【英语生活】波士顿出色救援工作挽救诸多生命

The marathon that two years ago recorded the fastest finish in history staged a spectacularly speedy rescue on Monday.

At stake in this race was human life.

Within five minutes of bombs detonating Monday afternoon near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, most victims had been wheeled to a massive medical tent about 100 yards away, where volunteer medical personnel stabilized patients before loading them onto ambulances that sped to hospitals that mobilized vast teams of physicians and nurses.

The efficiency of the rescue reflected careful planning, heroic execution and elements of good fortune. Its significance can't be measured. The attack inflicted life-threatening injuries upon dozens of people. On Tuesday evening, the death toll stood at three.

'We moved fast,' said Jim Hooley, chief of Boston Emergency Medical Services.

Rescuer reaction was so instantaneous that it appeared to be rehearsed, and it was: Two years ago, a citywide drill required Boston police, fire-department workers, hospitals and emergency-medical service personnel to react as if bombs had been detonated across the city.

On Monday, the chaos that inevitably followed the detonation of bombs gave way immediately to an orderly procession. To spectators and runners directed away from the scene, it was an amazing sight: 'It was fantastic to see, running toward us, running so fast, just a troop of police officers and first responders,' said Adrian Budhu, 33, a marathoner who was only a minute from the finish line when the bombs exploded.

The reaction speed impressed even James Panter, an emergency-medicine physician who happened to be standing only yards from the explosion. Bent over profusely bleeding victims, applying waist belts as tourniquets, he looked up to see a cavalry of volunteers arriving with wheelchairs and stretchers. 'It was unbelievable─inspiring,' said Dr. Panter, a spectator from Georgia. 'The victims were in the medical tents within three to five minutes.'

Every ambulance in the city was deployed to the site, including many that had been stationed there to deal with any injured marathoners in need of help.

Mr. Hooley, who was in the medical tent when the bombs detonated, said the circumstances for a speedy reaction were all in the good guys' favor Monday: The blasts occurred on the ground, meaning there was no building rubble to clear. Resources and medical personnel were amassed nearby. And the bombs blew up within 3 miles of six level-one trauma units.

It also helped that the victims began arriving during shift change at several hospitals. Shift change occurs at 3 p.m. at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a three-minute drive from the blast site. Within 15 minutes of the 2:50 p.m. explosions, 28 patients arrived at Brigham and Women's. The hospital went into scramble mode, asking outgoing and incoming shifts to jump onto duty, and said it received 100% response, including from a physician and another emergency-room worker who hurried home from a conference in Maryland.

Until 3 p.m., the hospital had been so quiet that Barry Wante, director of emergency services, had left the emergency area to return to his office two blocks away. It was just then that police and fire departments began shouting on the radio about multiple people down near Copley Square. He rushed back.

Of course, emergencies are the stock in trade for many hospital personnel. 'We really are like trained athletes─we go through this all the time,' said Dr. Michael Zinner, chairman of the surgery department for the hospital. 'But it does affect you, when you are working on a kid and you think, 'This kid is probably an all-star athlete and he may never run again.' '

At Massachusetts General Hospital, chief of emergency medicine Alasdair Conn said five of the most critically injured arrived at the hospital within minutes of death. If not for their lightning-fast delivery to the hospital, he said, 'I'm convinced they'd not be alive today.'

Dr. Conn praised Boston's emergency medical technicians for spreading patients across the city and not deluging any one trauma center with too many critical patients. Dr. George Velmahos, Mass General's chief trauma surgeon, said the hospital─from its janitors to highest management─had prepared for such an event, with ample blood supply and materials for an influx of near-death patients. The hospital had finished trauma drills before with mannequins, and several doctors, including Dr. Velmahos, have worked in war-torn nations.

'The name of the game yesterday was triage and transport immediately,' said Barbara Ferrer, health commissioner for the city of Boston. 'From my perspective,The medical response was unbelievable.'

