Check Up for the Counselor

Posted on Tue Aug 18, 2020 @ 5:35am by Commander Amia Telamon M.D. & Lieutenant T'Lul
Edited on on Tue Aug 18, 2020 @ 5:30pm

1,696 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD04, 0900

[ON]

Having completed her meeting with the Captain and Executive Officer, it was necessary to next check in with the Chief Medical Officer. First, all passwords and command codes for the medical files needed to be passed to her and secondly, the mandatory check up at a new position had to be completely. T'Lul knew that she was in optimum health. She also knew that in August, pon farr was going to affect her. She had still not decided whether to try to curtail that or not and making notes on her emotional states seemed like an interesting prospect.

Lost in her thoughts, she entered sickbay.

Amia had been told there was a new Chief Counsellor likely to take up her post shortly and she was frankly very glad to hear this news. There was always an overlap in the two chiefs' jobs, not so much of doing each other's work but in needing each other's input to make a whole picture of the patients' needs and crew welfare. In fact, on a station like DS5 where there was also a large civilian population, even with civilian doctors like Opal, there were always referrals between medical and counselling. It was a nice interaction and was sorely missed if there was no Chief Counsellor in post.

Hearing that the Lieutenant who had been appointed was a Vulcan, Amia did feel a little curiosity about her choice of career but she had an excellent reputation for being successful and much respected in that career so it needed an open minded review and introduction before any conclusions could be even beginning to form. Amia had plenty of patience to see how this would work out and lots of enthusiasm and optimism to go with it so she was upbeat when she spotted a Vulcan Lieutenant whom she had never seen before, walk into Sickbay wearing a medical "Teal" uniform.

She went straight over and, knowing better than to hold out her hand to shake with a Vulcan, she put her hand up and formed the Vulcan greeting shape with it, smiling broadly. "Lieutenant T'Lul, I presume?" she asked. "Welcome, are you here for your joining the crew medical or just to introduce yourself?"

T'Lul noticed the greeting from the Chief Medical Officer and raised her right hand in kind and said, "You presume correctly. I am Lieutenant T'Lul. Live long and prosper." T'Lul waited to see if there would be a reply before continuing. She would continue after a few seconds regardless.

Amia smiled broadly and replied "Live long and prosper".

"I presume that you are Commander Telamon, the Chief Medical Officer. I have come for two purposes. First, I have come for the mandatory medical examination upon arrival. Second, I seek the clearances required to perform my duties as Counselor. After that, I am at yours and the crew's disposal."

"I am indeed and in that case, let's get started on your standard check up so you can settle in." she added and opened out one arm towards a cubicle that contained a bio-bed, just to one side of the main aisle that they were standing in. "Please hop up on the bed and make yourself comfortable please" she added and as that was happening she tapped her comm badge to inform Sickbay Reception that she was going to be occupied for about 20 minutes and in Cubicle 6 if there were to be a fire. Naturally she wasn't seriously suggesting there might be such a thing but she was using it as a light hearted metaphorical reference to any form of serious emergency that couldn't be handled by someone else in her full and vastly experience Sickbay staff. It didn't occur to her to clarify that she didn't really mean a fire in the literal sense so the reference may have been confusing to the new Counsellor but then again, perhaps she might already be more than used to the oddities of human chatter.

T'Lul obediently lifted herself onto a biobed. "Would you prefer that I sit or lie?" she asked the Doctor. After a small pause the Vulcan added, "I was wondering why you have not engaged in a great deal of small talk. I have come to understand that small talk is something that makes patients comfortable. Therefore, your lack thereof to this moment makes me wonder at such lack of participation in that ritual. Is it because you are respecting my heritage, because you are uncomfortable around me, or something completely different?"

"It is my attempt to respect your cultural heritage but if you would feel more comfortable as a patient then I'm fully qualified and able to chatter at length." Amia smiled broadly.

