[photo by Josh Campbell]
Dr. David Brown sent me a note after the 2018 Boston Marathon. He was a few feet down the course from me at Mile 20 cheering on our runners. He was struck by the dedication of the Heartbreakers on both sides of the barriers that day in spite of the awful weather. He's the captain of the of the MGH Emergency Response Team and I'm the coach. He's also Chief of Emergency Medicine at MGH. I recently hired myself to write blogs here. One of us has a very serious job.
We've all got that friend on Facebook who recently read something and is now an expert on global health. Having had occasion to sit in the room with Dr. Brown and some of his colleagues as they present exactly what they do - they care for people in their most perilous moments and they also help write the global standards for emergency response - believe it or not, there's a difference between internet browsing and research, practice, evaluation, and administration of global standards. Every year at the Mass General Hospital Boston Marathon kick off meeting, the ER professionals calmly walk through their recent work. Whether it's the Boston Marathon bombing (the event that led to the creation of this team), the ebola outbreak, supporting hurricane ravaged Puerto Rico, or something else both tragic and terrifying, these healthcare professionals helped improve the response, took notes, raised the standards, and are more ready for the next thing. As we all know too well, the next thing is here. It's everywhere and on Marathon Monday, I won't be standing next to Dr. Brown on the course. I'll be sending him a note of gratitude for the leadership and care his unit is bringing to the effort to understand and defeat COVID-19. Read more about a day in the life of Dr. Brown here. - DF
