Lawful, definitely. She has RULES and you WILL follow them.
Actual femur removal would push her to Evil, but she has it in her to make St. Cuthbert proud.
Even so, there’s not a whole lot you can do with a broken toe. You can take it to the hospital… get it set… but if the skin’s not broken, then there’s nothing to bandage or disinfect. You stay off it and it’s gonna hurt. Your options don’t cover a wide range; go to the hospital or don’t. It is still gonna hurt.
Hey now. My wife happens to love watching videos of horrible/disgusting medical conditions for fun. I’m squicked the heck out by that stuff, but I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t knock it until you try it.
Feels like having a basic First Aid certificate should be on the list of R.A. qualifications, no?
I mean, I would say it’s a good idea for just anyone, but if your job is specifically to be the first person people go to when there’s a problem?
i mean even if she does have First Aid cert, a crushed/broken toe is still pretty firmly “go to the hospital” territory. if Joyce were gushing blood, it’d be another matter, but it seems to pretty much be subcutaneous.
There’s nothing to do with a broken toe, first-aid wise, besides tell them to stay off it and go to a hospital to get it set. Theoretically, Ruth may know how to set a toe herself, but she’s probably not allowed to try by the school anyway as to avoid lawsuits.
Well, this toe isn’t confirmed broken yet, but it is absolutely confirmed to be swelling. Ice it down; that’s the First Aid that should be happening here.
First Aid most often isn’t about providing full medical treatment right on the site; it’s about preventing the injury from growing worse before it can be examined by a professional and treated properly.
Well, yes and no. It looks like it’s red because there’s a ton of blood underneath the skin. If it’s anything like when I broke my toe (on a painting) it’s simply super swollen and filled with blood instead of actually bleeding.
I don’t want to, particularly, but telling this lot to not do something doesn’t work.
Jerry
I mean its not a toe but…
One of my coworkers got his finger cut off with a conveyor belt about a week ago. Does that count? 😀
Stupid idiot figured its a good idea to poke at the sensor with his hand cause it didn’t see the item it was supposed to.
Bladeglory
Unfortunately, that’s as graphic as my story gets. The second toe on my right foot got extremely swollen and red/purple. It was fairly unpleasant but I was lucky and kept the toenail. I suspect I’ll be able to predict rain with it someday!
White Rice
Years ago when I was still practicing taekwondo I was called up in class for a demonstration (the higher ranked kids had the responsibility of being tossed about when new stuff was being taught so we had a better feel for it & could help the younger kids when they needed it). Anyway, I got up, walked to the mat, and caught my big toe under the edge of the mat. I felt the tug, and decided to just pull my foot up (I still don’t know why I did it, other than being young & stupid). There’s a loud crack as the mat slaps back onto the floor, I halfway trip, then continue walking to the teacher. One of the other kids in class calls out to me to look at my foot. I look down & the toe that had been caught has had blood pool up on top of the nail, so much that I couldn’t see the nail at all (split the nail in half from base to tip, in addition to breaking the toe itself). I hadn’t felt anything yet (minor shock?) and I just stared at it for a second before telling the teacher that I was going to clean up my toe.
I definitely wanted to afterwards (once I could stand again) but at the time I was simply trying to walk down the hallway illuminated solely by the kitchen light shining around the corner. I’d forgotten some idiot (not me) had left it propped up in there.
Roborat
Darn, I thought you were doing something cool like painting with your foot.
Bones have blood vessels in them so breaking a bone = breaking the blood vessels = bruising and swelling. It’s one of he biggest signs of a break, along with pain.
*stubbed my toes and banged my shins enough to know the signs, never broken one though
According to Google Maps, the IU-Bloomington Health Center is about half a mile from Read. Jacob would probably want to use fireman carry instead of princess carry for that.
Except, it’s not open until 8:00 AM and (based on context) this is maybe 6:00 AM? If she’s not gonna wait around until 8:00, it’s off to the emergency room, nearly 2 miles away. She’d probably get there quicker on Uber than on Jacob.
