‘We sit with them’: An ER social worker reflects on the trauma left by the Airbnb party shooting

ER social worker Alyssa Lisle writes about the trauma of gun violence. (Photo by Kaycee Orwig/PublicSource)

“Very few, if any, are talking about the trauma of that night and its lifelong impact.”

by PublicSource contributor

My pager went off, alerting me to the impending arrival of a trauma or serious medical emergency to the emergency department. I scrolled through to see what we might be getting, anticipating a car accident or stroke like the previous pages of that shift. My heart dropped when I read “Level 1 GSW,” indicating the most serious type of trauma was en route and it was a gunshot wound [GSW]. I scrolled further and saw the age of the victim — a minor.

It was early Easter morning, April 17, and this was the beginning of what Pittsburgh learned later was a mass shooting at a party of mostly teenagers in a North Side Airbnb.

When I made it over to Trauma Bay 10, a flurry of orchestrated activity was ensuing to prepare for what EMS was bringing us. 

The trauma team divvied up tasks. Who would ultrasound the patient’s abdomen to locate or rule out internal bleeding? Who would interview the patient to get past medical history?

The respiratory therapists prepared their equipment. The page indicated the patient was breathing, but they would be ready just in case.

The pharmacist and pharmacy students arrived, prepared to provide pain management, traumatic cardiac arrest medication or anything else. The techs prepared the IV kits, blood and more. The imaging technicians prepared the trauma bay stretcher for real-time x-rays.

As an emergency department social worker at a level 1 trauma center, my job changes throughout the day, depending on what each individual patient needs. I am present when all traumas, stroke alerts and internal alerts (serious medical emergencies) arrive. If a patient comes in and we don’t know who they are, I take the lead in trying to determine their identity. I track down family members and next of kin and notify them that their loved one is in the hospital and their condition.

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