By Betty Mill, Ph.D.
When my roommate and I decided to leave our jobs at Yale-New Haven hospital, we set out on a three-month road trip that would take us to several places through parts of the USA. We pitched a tent, slept in sleeping bags, cooked on a Coleman stove and read by the light of a Coleman lantern.
We had several exciting excursions throughout the states, but one that I vividly remember took place in Washington state at the Trojan nuclear plant.
With our Golden Eagle Pass and IDs, we signed up for a group tour of the facility. We had a briefing of what we would see, what we wouldn’t see, some rules of conduct, as well as a security check and “pat down” before boarding a secure bus that would take us out to the reactor site. The bus’s under carriage was then checked for safety by a large mirror that was rolled under the bus.
Among us were three security guards who would lead the tour. Finally, we started the tour!!
We entered a secure section of the installation listening to one of the guards tell the history of Trojan. As we drove through a second pair of gates, someone noticed a man lying unconscious on the ground in front of a large metal dumpster: He was obviously bleeding with accumulation around his head.
One of our guards went to check on the man and called security. Someone called for an ambulance but was told it would be at least a half hour before arriving. We told the remaining guards we were nurses and could evaluate and possibly treat the injury. “No one can get off this bus. This is a secure area,” we were told.
And again, we said, “We are nurses, and the man needs some kind of help now!” Finally, the guards decided to allow us off the bus with the one guard staying with us while the others continued the tour.
What we found was an unconscious man with a deep neck laceration below the back edge of his hard hat. With pressure applied, we were able to slow the bleeding and once the ambulance arrived, he was transferred to a medical facility.
In the meantime, the tour went ahead without us. After the ambulance left, the guard took us to the facility to clean up and to meet with the supervisor who thanked us for our help and offered to take us on the tour himself.
He took us down onto the main floor where the controls were located. This area had been viewed by the group from a balcony above: It was the closest they were allowed. After a time, we returned to the visitors’ center, signed out and began the next part of our trip.
Traveling to our next stop, we followed a route parallel to a river. Beautiful scenery but along the way, we noticed a person face-down floating in the moving river current. What another adventure? No, he was just snorkeling!!
After returning home, we received letters from the Washington governor as well as the Supervisor of Trojan noting our help and reporting the injured man was back at work. His injury had been caused when he was emptying trash, the lid of the dumpster fell and landed below the back edge of his hard hat causing a deep laceration.
That was quite a trip!!! Interrupted but resolved well, however, not the only excitement we had during our time on the road.
Reprinted with permission of “Our Neighborhoods,” Winter 2025-26 edition.