My dorm had a health advocate (not the RA, but also a student employed by the university who had taken basic training course over the summer) equipped with basic stuff, like bandages, athletic wrap tape and condoms. Possibly some colleges would combine the roles?
It wasn’t common in my experience! That said, Jacob’s logic was “maybe your R.A. has a first aid kit,” which… still makes a sort of sense to me? I used to be in Girl Scouts, and there it was totally reasonable to assume that anyone in any sort of authority position had access to a first aid kit. (Because. Y’know. They were required to.) So I’m not surprised to see that logic applied to other minor authority figures outside a scouting context.
Clarification: This isn’t to say that I assume Jacob was in Scouts (although he certainly could have been!). Just that the whole “minor authority figure = first aid kit” is a thought process that’s familiar enough to me that I don’t find it weird or illogical.
But I would think there would be closer first aid kits.
Also, I’m not sure what he expected a first aid kit to accomplish. Bad plan, Jacob.
segnosaur
Perhaps there may have been closer first aid kids, but would people automatically know of their location? And would they be accessible at that hour?
As for what it would accomplish… Jacob may not know anything about first aid (so seeing someone with at least some training, even just as an RA) might have made sense. The kit itself may have contained one of those ice packs (that get activated when squeezed or shaken) which may have helped the swelling. If there was any blood it would have bandages. Might also have had something to act as a splint.
Eh, maybe? Your RA is kinda one of your first contacts. MAYBE she knows how to fix something. More likely she can tamp down on your panic a bit and point you in the right direction.
Being able to give basic aid is part of the RAs job. Furthermore, any RA would be trained on what to do for an injury, especially as injuries would need to be documented and reported due to being a potential lawsuit. I mean, heck, Joyce just broke one of her toes while using campus exercise equipment, without proper safety instruction or signs advising of safe practices. Thats a lawyers’ wet dream.
Ruth was right. Her job is phoney and it is baloney.
Yeah, I had first responder training when I was an RA, and of course knew where the building’s first aid kits were. And I kept basic supplies in my room (partly because I needed them so often due to clumsiness, but partly because it was a good thing to have as an RA). Plus, I had the phone numbers of a professional on campus for every purpose, including health and injuries, given to me during training.
So basically, not a bad idea by Jacob, except that Ruth is the RA. And seemingly in general the RA training and oversight at this institution is lacking.
When faced with an injury that neither experience nor training have prepared you to deal with, your best bet is probably to seek advice from those who have more experience and/or training. In a dorm, the RA has probably seen more and more various types of injuries than anyone who has not volunteered in a hospital.
Not related to dorms, but back when I was a cook, I once managed to cut my pinkie to the bone. It didn’t hurt, and it didn’t bleed, and I remember looking at it and thinking, “What the hell do I do now?”
I showed it to my co-worker with just that question, and he teleported back five feet, and the kitchen manager drove me to the urgent care clinic where it got sewed up. I will never forget the look on the doctor’s face when he said, wonderingly, “The joint capsule is intact!”
Anyway, my point is: if you have an injury serious enough to cause severe pain and/or nausea, and if you have a survival instinct, you’re going to err on the side of treating it seriously.
(And if you’ve ever wondered what your finger muscles look like underneath the skin, I have the answer: raw chicken thigh meat.)
At a previous job I managed to cut my thumb pretty deep with a utility knife. Went to the local ER with a co-worker to get it stitched up. I can confirm your observation of finger muscles. 😉 Also, the fat is kinda yellow.
A few days later a memo came out about workplace safety and how the company doesn’t want to have to report things to OSHA.
I managed to cut off a piece of my thumb while cooking at home. I was like “well shit”, then I put the loose piece back and a bandaid on. It healed up fine and now I have an oval scar on my thumb.
It’s where you go when you’re not sure what to do. So I think that covers injuries that don’t easily fall into either “stick a plaster on it” or “emergency”.
