term “cost effective” in medicine. N Engl J Med. 1986;314:253–6.17. Edge WE, Kanter RK. Weigle CGM, Walsh RF. Reduction of

morbidity in interhospital transport by specialized pediatricstaff. Crit Care Med. 1994;22:1186–91.

18. Sharples PM, Storey A, Aynsley-Green A, Eyre JA. Avoidablefactors contributing to death of children with head injury. BMJ.1990;300:87–91.

19. Reeve WG, Runcie CJ, Reidy J, Wallace PGM. Current practicein transferring critically ill patients among hospitals in the westof Scotland. BMJ. 1990;300:85–7.

20. Macnab AJ, Alexander SM, Macrae DJ, Green G. Interfacilitytransport. In: Macnab AJ, MacRae D, Henning R (eds). Care ofthe Critically Ill Child. New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1999,p 36.

Macnab et al. COST–BENEFIT OF TRAINED TRANSPORT TEAMS 5

≡≡≡

SIRENS

For My Doctor, My Friend Who Retired*

Lifetimes are interred in earthstones,�crystal laid upon crystal.

Time and loves move on�drop upon drop,

until the glass is filled�and the stone turns to sand.

(To what consequence may we rebuke our fate?)What generation could rebuild the stone, record a new life

�lattice by lattice?Could some cosmic craftsman, remelt the sand

�blow a new glass?So few squeezes in our orange

�we toss the rind.Only so many beats in each heart

�so few bypasses.Only so many refills

�from heaven’s pharmacies.Karma, good or not, lies in these stones, my friend,

�not in our beloved Talmud.Our stars, our hopes and loves are the waters that melt

�tombs, the stones.They return in root, and branch, and blossoms, and green trees,

�life in new stars.

ROSS WHITEHEAD

Lyndhurst, Ohio

*Reprinted with permission from: Mediphors: A Literary Journal of the HealthProfessions, Bloomsburg, PA, No. 14, 2000, p 67.

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