Peter Graham spent a shift photographing the busy Charles V. Keating Emergency and Trauma Centre, to get a “snapshot” of “life in the ER”. Located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the emergency and trauma centre was opened in the summer of 2009. In the two years since it opened, patient volumes have increased significantly, with the highest ever patient visits recorded in July and August 2011. In this photo, an early morning sunrise over Citadel Hill, as seen from the ambulance bay of the emergency and trauma centre.
Life in the ER
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7:32 am - Monday, October 17, 2011
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7:34 a.m.
An EHS paramedic, seen in the exterior corridor or “track” that runs length of the emergency and trauma centre, returns a stretcher to the ambulance bay.
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7:59 a.m.
Housekeeper Jennifer LeBlanc cleans and sanitizes a treatment room, after a patient is discharged. The emergency and trauma centre was designed with private patient rooms, for increased privacy and improved infection control.
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8:17 a.m.
Third year medical student Mallory Troup prepares a suturing tray in one of the trauma rooms.
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8:26 a.m.
Registered nurse Lindsey Boyd holds the hand of a patient while a wound is sutured. Third year medical student Mallory Troup assists.
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9:06 a.m.
Managers and charge nurses from the various inpatient units at the Halifax Infirmary meet for the daily bed management meeting, to identify how many beds will be available to transfer patients from the emergency and trauma centre, as well as to accommodate scheduled surgeries that day.
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9:50 a.m.
Halifax Regional Police constables Leo Campbell and Craig Trudel wait while a patient they are escorting is assessed.
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10:47 a.m.
Two ambulances arrive at the Charles V. Keating Emergency and Trauma Centre within minutes of each other.
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12:49 p.m.
A photo of the interior core of the emergency and trauma centre. The new facility, opened in the summer of 2009, was designed to have several interior “pods” where health care providers work from. Wrapped around the pods are the patient treatment rooms, which are accessed by patients and families from an exterior hallway or “track”.
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12:58 p.m.
Patient Ian Feriancek waits for an X-ray in the emergency and trauma centre, while porter Gary MacDougall waits to bring another patient back to their room.
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1:10 p.m.
Dr. Warren Fieldus, an emergency physician, intubates a patient with the assistance of paramedic Leon Bootland. Amy Fry, a pharmacist who works in the emergency and trauma centre, registered nurse Laura Berry and two residents observe.
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1:36 p.m.
Specialists from the QEII Health Sciences Centre provide consultation services within the emergency and trauma centre.
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2:15 p.m.
Dr. Ryan Henneberry, an emergency physician, speaks with a patient in the hallway, before the patient is transferred from the care of EHS paramedics.
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2:30 p.m.
A patient, who no longer requires emergency care, is transferred from the emergency and trauma centre to the Intensive Care Unit at the Halifax Infirmary.
