A Visit to Casualty

by Janice Johnston

MICHAEL	Good morning, children. Libby isn’t here yet, but she shouldn’t be long. She phoned a few minutes ago to tell me she’d had to park further away from the studio this morning.
FX:	DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING
LIBBY:	Ohh! I’m sorry I’m late, Michael. I was running to get here on time but I tripped and fell.
MICHAEL: LIBBY:	Libby! Your knee’s bleeding. I know. I scraped it on the pavement.
FX	WATER RUNNING INTO BASIN
MICHAEL:	Here. You’d better wash all that grit out with some disinfectant to get rid of any germs. I’ll find a plaster for you.
FX	TEARING BACKING OFF A PLASTER
LIBBY:	That’s better. Thank you, Michael. Lucky you had some disinfectant and plasters here.
MICHAEL:	I always try to keep a box with medicines and plasters and things like that handy. You never know when someone will need it.
LIBBY:	Today’s story is about a boy who always seems to need something from his mum’s medicine box.
MICHAEL:	And when his mum can’t make it better he has to visit the accident and emergency department at his local hospital.
LIBBY:	Sometimes it’s called the casualty department. Jack, in our story, seems to visit his nearest casualty department a lot.
MICHAEL:	Mum was busy washing the windows when Jack appeared at the bottom of the ladder. ‘Mum?’ said Jack. ‘Yes, Sweetie?’ said Mum, rubbing the glass hard.
FX:	CLOTH SQUEAKING ON GLASS
MICHAEL(CONT):	‘Mum?’ Mum turned round, ‘What is it, Jack?’ ‘I think I need to go to casualty, again.’ Said Jack. ‘What!’
FX:	CLOTH DROPS IN WATER, LADDER CLATTERS, PAIL CLANGS, WATER SPILLS OUT
LIBBY:	Mum nearly fell off the ladder as she hurried down. She held Jack’s shoulders and studied him carefully. ‘Well, you’re not bleeding, and your arms and legs look all in one piece. Why do you need to go to casualty this time?’ Jack shuffled his feet and stared at the ground. Then he sighed and said, ‘I stuck something up my nose.’ Mum held his head and tipped it back gently. ‘I can’t see anything. What kind of something did you stick up your nose?’ Jack shuffled a bit more. ‘It was a bit of cotton wool.’ He said. Mum shook her head. ‘Why would anyone want to push cotton wool up their nose?’ ‘Dunno.’ Jack shrugged his shoulders, ‘I just wondered what it would feel like.’ ‘And what does it feel like?’ asked Mum. ‘As if my nose is all blocked. It’s horrible.’ He moaned.
MICHAEL:	‘Well I expect it would be horrible.’ Said Mum, briskly. ‘Jack, why do you keep doing silly things?’ ‘Falling off my bike last month wasn’t silly, that was an accident.’ Said Jack. ‘Yes,’ said Mum, ‘But it might not have happened if you’d taken care biking over the rough ground. At least you were wearing your helmet and pads.’ ‘And then I flew off and landed on my chin.’ Jack giggled. Mum tipped Jack’s head back and had another look. ‘Ahh, I think I can see something.’ There was a tiny wisp of cotton wool right at the top of Jack’s nose. ‘I don’t think I can pull it out, though.’ She said, ‘You’d better fetch a book or a game to play while we are waiting at the hospital.’ She bundled Jack into the car and set off for the accident and emergency department at the local hospital.
FX:	LOUD WHOOSHING OF AUTOMATIC DOORS
LIBBY:	The receptionist smiled as they approached the desk. ‘Hello, its Jack, isn’t it? What have you done to yourself today?’ Jack gave a big sigh and looked at the floor. ‘I pushed some cotton wool up my nose.’ ‘Cotton wool! Up your nose?’ The receptionist laughed. ‘Why on earth did you do that?’ Jack pulled at his jumper, ‘I thought it was a good idea at the time.’ The receptionist smiled and shook her head, then she asked for Jack’s name, and address, and date of birth.
