Harpers Ferry 12/05/09

[Regular DOC]

Folks

Is anyone planning on setting up Medical at the event on the 5th of Dec. I will be going with my unit and want to know if any other medicos will be there to hook up with.

[NoahBriggs]

How about we contact each other and divvy up the doctor's office.

Unless you want me completely out.

Up to you.

Cheers!

N. Briggs

[Regular DOC]

Noah sounds great. I look forward to working for you. Please email direct at ltfrancois@yahoo.com.

[NoahBriggs]

Just a general warning -

- Space for the doctor's office at the Yuletide event at Harpers Ferry is fast filling up - we have two surgeons, a steward, a ward matron, a nurse (I think) and at least one civilian who might be a patient. And that's the cast list that we know of. If you are going to Yuletide and have signed up for the "hospital" station, you might want to let us know so we can figure a place to stash you - we'd like to leave a little room in "Jabba's Throne Room" for the visitors, since they are they are the whole point of the program. We'd also like to send you some preliminary information so we are all literally on the same page.

No, we are not trying to exclude people or establish our "turf". Rather we want to make sure there's a fair balance of reenactors and visitors at the station. It's a two-room apartment that fills up real fast when everyone starts coming in from the cold en masse.

Be prepared to learn more about nineteenth century health and medicine than you ever wanted. If you have a low gross-out factor, then you might not want to hang around. We can discuss the different kinds of squirts while eating lunch.

[celtfiddler]

Just a general warning -

- a nurse (I think) .

Not sure what there is to think about =). I am signed up for both days to join you and my husband

[NoahBriggs]

I have forgotten to type up an AAR of the Yuletide weekend on Dec 5-6, 2009.

Brian and Kimberly Schwatka, Elaine Kessinger, Andy Scanlan and myself inhabited the "doctor's office" at Harpers Ferry. The Park has a big, ugly "Hospital" sign above the door, but we interpret the place as a true doctor's office - a place where a couple of Army surgeons act as liaisons between the Army garrison and the town populace.

Brian and I set up our toys - doctor's instruments, medicines and miscellaneous doodads medical geeks seem to acquire, no matter their economic hardships. We expected the place to be very crowded with participants plus a large park display. No park display, and not as crowded as we thought. At least enough for us to spread out our stuff and make the place look somewhat lived in.

Visitor traffic was slow but steady - the first (of many) snowfalls had begun that morning, and most of the visitors consisted of hikers, dog-walkers and the few eco-masochists who were hiking/camping in the general area. They ran the gamut of the knowledgeable to the not-so, and those who should have been knowledgeable but were not (someone who knew pharmacy but still had the nerve to say we had no anesthetics back then).

Most of the time we had the whole place to ourselves, which was fine by us. I got my fill of Brian's "No s**t; there I was" naval tales (useful for future stories). I suspect he probably got more than a lethal dose of my stories, too, and it's a wonder he did not keel over and die from a severe infection of boredom in the process.

We talked a lot of shop. Brian and Kim had a lot to offer in knowledge, and it was not too long before either of us could talk about the display. We discussed the impact of Dr. Letterman's evac system on today's battlefields, and I think we hooked a lot of visitors. Or at least piqued their curiosity to find out more.

In short, I had fun. How about you?