4012 Bravo

"When the next medical emergency comes, we need to ready to meet it head on. We were not with Covid - we need to do much better before the next one comes." 

Today, I am going to take a trip into yesteryear. This is more than just nostalgia for myself - this has everything to do with our shortage of hospital beds today. It actually goes back to 1969 - the year I entered the United States Navy.

In April of 1969, while in boot camp at San Diego, I was diagnosed with a hernia. No big thing. The Navy told me they could take care of it over at Balboa Naval Hospital. While waiting for my surgery, I was in a rifle company, doing what all boots do - learning, and getting yelled at. In late June, when I was 2/3 done with my boot training, the call came in for me to transfer (temporarily) to Balboa to have the operation. 

After the operation, and spending three weeks in an "X Division" at Balboa, sweeping streets and cleaning toilets, my Company Commander (Chief Gamble) from my rifle company came to visit me. He told me two things. First, I was accepted in this crypto school in Pensacola. He was was excited about that, and said he was very proud of me! Next, he told me I would not be coming back to the company, since they were getting ready to graduate. I kind of expected that.

Chief Gamble did tell me I had just about enough points to graduate, but needed a few more. Rather than go into a rifle company where I did not know anyone, he offered me a leadership job in the boot camp hospital company. The company, called 4012 Alpha, is where sick boots went to either recover, or wait until they were mustered out of the Navy.

That was a long build up to the point of this article. In the barracks 4012 Alpha was housed in, there was also a very empty, and very clean area, called 4012 Bravo. It was rarely, if ever used. I know while I was in San Diego it was never used. What was it for? An epidemic, a pandemic, or triage in case of an attack on the base. Sixty beds, all empty, just in case of a medical emergency.

Every day, we had a work detail go into 4012 Bravo, and clean the head (bathroom) and buff the floors. I would joke that the cleanest water in San Diego, was in the toilets in 4012 Bravo. Never used - always cleaned. 

Why did the Navy want this level of cleanliness? Just in case. Should there be a medical emergency, the ward needed to be "AJ Squared Away". Ready to use in a moments notice.

If there is one thing we as a society should have learned from Covid, is this - we need a "4012 Bravo" in each of our hospitals. To hear story after story about people with non-Covid emergencies, stuck in the ER or a hallway, is not acceptable. Getting the right amount of qualified staff to handle a surge is one matter - and is not addressed here. But having the correct amount of surge facilities, that we can handle. Will it cost? Absolutely. But right now our hospitals are a mess, and we need to fix what can be fixed.

This is something I know others have wondered about. Unfortunately, I did not hear the President address the need to surge our hospitals - only getting more testing materials. When the next medical emergency comes, we need to ready to meet it head on. We were not with Covid - we need to do much better before the next one comes.