两年前的波士顿马拉松赛上曾出现打破世界纪录的成绩，而周一举行的本年度波士顿马拉松赛发生爆炸案后，有关人员又上演了令人瞩目的快速救援。

这场竞赛攸关人的生命。

周一下午，马拉松赛终点线附近发生爆炸还不足五分钟，大多数受害者已经被用轮式救援工具运送到距事发地点大约100码(约合91米)的巨大医疗帐篷里，在那里志愿医务人员先稳定住这些人的伤势，然后再将他们送上快速驶往医院的救护车。此时各家医院已经动员起了多支医生和护士团队。

Reuters周一，当参赛选手们接近终点线时，爆炸发生。救援工作的高效率要归功于仔细的规划、具体执行人员的英勇以及运气因素。高效的救援工作所起的重要作用是无法估量的。爆炸给数十人造成了危及生命的身体伤害，但截至周二晚，此次事件造成的死亡人数依然是三人。

波士顿紧急医疗服务系统(Boston Emergency Medical Services)的负责人胡利(Jim Hooley)说，我们行动迅速。

救援人员这一次的反应速度是如此之快，以至于救援工作看上去似乎是经过事先排练的。确实有过演练。两年前，波士顿举行了一次全市范围内的紧急救援演习，当时要求波士顿警察部门、消防人员、医院和紧急医疗服务人员要像波士顿市内真的发生多处炸弹爆炸那样做出反应。

救援人员的反应速度甚至给急诊科医生潘特(James Panter)也留下了深刻印象，爆炸发生时他碰巧站在离事发地点只有几码远的地方。潘特当时立刻俯身去查看那些大量流血的受害者，他把腰带临时用作止血带，就在抬起头的一刹那，他看到一批志愿者带着轮椅和带轮担架赶了过来。来自佐治亚州的潘特事后说，这真难以置信，当时的场面太鼓舞人了，事发后三到五分钟内受害者们就被送进了医疗帐篷。

波士顿市的每一辆救护车都被派往了事发现场，其中有许多在事发前就已经在那里待命，以便随时救助需要帮助的受伤马拉松选手。

炸弹被引爆时胡利正好在医疗帐篷中，他说周一种种条件均有利于医护人员迅速做出响应：爆炸发生在平地上，这意味着不需要清除任何建筑物瓦砾；各种资源和医务人员就在附近待命；爆炸发生地距离六个一级创伤收治中心的距离不到3英里（约合4.8公里）。

另外一项有利条件是，受害者被送到医院时正值多家医院的交接班时间。布里格姆与妇女医院(Brigham and Women's Hospital)据爆炸地点仅有3分钟的车程，这家医院的换班时间为下午三点。周一下午2点50分爆炸发生后的15分钟内， 28名患者被送到布里格姆与妇女医院。医院立即进入急救模式，要求即将下班和上班的医护人员全部上岗。医院说这一要求得到所有人的积极响应，其中包括刚从马里兰州开完会赶往家中的一名医生和另一名急诊室工作人员。

Associated Press医护人员救助爆炸案伤者，将他们抬上救护车。很多伤者在案发几分钟内就得到了救治。直到周一下午3点前，这家医院都静悄悄的，急救室主任万特(Barry Wante)因此离开急救室回到两个街区外的办公室。就在那时警察和消防部门在无线电中疾呼：科普利广场(Copley Square)附近有多人倒下。万特急忙赶回医院。

当然，对很多医院工作人员来说，急救可谓家常便饭。这家医院的外科手术主管津纳(Michael Zinner)说，我们就像训练有素的运动员，这种情况经常发生；但这确实会影响你；当你在为一个孩子实施急救的时候，你会想，这孩子可能是一个全明星运动员，他可能再也跑不起来了。

马萨诸塞综合医院(Massachusetts General Hospital)急救医学部主任康恩(Alasdair Conn)说有五名伤势最严重的病人送医的时间如果再晚几分钟就死了。康恩说，这些伤者如果不是以闪电般的速度送到本院，我确信他们不会活到今天。

波士顿的急救人员将患者分散到该市的各家医院，而不是让某家创伤收治中心接受过多的危重病人。这一点得到了康恩的赞誉。马萨诸塞综合医院的创伤外科主管维尔马霍斯(George Velmahos)说，该院从门卫到最高管理层都为此类事件做足了准备，比如血库供应充足，为突然涌入的濒死病人提供的各种材料也很齐备。该院此前曾用人体模型进行过多次创伤急救演练，包括维尔马霍斯在内的多名医生都曾在饱受战争蹂躏的国家工作过。

波士顿市卫生专员费勒(Barbara Ferrer)说，昨天这场比赛的关键是迅速确定患者伤势并立即送往医院；在我看来，医疗响应速度快得令人难以置信。