FX:	TAPPING ON KEYBOARD
LIBBY(CONT):	‘Right Jack,’ she said, ‘If you’d like to wait over there a nurse will see you soon.’
MICHAEL:	While Mum took a seat, Jack wandered over to the children’s play area. He looked at the colouring in books and the box full of cars but there weren’t any other children to play with. He decided to sit with Mum and read his book. There were lots of other people waiting. Mum was sitting next to a man who had his hand wrapped up in a towel. Jack could see the towel had red splotches. He stared at it. ‘How did you hurt yourself?’ He asked. The man turned to look at Jack. ‘I did something silly.’ He said. ‘I was making soup. I chopped up carrots and onions then looked up to ask my wife if we had any leeks.’ ‘That doesn’t sound very silly.’ Said Jack. ‘Well,’ the man went on, ‘the only thing was, I didn’t stop chopping when I looked up. The next thing I chopped was my fingers.’ ‘Ohh.’ Said Jack, ‘That was silly. You’ll probably need stitches, but don’t worry.’ He lifted up his chin and pointed to a scar underneath. ‘I needed stitches there when I fell off my bike. The doctor gave me an injection to make it numb so it wouldn’t hurt. All I could feel were little tugs as she pulled the skin together.’ ‘Well,’ said the man, ‘That doesn’t sound too bad. What happened to you today?’
LIBBY:	But before Jack could answer, a man in a green top and trousers called out his name. ‘That’s me,’ said Jack, sliding off the chair. Mum and Jack walked into a small side room. ‘Hello, Jack.’ Said the man in green. ‘My name’s David and I’m the triage nurse today.’ ‘What’s a triage nurse?’ asked Jack David smiled, ‘A triage nurse is the first medical person a patient sees when they come in to casualty. Today it’s me. I have a little talk with everyone to find out what’s wrong with them. Then I decide in which order the doctors see the patients.’ Jack thought it over. ‘So it’s not like a queue, where the first person is helped first and everyone has to wait their turn? You can come in any time and see a doctor before people who’ve been waiting ages?’ David nodded, ‘That’s right. Doing it this way means that people who are very ill and in pain are dealt with first. You’re lucky, we usually try to see children before grown-ups, so you jump nearly to the top of the list. Tell me, what’s happened to you today?’ Jack sighed, ‘I stuck a piece of cotton wool up my nose.’ Jack could see David trying not to laugh. ‘Why did you do that?’ He asked. ‘I thought it was a good idea at the time.’ He mumbled. ‘Well,’ David said, ‘We do have to get it out but it’s not very serious or painful so you might have to wait for a while.’
MICHAEL:	David showed Jack and his mum to a room with some chairs and a narrow bed like the one in the doctor’s surgery. He left the door open so they could see what was happening in the corridor outside.
FX:	FOOTSTEPS, BEEPS FROM MACHINES, SQUEAKING TROLLEY
MICHAEL(CONT):	Across the corridor was another room just like Jack’s. A little girl was there with her mum. Jack watched as the doctor began talking. Then he heard the girl scream, ‘No,no! I don’t want an X-ray.’ Jack moved over to the doorway. ‘Jack!’ Hissed Mum in a loud whisper, ‘Come back here! That’s a private conversation. You can’t listen to a private conversation.’ Jack turned round. ‘But Mum, she’s really worried about getting an X-ray.’ He looked back as the girl began to yell, ‘But it’ll hurt. I know it will.’ The doctor shook her head and the girl’s Mum tried to comfort her but the little girl wouldn’t stop screaming. Jack took a deep breath and marched into her room. ‘It won’t hurt.’ He said. Everyone turned to stare at him. The girl even stopped screaming. ‘How do you know?’ She hiccupped. ‘Cos I’ve had an X-ray and it didn’t hurt a bit. I shut the car door on my fingers.’ He held up his hand and wiggled them. ‘They x-rayed my hand to see if I’d broken any bones.’
