Save the Puppies!

Save the Puppies

There is a crisis bubbling up at the San Antonio Medical Center (SAMC) the military’s premier training hospital. SAMC, due to security concerns, is not as accessible as it once was. Traditionally, BAMC the predecessor of SAMC relied on a triumvirate of delivery methods for new patients, EMS, Walk-ins, and Gangbanger Anonymous Drop Off (GAD). With the redesign of the campus, SAMC is down to one, EMS. The military has inadvertently ignored the medical and cultural needs of segments of the surrounding community by not accommodating GAD in the overall design. With a downturn in trauma patients, the Military’s training mission may be impacted and cause the military to revert to methods thought successfully abandoned. Such as the questionable use of dogs and goats in wound treatment training.

The San Antonio Express-News reports: 19-year-old-shot-in-both-legs-for-no-apparent-10961912.php. The shooting occurred on the east side in an economically depressed area frequented by minorities. The neighborhood has provided a valuable service, for years, to the old Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) by providing patients to challenge the skill sets of military surgeons in training. A stint at BAMC prepares the staff to walk into an operating room in Fallujah, Iraq with nary a hitch in their git-a-long.

BAMC has been undergoing renovations to come back even bigger and better as San Antonio Medical Center (SAMC). As part of the renovation, it appears that the designers have adopted the “Inman Standard” for building security. This standard means that the security perimeter is pushed out away for the main buildings. Access control begins at the outer edges of the campus, through Pedestrian Access Control (walk up) and Compound Access Control (CAC). The CAC would screen all vehicles entering the compound, meaning deliveries, ambulances, employee parking and other approved vehicles.

The Inman design failed to anticipate a time-honored method for delivering patients to the hospital, the GAD. Which brings us back to our gangbanger with a bullet in each leg, he called a buddy to take him to the hospital. But that only lasted a few blocks before the buddy turned the banger to his mother. His mama called EMS. Imagine Mama taking her shot up son to the hospital; they might expect her to pay for his treatment. The second barrier to Mama delivering Junior to the hospital is, to get through security one must present valid identification. If one is driving, that means a driver’s license and proof of insurance. Neither one of which is required in many areas of San Antonio.

It is entirely acceptable to deliver an injured comrade, heck even a wounded enemy to the hospital, providing it can be done anonymously. An anonymous drop-off, GAD, properly done entails driving to the Emergency Room entrance and kicking the patient out of the backseat as the car rolls by, at speed. A checkpoint to enter the hospital grounds a quarter mile away is a barrier to GAD.

Construction still continues at SAMC; there is time to rectify the situation. Let me introduce you to the gangster drop off area. The GAD can be located outside the perimeter on the Highway Service Road. The first step is signage identifying the drop off point and some helpful hints.

Signs Directing Gangsters to the drop off point

Next some helpful tips for both the driver and patient.

Proper Landing Technique

And finally the target. If the target can stop this 18 wheeler, it can handle the fattest gangbanger.

The addition of the gangster drop off area is a win-win for everybody. Gangsters can continue to get free medical care at the best facility in the city while proving surgeons in training the opportunity to work on shootings, stabbings, and crush injuries in a real-world setting. It shows respect for longstanding community cultural traditions. With a steady flow of gangbangers, surgeons won’t have time to work on dogs and goats. Think of all the dogs and goats this will save! It’s not like anybody will get attached to a gangbanger.