations on the victims
* 3 remained critical
* 9 were stable
“I think the most important part of it is front-line providers have to have secondary providers, which is the service we are providing” Denton said. “We’re no longer leading our young, we’re taking care of them and we’re going to do it with compassion, love and human kindness.”