Discussion (204) - “Look at”
Ana Chronistic
“yup, that’s a fucked-up toe” *checks off bucket list*
Nobody
Next up ‘see a fucked up ankle’
chris2315
#3 – Fucked up femur
L33tmaster
#4 – fucked up pancreas
bluebirdy
At some point Ruth’s gonna realize she wants to become a doctor
to see fucked up things
Roborat
And then the comic turns into Moon Over June.
shadebug
You’d think that would happen with the slipshine stuff but here we are
JohnF
#5 – Fuck up a lemur. Drink can drive you to do bad things.
Nobody
Nah you misread it, that one says “fuck up femurs”
Dean
Fucked up lemur femur.
CandidCanid
purple
AnvilPro
I mean… yeah? I’m not sure exactly what they were expecting from Ruth, let alone a half-asleep one
Some1
People tend to forget that Ruth is still essentially neutral evil
Woobie
Lawful, definitely. She has RULES and you WILL follow them.
Actual femur removal would push her to Evil, but she has it in her to make St. Cuthbert proud.
Bagge
In general when you bring your problems to Ruth you expect them to… disappear.
Nobody
Problems? I think you mean anything
SomeDumbGuy
Even so, there’s not a whole lot you can do with a broken toe. You can take it to the hospital… get it set… but if the skin’s not broken, then there’s nothing to bandage or disinfect. You stay off it and it’s gonna hurt. Your options don’t cover a wide range; go to the hospital or don’t. It is still gonna hurt.
TachyonCode
Hey now. My wife happens to love watching videos of horrible/disgusting medical conditions for fun. I’m squicked the heck out by that stuff, but I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t knock it until you try it.
Hinoron
Feels like having a basic First Aid certificate should be on the list of R.A. qualifications, no?
I mean, I would say it’s a good idea for just anyone, but if your job is specifically to be the first person people go to when there’s a problem?
hekatonkhir
i mean even if she does have First Aid cert, a crushed/broken toe is still pretty firmly “go to the hospital” territory. if Joyce were gushing blood, it’d be another matter, but it seems to pretty much be subcutaneous.
Unusually Angry Hippie
There’s nothing to do with a broken toe, first-aid wise, besides tell them to stay off it and go to a hospital to get it set. Theoretically, Ruth may know how to set a toe herself, but she’s probably not allowed to try by the school anyway as to avoid lawsuits.
Hinoron
Well, this toe isn’t confirmed broken yet, but it is absolutely confirmed to be swelling. Ice it down; that’s the First Aid that should be happening here.
First Aid most often isn’t about providing full medical treatment right on the site; it’s about preventing the injury from growing worse before it can be examined by a professional and treated properly.
ValdVin
Ewww. Is there blood? I either can’t tell or don’t want to zoom in at all.
Peter
From personal experience, all the bleeding is likely to be subcutaneous. Meaning it will be a huge blood bruise, but no outright bleeding.
Bladeglory
Well, yes and no. It looks like it’s red because there’s a ton of blood underneath the skin. If it’s anything like when I broke my toe (on a painting) it’s simply super swollen and filled with blood instead of actually bleeding.
ValdVin
Ok I should have mentioned that mine was a rhetorical question. ?
I don’t need anyone’s graphic stories, but since we’ve started, let ’em rip!
Arawn
I’d rather not hear about ripped off toe stories again, thanks.
ValdVin
I don’t want to, particularly, but telling this lot to not do something doesn’t work.
Jerry
I mean its not a toe but…
One of my coworkers got his finger cut off with a conveyor belt about a week ago. Does that count? 😀
Stupid idiot figured its a good idea to poke at the sensor with his hand cause it didn’t see the item it was supposed to.
Bladeglory
Unfortunately, that’s as graphic as my story gets. The second toe on my right foot got extremely swollen and red/purple. It was fairly unpleasant but I was lucky and kept the toenail. I suspect I’ll be able to predict rain with it someday!