"I must admit that I do not usually participate in small talk other than when I have a patient," T'Lul told Amia. "It is one of the many mysteries that I have yet to solve about other races. But not understanding something and not respecting the observational difference because of it are two different things." She looked deeply into Amia's eyes. "Why is it that you small talk with patients? I do understand that it has something to do with comfort but I cannot understand why idle chat would have a calming effect."

"It's just social interaction." Amia returned the genuine and searching gaze. "By finding something to talk about together, folk are often distracted from the anxiety of a medical facility and examination, or anything else they might find awkward. Some people find silences awkward and others just like to find out about each other with lightweight chatter?" She shrugged, feeling the reasoning might be a bit tenuous.

"It's only the smallest part logical but there's a little bit in there somewhere if you dig deep enough" she smiled and began to program the biobed's med-arch by touching lightly and rapidly on the LCARS panel at the side nearest her. "Does that make any sense to you?"

"I believe that it should make more sense than it actually does," T'Lul admitted. "As a counselor, part of my job is to sort through a person's emotions to help that person solve the actual problem. The emotions get in the way. And yet, I find that those emotions have a logical component to them. Unfortunately, it is not a like a traditional chemical reaction or physical reaction. Those have set rules which are followed. Emotions seem to have a different set of rules which I have yet to discover."

"I think the main 'rule' with emotions is that they are different to every individual in every different circumstance and with every different mix of others interacting as well." Amia smiled and changed to another setting on the biobed, sending some more results to the hub and starting more scans. "There is about as many 'rules' to emotions as there are to the Chaos Theory!" she added and then finished the comment with "In my humble opinion" and a wide friendly grin.

"Chaos theory, actually, is a good analogy. After all, it postulates that there are underlying patterns, interconnectedness, constant feedback loops, repetition, self-similarity, fractals, and self-organization despite what we see as chaos. I believe that this may be the case with emotions, as well. Otherwise, why have them?" T'Lul asked rhetorically. "There must be some evolutionary advantage to them and a logic which they follow."

"Definitely an evolutionary purpose I think. People fall in love and it helps encourage them to procreate. People get scared, it triggers their fight or flight responses which probably works with them getting angry too. People get embarrassed, it makes them be more wary and careful..... all quite logical on those levels?" Amia elaborated but with a question to see if T'Lul might agree because as a Counsellor, the why people do things was more her area of expertise than that of the CMO.

"Those are true on a basic level," T'Lul agreed. "However, as beings evolved, there are more levels of complexity. And, one would wonder why the more basic emotions have not evolved when beings are evolving. And often times, emotions can mislead or cause difficulties." She looked down considering the problem and how Vulcans would agree with the latter, opposed to her thesis. She finally looked back up. "I will sort it out." Changing back to the topic of her physical, "I presume that the physical shows that my health is either superior or within normal standards for a Vulcan."

"Yes, both misled and mis-read by those seeing them too" Amia finished the subject of emotions. "and yes, you're in great health and all clear for duty."

Amia flicked LCARS again and the bio-arch folded itself away whilst the CMO fed the main computer station a small rod of the size of a pen. There was some more flickering and a green light indicated that all was finished. Amia removed the "pen" shaped data rod and held it out for the Counsellor to take.

"Here you go. Your own copy of your results. The main information it shows is stored in your very confidential master medical sealed folder which is back on Earth at the SF Centre.

"Any questions you'd like to ask while you're here?" she added.

"Thank you," T'Lul responded, taking the copy. "However, I wish to make sure that I have access to all the appropriate medical records and counseling records. Can you show me all the quirks of the system?"

"I'd be happy to." Amia enthused. "Would you like to go through it in your new Counselling Suite so that any settings you choose can be already installed right there and then?" she asked. "Or we could take a look at it in my Office?" she offered an alternative in case the Counsellor wasn't feeling at home in her new Suite yet.

"Logically, it probably would not matter; however, I think going through it on my console might make a slight difference as I will be there every day." T'Lul gave a small nod. "Lead on, if you would please."

To Be Continued

JP between:


Lieutenant T'Lul
Chief Counselor
DS5

and

Cmdr Amia Telamon
CMO - DS5

 

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