Page 77 of Rise Above

“Yes, I can. It depends on the situation, of course.”

“Right, that makes sense. Well, she just arrived.

She’s expressing suicidal ideation, and psych stated she’s third priority. Can you talk to her?”

“Sure, Dr. Bowie. Which room?” Suicidal ideation

was worrisome, but I wasn’t sure how it made the case interesting. We had plenty of patients who expressed

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suicidal ideation; it didn’t make their case any more or less important.

“427.” He nodded at me. “Thanks, Aife.” Nodding back at him, I left his office. Sometimes,

these cases took up the rest of my day. Usually, I was able to clear the patient and move on with their discharge plan. This was the first time a doctor personally asked me to get involved, which is probably what made the case interesting to me. I wanted—needed—more information, so I basically ran over to the charge nurse.

“Any reason Bowie wants me to check out 427?” I

asked the charge, Kelsey.

She looked at me and frowned. That was not a good

sign. Kelsey was almost perpetually happy. “She came in complaining of severe headaches, vision loss, and trouble sleeping. Once she got a room, she told Martin that the pain made her want to die. Bowie wants to rule out SI before going forward with treatment. She did have an MRI already while in the emergency room.”

“Alright, thanks.” I quickly printed off her face

sheet and headed to her room. She was a few years younger than me based on her birthday. Peeking into her room, I saw a very young woman, clearly in pain. I knocked on her door and entered the room, closing the door behind me for privacy.

“Hi, my name is Aife, and I’m a social worker here.

I just need to confirm some information.”

“Sure.” Her voice came out soft, like she was

pushing through immense pain. Her face was contorted, eyes pinched close.

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I verified her birthday, address, insurance, and

phone number. I checked all her other information before moving on to the real reason I was in her room. “Some of my next questions might make you uncomfortable. You can always pause before answering if you need to, okay?”

“Okay.” She yawned. Dark circles lined her eyes. It

was clear that she probably wasn’t sleeping.

“Do you want to kill yourself?”

“Sometimes,” she said it quietly, like she was

ashamed of admitting it.

“Can you expand on that? Are you actively wanting