White Rice
Years ago when I was still practicing taekwondo I was called up in class for a demonstration (the higher ranked kids had the responsibility of being tossed about when new stuff was being taught so we had a better feel for it & could help the younger kids when they needed it). Anyway, I got up, walked to the mat, and caught my big toe under the edge of the mat. I felt the tug, and decided to just pull my foot up (I still don’t know why I did it, other than being young & stupid). There’s a loud crack as the mat slaps back onto the floor, I halfway trip, then continue walking to the teacher. One of the other kids in class calls out to me to look at my foot. I look down & the toe that had been caught has had blood pool up on top of the nail, so much that I couldn’t see the nail at all (split the nail in half from base to tip, in addition to breaking the toe itself). I hadn’t felt anything yet (minor shock?) and I just stared at it for a second before telling the teacher that I was going to clean up my toe.
Koms
Were you kicking the painting?
Bladeglory
I definitely wanted to afterwards (once I could stand again) but at the time I was simply trying to walk down the hallway illuminated solely by the kitchen light shining around the corner. I’d forgotten some idiot (not me) had left it propped up in there.
Roborat
Darn, I thought you were doing something cool like painting with your foot.
efin98
Bones have blood vessels in them so breaking a bone = breaking the blood vessels = bruising and swelling. It’s one of he biggest signs of a break, along with pain.
*stubbed my toes and banged my shins enough to know the signs, never broken one though
butting
Sometimes Leafs fans do win.
Bagge
If nothing else, we have seen them score
shadowcell
the Maple Leafs are always a backdrop for debilitating pain
Reltzik
This is COMPLETELY UNTRUE.
…..
…. quite often they’re the foreground.
tim gueguen
On next week’s episode of Ruthus Welby, Not An MD:
“Sorry, I can’t do anything about that finger you accidentally cut off. I’m not a doctor you know.”
butting
“… but can I keep it anyway?”
Larkle
Back aboard the Jacob Express then?
Marsh Maryrose
According to Google Maps, the IU-Bloomington Health Center is about half a mile from Read. Jacob would probably want to use fireman carry instead of princess carry for that.
Except, it’s not open until 8:00 AM and (based on context) this is maybe 6:00 AM? If she’s not gonna wait around until 8:00, it’s off to the emergency room, nearly 2 miles away. She’d probably get there quicker on Uber than on Jacob.
Cholma
College is proving to be hazardous to Joyce’s health! What next, a black eye? The med staff will start to get suspicious.
Bagge
To be fair, about half of the time it is dangerous for the OTHER mother-effers health.
brionl
Is that common in dorms? Taking your boo-boos to the RA?
Larkle
My dorm had a health advocate (not the RA, but also a student employed by the university who had taken basic training course over the summer) equipped with basic stuff, like bandages, athletic wrap tape and condoms. Possibly some colleges would combine the roles?
Tori
It wasn’t common in my experience! That said, Jacob’s logic was “maybe your R.A. has a first aid kit,” which… still makes a sort of sense to me? I used to be in Girl Scouts, and there it was totally reasonable to assume that anyone in any sort of authority position had access to a first aid kit. (Because. Y’know. They were required to.) So I’m not surprised to see that logic applied to other minor authority figures outside a scouting context.
Tori
Clarification: This isn’t to say that I assume Jacob was in Scouts (although he certainly could have been!). Just that the whole “minor authority figure = first aid kit” is a thought process that’s familiar enough to me that I don’t find it weird or illogical.
Pat
But I would think there would be closer first aid kits.
Also, I’m not sure what he expected a first aid kit to accomplish. Bad plan, Jacob.
segnosaur
Perhaps there may have been closer first aid kids, but would people automatically know of their location? And would they be accessible at that hour?
As for what it would accomplish… Jacob may not know anything about first aid (so seeing someone with at least some training, even just as an RA) might have made sense. The kit itself may have contained one of those ice packs (that get activated when squeezed or shaken) which may have helped the swelling. If there was any blood it would have bandages. Might also have had something to act as a splint.
