Subject: Epps’ article for 12.15.06

The call came about 10:30 p.m. last Friday night. It had been a full evening with a wedding and reception following a full day. I was just about to head to bed when the phone rang.

I received the news that one of our 6-year-old children had plunged off a sofa smashing her face into the corner of an end table. She and her parents were at Piedmont Fayette Hospital in the emergency room. The phone call revealed that she had sustained a laceration to her face and there was some question about whether her nose was broken. Immediately, I rushed to the car and headed out to the hospital.

Jackie, short for Jacqueline, is a beautiful blonde with a sweet smile and an even sweeter disposition. I once saw a picture of actress Meg Ryan when she was about 6 and, I swear, Jackie and Meg look like twins in their photos. I would have gone to the hospital if it had been any of the children in our congregation but this was personal. Jackie is my granddaughter.

I met my son outside the E.R. and he took me back to the room where she was being tended. There were some people from our church in the waiting area, but I didn’t even see them as, worried about Jackie, I rushed quickly through the area.

Jackie was in a bed in one of the rooms, her mother beside her. Blood was all over her blouse and a number of blood-soaked dressings were in the trash can beside the bed.

Jackie, who always has a smile for everyone had no smile to offer this night. A cut ran from the bottom of her left nostril in a 45-degree angle toward the edge of her left upper lip. The cut also extended up deep inside her nostril. Her face was puffy and swollen. The hospital personnel had immediately moved her into a room, by-passing the waiting area. I was grateful for that.

Over the course of the next several hours, she received the careful, gentle, and compassionate care of two wonderful men. Dr. Russell Trevena, a man with one of the best bedside manners I have had the fortune to witness, examined the frightened child with as much care and concern as though she were his own.

He explained every move and procedure to her and, much to my surprise, kept her relatively calm. Her nose, it turned out, wasn’t broken but she would need stitches, a prospect that terrified Jackie. She need not have worried.

Jamie Maxwell, an emergency medical technician and emergency room technician, over a period of about half an hour, administered a gel that numbed the area to be stitched. Jackie wouldn’t even need to get a shot, she was told.

Both Dr. Trevena and Mr. Maxwell kept up a steady conversation with Jackie, asking all sorts of questions that engaged her and kept her mind off the prospect of being stitched.

Finally, the moment arrived for her cut to be mended and, deliberately sitting on her hands and preparing herself for what was to come, Jackie exhibited far more courage than I would have demonstrated at the same age.

There was one moment, when her face was covered by a blue cloth, that she panicked and called for her mother, but it passed quickly.

Even during the stitching, Dr. Trevena, aided by Mr. Maxwell, calmly talked the little girl through the procedure, informing her exactly what was happening and what was about to occur. Finally, it was over.

The friends from the church were allowed to come and visit her and, shortly thereafter, she was discharged. I arrived home at 1:20 a.m. Saturday morning, weary but grateful that the damage had been limited and grateful that Jackie had the caring experience of Dr. Trevena and Mr. Maxwell.

When I was a child, not all of my experiences with physicians and dentists were pleasant. A few were downright horrifying and resulted in some long-term effects.

A few days after the fall, Jackie looked as though she had been in a losing prizefight with Clubber Lang. But the smile is back and the swelling will recede and the bruises will fade. They say she might not even have a scar but it’s too early to tell.

She was featured on in-school television this week at her elementary school and, although she appeared nervous because of her bruises and stitches, she was still beautiful.

I am always grateful for our community’s medical personnel but, as I said, this time it was personal. My thanks to Dr. Trevena, Mr. Maxwell, and the nurses, technicians, and other staff of Piedmont Fayette Hospital. You came through when we needed you!