Chaos at Crescent City Medical Center by Judith Townsend Rocchiccioli Read Free Book Online Page A

her husband.  She continued to consider the strange happenings, but it just made her wearier .  Finally, she fell asleep.
    Kathy frowned as she left the room.  Gastric cancer was bad enough as it was, but Mrs. Raccine's cancer had spread to her liver. She also had metastasis to her lungs which made her more tired and short of breath.  It seemed so unfair for such a wonderful woman and community leader to be so cruelly ill.  Kathy wondered if Mrs. Raccine's dreams were related to her diagnosis.  She'd mentioned her dreams had snakes and evil things in them but Mrs. Raccine couldn't seem to remember much else.  Mrs. Raccine was Creole and Creoles traditionally believed all dreams have meaning.  Kathy wouldn’t be surprised if Grace had b r ought a gris gris with her to the hospital to help her heal.  Kathy left the hospital with a heavy heart for Grace Raccine.
    At one-fifteen in the morning, the gentlemen in Room 626 had a heart attack, and the nurses were busy with him until after two-thirty.  A nursing assistant documented at two o'clock that Mrs. Raccine was sleeping soundly with her side rails up.  That was just an hour before all hell broke loose.
     
     
     

Chapter 4
     
    Alex approached CCMC at seven-thirty on Tuesday morning and was dismayed to see TV trucks, camera crews, and reporters.  A sinking feeling came over her, and she immediately felt her stomach knot.  Nausea prevailed as she wondered what was wrong.  What could have happened?  It must be bad. Of course, she admonished herself, it could be something positive.  Many great things happen at CCMC, but somehow she wasn't able to convince herself that something good had happened.  Her gut told her the opposite.  It was bad.  Reporters never came out this early in New Orleans for anything, except to photograph the trash after Mardi Gras, unless it was something bad. Anything good could have waited until noon.  She walked towards the administration offices with an overwhelming sense of dread. 
    The administrat ion suite was in chaos.  Two of the secretaries were trying to keep the press out of the suite, and the other two were on the phone.  Alex wondered why everyone was in so early.  One of the secretaries motioned her towards the conferen ce room. As she entered, sh e noted Don Montgomery, Dr. John Ashley, the chief of medicine, Bette Farve, chief of nursing, and Elizabeth Tippett, the director of hospital-media relations sitting around the conference table . Don was speaking as she entered the room.
    His voice was loud, blaming and arrogant.  "Where the hell's Alex Destephano ?   This is when we need her.  Where in the hell is she?"  Don's face was red, his eyes blazing.
    Elizabeth, a pretty young brunette, spoke calmly.  "Don, we called her around six and didn't get an answer.  It's only seven-thirty.  I'm sure she'll be here soon.  Relax a little.  We need to focus on a press release.  What are you going to say?"
    The CEO glared at her.  “I’m not saying a damn thing.  That is your job.  What is it about you people that you don’t understand that I cannot do everything around here? "
    Alex stood frozen at the door.  Her voice was quiet.  "I'm here.  I was probably in the shower at six.  What's going on?"
    Her colleagues looked at her strangely, speechless, but obviously glad to see her. Elizabeth was the f irst to speak.
    "We're not really sure what happened.  At five this morning, the charge nurse on Six North was making final rounds on her patients.  When she entered Mrs. Raccine's room, the room was in shambles, destroyed.  Blood was all over the place. "
    " What!  What about Mrs. Raccine ? ," Alex interrupted, fearing the worst.
    Elizabeth continued, "Mrs. Raccine's alive, but in  shock.  She has no injury.  Physically, she's stable, at least for now. "
    "What?” Alex looked dumbly at Elizabeth. “What about the blood?   Where was she injured?" 
    "The blood's not Mrs. Raccine's."
    "What?"  Alex