Little Lolly's Small Adventures: Sea days & hospital bed manoeuvres.

Opening one of the two crates which the hospital beds came in.

We are now into our second day at sea and life goes on, on board, for both guests and crew. For the guests - it's a bit like a floating hotel. For crew - it is another story. From plumbing and electrics to be dealt with, to catering and entertaining; as well as navigation of the ship and much more.

While in San Diego a consignment of hospital beds was loaded into the marshalling area of the ship via a big hatch. Paul was eager to get the boxes opened up, old beds brought down and the new ones brought up. Easy. Or so he thought. It turned out to be a bit of a headache and a jigsaw puzzle, lateral thinking and Houdini manoeuvres.

One new hospital bed ready to roll.

The birthing table, which has been an examination table, was quite compact and easy to take
downstairs, via a lift, once on a trolley. It was rather heavy to get it off the floor onto the trolley but the lads showed their muscles and got it on. One down, three beds to go!

The trauma stretcher and two hospital beds, themselves, had to be stripped of their mattresses and pillows and taken down separately. Getting the hospital beds out and down stairs was easier than the trauma bed because they didn't have much equipment underneath and could be folded if necessary to fit into one of the lifts.

Easy does it.

One old hospital bed ready to go downstairs. Linda (nurse)
is helping Mike (doctor) and Ryan (his his husband).

How the old trauma stretcher was brought into the infirmary in the first place, we don't know. The crew managed to manipulate it around corners and down the corridors only to find that it wouldn't fit in the passenger lift nor the crew lift. After a lot of thinking and throwing ideas around, the decided to take the trauma stretcher down the crew stairwell. Which is narrow and steep. One of the lads got a rope and tied it to one end of the bed and the loose end was tied across the hallway to a rail. A couple of chaps went down the stairs backwards, supporting the bed from the bottom while another group manhandled the bed from the top of the stairs with the aid of the rope. Imagine what would have happened if the rope failed or let go ... runaway stretcher trolley! When the stretcher was finally at the bottom of the steps the crew had to turn the trauma stretcher on its side and turn it around the narrow stairwell door into the passageway and out into the main corridor. From there it was put back on its wheels and taken to the marshalling area.

The new emergency stretcher was a bit too long to fit in the passenger lifts let alone the crew lift so it was turned upside down (so wheels and mechanisms wouldn't get in the way during the lifting process) and bodily carried/manipulated up the main staircase to the next level. It was then carefully turned over onto its wheels and wheeled down the corridors to the infirmary. It was problematic getting it through the infirmary doors and into the treatment room so once again the crew had to lift and turn the bed at various angles until they could get it in through the door.

One of the new beds finally makes up to the next floor via the crew lift.

The new hospital beds were a bit too long to fit in the crew lift but somehow they managed to get them carefully angled in. Once wheeled in as far as the bed could go, the end was lifted up at a vertical angle until the final wheels could get inside the lift door. A few of the crew crammed into the lift with the bed to hold and support it until the next floor level was reached and then everyone piled out and the bed lowered back down carefully without crushing anyone. As with the emergency stretcher, the new hospital beds would not fit around corners and so more manipulation and thinking was required to get them lifted and angled properly to get them through doors and around corridor corners. It was heavy work for them but they worked as a team. I really take my hat off to them. They did such a good job.

The old beds will likely be given to a hospital in Mexico or Costa Rica; or any hospital that could do with a secondhand bed. They are in good condition still.

Tomorrow we will see land again and dock at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I wonder what the day will hold.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Paul getting a ride down the crew corridor.
Staff found it hilarious to see one of their senior 'bosses'
fooling around.

The birthing table (!) was used as an examination table.

Mike, one of the doctors, getting an old bed from the ward with the help of his husband.

Hospital beds in the guest room corridor, waiting for
crew to take them downstairs.

The old crash stretcher ready to go downstairs.

Mike, Ryan and crew thinking what to do next....

The old crash stretcher is never going to fit in the passenger lift.
Plan A has failed.

Plan B - taking the crash stretcher to the crew lift

Ehm... it won't fit in the lift so now what?
Plan C - go down the stairs?

Hold the rope!

Don't let go!

Gotta get around that corner ...

Trauma stretcher and hospital bed ready to be taken upstairs.

New trauma stretcher upside down at the bottom of
the main staircase.

The hospital bed (foreground) minus mattress and
equipment ready to be taken upstairs as well.

How the heck do we get it up there????

Giving it a heave-ho and man-handling to the stairs.
Ryan (far left) and Mike (right) give a helping hand. I hope nobody
ends up with chronic back strain after all this.

Going up very slowly, step by heavy step.

One more flight of steps to go. Don't scrape the handrail!

Trauma stretcher upstairs in the treatment room at last and mattress put on.

Now to get the hospital beds upstairs. They are going to
try and get it into the crew lift as it is closer to the infirmary.

Can they get it in the lift without having to dismantle it?

Upstairs at last and trying to get the beds to the infirmary.
The doorway and passage are very narrow so they have to turn
the beds sideways.

Finally one of the beds comes in via the infirmary
reception area

Finally one of the beds comes in via the infirmary reception
area and will go through the next set of doors on the right,
into the intensive care unit.