Reltzik
Eh, maybe? Your RA is kinda one of your first contacts. MAYBE she knows how to fix something. More likely she can tamp down on your panic a bit and point you in the right direction.
Wright
Being able to give basic aid is part of the RAs job. Furthermore, any RA would be trained on what to do for an injury, especially as injuries would need to be documented and reported due to being a potential lawsuit. I mean, heck, Joyce just broke one of her toes while using campus exercise equipment, without proper safety instruction or signs advising of safe practices. Thats a lawyers’ wet dream.
Ruth was right. Her job is phoney and it is baloney.
A Scientist
Yeah, I had first responder training when I was an RA, and of course knew where the building’s first aid kits were. And I kept basic supplies in my room (partly because I needed them so often due to clumsiness, but partly because it was a good thing to have as an RA). Plus, I had the phone numbers of a professional on campus for every purpose, including health and injuries, given to me during training.
So basically, not a bad idea by Jacob, except that Ruth is the RA. And seemingly in general the RA training and oversight at this institution is lacking.
Bagge
If nothing else, it wold help reduce the number of stupid things taken to the hospital without it being necessary.
Or in the case of Ruth, it might just be a convenient way of getting rid of the bodies.
Marsh Maryrose
When faced with an injury that neither experience nor training have prepared you to deal with, your best bet is probably to seek advice from those who have more experience and/or training. In a dorm, the RA has probably seen more and more various types of injuries than anyone who has not volunteered in a hospital.
Not related to dorms, but back when I was a cook, I once managed to cut my pinkie to the bone. It didn’t hurt, and it didn’t bleed, and I remember looking at it and thinking, “What the hell do I do now?”
I showed it to my co-worker with just that question, and he teleported back five feet, and the kitchen manager drove me to the urgent care clinic where it got sewed up. I will never forget the look on the doctor’s face when he said, wonderingly, “The joint capsule is intact!”
Anyway, my point is: if you have an injury serious enough to cause severe pain and/or nausea, and if you have a survival instinct, you’re going to err on the side of treating it seriously.
(And if you’ve ever wondered what your finger muscles look like underneath the skin, I have the answer: raw chicken thigh meat.)
Liquid Len
At a previous job I managed to cut my thumb pretty deep with a utility knife. Went to the local ER with a co-worker to get it stitched up. I can confirm your observation of finger muscles. 😉 Also, the fat is kinda yellow.
A few days later a memo came out about workplace safety and how the company doesn’t want to have to report things to OSHA.
Sunny
I managed to cut off a piece of my thumb while cooking at home. I was like “well shit”, then I put the loose piece back and a bandaid on. It healed up fine and now I have an oval scar on my thumb.
monkyvirus
It’s where you go when you’re not sure what to do. So I think that covers injuries that don’t easily fall into either “stick a plaster on it” or “emergency”.
ValdVin
“Wow, I may be very ill-suited for this job, but it does have it’s upsides.”
ValdVin
Full disclaimer: Autocorrect messed up my possesive with an apostrophe.
Reltzik
Upcoming feature next year: Autoautocorrect! Corrects all the errors that autocorrect makes, and fails to make!
DonDueed
Wouldn’t that be Autocorrectcorrect?
Reltzik
Technically it would be Autoautocorrectcorrect, but marketing got to name it and they didn’t care about accuracy.
Stephen Bierce
*plays Weird Al’s “Like A Surgeon” on the hacked Muzak*
Chris Phoenix
Like a sturgeon, caught for the very first time!
Like a stur ur ur urgeon, got you flopping, on my line!
Liquid Len
Thank you for that! It made my morning!
Deanatay
I love that Weird Al’s parodies are so mainstream, at this point, that people parody them. It’s so great.
Derek
will this be used by Joyce’s parents as fodder for her to return home?
Bagge
Kinda anticlimactic after their neighbor threatened her with a gun, but hey, a toe is a toe is a toe.
Hmmm. Joyce DOES seem to have a toe-problem, doesn’t she?