A St. Louis-based SSM Health nurse and a group of other medical practitioners were on standby in case of a national disaster during President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Feb. 6, according to KMOX News Radio 1120.
Helen Sandkuhl, MSN, RN, director of nursing, emergency, trauma and disaster services at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital, is part of the National Disaster Medical System. The organization deploys medics to areas struck by severe natural disasters like Hurricane Matthew or the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Mo.
But on Feb. 6, Ms. Sandkuhl was positioned just outside the door to the U.S. House Chamber on standby in case of a natural disaster or attack.
"My group was a group of six. We had a physician, nurse practitioner, two nurses, and two medics," Ms. Sandkuhl told KMOX. "If [there] was a terrorist event or a biologic event or something like that, the first group would go in and stabilize the scene, and then [my group] would move in quickly."
She told the television station the only medical emergency she ended up treating that night was for an individual who got overheated in the chamber, which was filled with at least 1,500 lawmakers, dignitaries and guests.
To access the full report, click here.