LIBBY:	The girl looked at her arm. ‘I fell off a swing and hurt my wrist.’ Jack stepped closer and said, ‘The doctor has to find out exactly what’s wrong before she can make it better. An X-ray machine is like a big camera that takes a photo of the inside of you.’ ‘Is it?’ The girl looked surprised. ‘So having an X-ray isn’t dangerous?’ Jack screwed up his face. ‘Well, having one or two or five or even ten X-rays isn’t dangerous, but if you were to have hundreds and hundreds that might be dangerous. That’s why the person who takes the X-rays …’ He stopped and looked at the doctor, ‘What are they called again?’ ‘A radiographer.’ Said the doctor. ‘Yes,’ Jack went on, ‘That’s why the radiographer steps behind a screen while they are taking the X-ray photos. It’s to protect themselves.’ The little girl thought for a moment. ‘O.K.’ She said at last, ‘I’ll go and have an X-ray.’
MICHAEL:	The doctor scribbled on a sheet of paper and gave it to the girl’s mother. ‘Follow the blue footprints on the floor. They’ll take you to the X-ray room.’ Jack looked at the floor. Sure enough there were painted footprints going down the corridor and round the corner. The doctor turned to Jack. ‘Thank you, that was a big help. Now, what can I do for you?’ Jack rubbed his ear and looked at his Mum. ‘I pushed some cotton wool up my nose.’ He waited for her to laugh and ask why he had done such a silly thing. She didn’t. ‘I’ll go and fetch my tweezers.’ She said. ‘Right,’ she said when she returned, ‘Lie down on the bed and tip your head back. I’ll see if I can catch this piece of cotton wool.’ ‘Why didn’t you laugh?’ Jack asked, as he climbed on to the bed. ‘Everyone else laughed at me.’ ‘I’ll let you into a secret.’ The doctor whispered, ‘When I was a little girl I was always doing things like you. I jumped over a wall and broke my leg. I disturbed a wasps’ nest and they stung me all over. And, one time, I stuck a pea up my nose. Everyone laughed at me and asked why I’d done it. I said I just wondered what it would feel like and …’
MICHAEL AND LIBBY:	‘It seemed like a good idea at the time!’
MICHAEL:	The doctor and Jack said together. Then they both laughed.
LIBBY:	‘Stay still,’ said the doctor, ‘and I’ll have the cotton wool out in no time.’ She held Jack’s head with one hand and carefully put the tweezers up his nostril. Slowly, slowly she pulled. Jack squinted and watched as a soggy lump appeared. ‘There.’ The doctor dumped it in a bin. ‘All done. Now, you won’t be trying that again, will you?’ ‘No.’ Jack laughed. Then he stopped and looked thoughtfully at the doctor. ‘But I wonder what a pea would feel like up my nose?’ ‘Don’t you dare, Jack!’ His Mum cried. ‘Just joking!’ Grinned Jack.
MICHAEL:	Jack sounds like a right wee rascal. You wouldn’t be as silly as him, would you girls and boys?
LIBBY:	Our song today is all about playing safely so you don’t end up visiting your nearest casualty department.
	THE PLAY SAFE SONG
MICHAEL:	(laughing) I’ll never put a hoover on my head.
LIBBY:	I hope not! Or else you might be meeting everyone Jack met when he visited casualty. Can you remember them?
MICHAEL:	There was the receptionist.
LIBBY:	She took all Jack’s details.
MICHAEL:	Then he met the triage nurse.
LIBBY:	Who decided who needed to see the doctor first.
MICHAEL:	Then there was the doctor.
LIBBY:	Who listened to what Jack had to say, examined him, and then decided the best way to treat him.
MICHAEL:	And the little girl was going to see the radiographer.
LIBBY:	To have an X-ray of her arm taken.
MICHAEL:	Lots of people work in hospitals. Can you think of some more?
LIBBY:	Have you ever had to visit a casualty department? I hope not. But if you do, look out for Jack. He’ll probably be back for another visit before too long.
MICHAEL AND LIBBY:	Goodbye everyone.