Omegans, C-Spacers, Everyone - We Need Your Help!

[Cross-posted to MedNet, CitadelNet, ANN Forums, and 8 others]

Alright folks, here's the deal. Some of you native Omegans might already know that the assorted Shepard Memorial Hospitals and a few of the other clinics are starting to form a little support network for themselves. Because let's face it - trying to run a medical facility on Omega is shit, particularly when you're on your own. So we're working together to share supplies and basically just increase coverage on the station, so more people can get help when they need it. Well, we've decided to make it official - me and several other medical professionals on station are now proud members of the Omega Health Organisation (OHO). Problem is, we still need help, and that's where you lot come in. Lemme give you a quick run-down of what we need:

Scientists - Epidemiologists, immunologists, bacteriologists, virologists... Basically, any sort of scientist that specialises in disease. See, Omega has the same melting pot of alien species as the Citadel, but pretty much no people studying how disease can be transmitted amongst them. It's no secret that there's a new plague (of varying severity) every few months here, but no one can study them - we're too busy treating injuries and drug overdoses and all that. Aria usually just seals off the affected districts to stop the disease spreading, but that leaves a lot of people out to die. If we had people studying and understanding what's going on behind the quarantines, maybe we could save those people.

Supplies - As you might imagine, medical equipment is fucking expensive. Even now technology keeps advancing, and having to buy a new deep tissue scanner or one of those things that assays biotic nodules can really cripple a clinic. And that's not even factoring in consumables like medigel, which believe me, we run through fast when a scuffle starts up. I work at one of the better set up clinics, but even we have some weeks where we're only scraping by on donations. I know there's still a lot of refugee camps that need this shit too, but don't go forgetting Omega just 'cos it claims to be civilised now.

Protection - It's not so bad in the upper, 'classier' levels, but, in the shithole depths of Omega, clinics are prime targets for raids by gangs and merc groups. Sometimes they're after free medigel, sometimes chemicals they can re-purpose into recreational drugs, and sometimes they want the aforementioned massively expensive medical tech to sell on for a quick profit. The facilities lucky enough to be in established territory (Suns or Eclipse, mostly) can usually get away with moderate protection if they pay up, but I have friends working in places that only have a few shitty LOKI mechs protecting them. So, to all you merc companies and security firms out there, we want to cut a deal.

Money - This is the big one, and the one that most people can probably help with. See, clinics often have a bit of an ethical dilemma on their hands. They need money to buy supplies, equipment, protection, etc., and to pay their workers (we have a few volunteers, but fact is, medical staff have to eat and pay rent / protection money too), but a lot of patients are far too poor to pay treatment fees. Sure, we can squeeze it out of the Big Three mercs easy enough, but Omega has a fuckton of poverty, be it people outright living on the streets or just poor folk living pay-check to pay-check. We can't deny those people treatment, but there's no way they can cover their costs - most clinics are running at a loss. Sooner or later, we have to start turning people away, which we'd really rather not do. However, we need donations to sustain us, at least until Omega actually starts moving into that 'Golden Age' they keep going on about.

Help us out with any of these things and we'll consider you an affiliate of OHO - once we gather some steam and get some power established out here, you'll get some pay-off for investing in us. Now, I'm no expert in all that stuff - I just treat people and do some promotion - but the official OHO extranet site has all the details and benefits of becoming an affiliate explained by someone much more knowledgeable than me. Contact details too, though you can shoot me a PM if you'd prefer and I'll try and sort things out.

Oh, and one last thing, before anyone gets bitchy. Yes, of course we have people applying for aid through more official channels. We're not fucking stupid. But I've been hanging around the extranet long enough to know that there are some right generous people lurking out there, and if this reaches even one of them, this is worthwhile.

Definite no on the combine harvester. We don't want one of those rampaging down a street - it could have the most advanced IFF in the world and that still won't save the poor by-stander who can't run fast enough to escape its blades. We'll consider the smaller drones, though. Cheaper than LOKIs, so provided we can find a humane and controllable attack mechanism for them... Well, that's what the tech says. He started throwing out more complicated terms then, and he lost me. You two'll have to talk direct if you want anything done properly.

What you're doing is noble, and I think it's going to help a lot of people. I really want to make sure I'm clear about that.

But what the [blocked] do you think you're doing, wasting medical supplies on something non-medical? You're already short of supplies and people-power, and you're willing to let go of what supplies you do have because it seems more humane? If you're under attack, you are a medical unit. You retreat if you can, and if you can't you stop the threat. Period. Otherwise you're putting yourself and the people you're helping at risk. This is why you're hiring muscle in the first place.

I really wish I had something better to offer, but nothing's harder to come by right now than medical supplies. I'll check with Cour and see if we can send out some of our inventory software or something. From what people tell me it's really good stuff, and if we can send it you'll have an easier time of tracking what you do have.

Oh yeah, and if someone hasn't shown it to you yet (I really hope someone has), you should check out the Hierarchy's "Emergency First Aid in the Field" documents (I'm sure the other species have their own versions). There's a lot of good "alternate" solutions when things aren't close at hand. Sometimes you've got a sucking chest wound and the closest thing you've got handy is a plastic sheet and some electrical tape, y'know?

Good luck!

Which is precisely why I'm arguing 'bout the anaesthetic. I probably wasn't clear on this, but I'm getting Mekan to talk with the tech guy to see if we can hook up the drones with summat else - there's weapons parts everywhere on Omega, so we wanna see if they can't work something out. Trust me, we're not wasting medical supplies. I just want to be a little more humane with our defence than 'combine harvester to the face'. You're a good sort, from what I hear - I'm sure you can understand that.

Thanks, man - I've already had a good look at those documents (paramedic on Omega, y'know? I try and come equipped, but there's sometimes more wounded than I have proper supplies for), but I'll make sure everyone else gets a look. And we'll see if we can't maybe distribute them to the average folk around - it's unfortunately easy to get caught in the middle of a scrap, particularly down below.

Oh, and thanks in advance for the inventory software! The whole point of the OHO is to try and get the assorted medical institutions a bit more organised, so I can see that being really useful.

Okay, sorry. I just really wanted to stress it.

And while I'll probably ruin my reputation as a "good sort", just remember that "humane" isn't the same as "no kill". Like I said, you're a medical unit, your first duty is to the people you are and can help.


Alright, bad news first. I can't just "send" you any software. Turns out there's all sorts of licensing between the company that makes some of this stuff and the Lifebearers, and I really can't and shouldn't be touching that. The good news is that one of our IT guys showed me all the stuff that was Hierarchy-developed, so that's freely-available (they made a list for me, and you can find it here). I'll PM you a contact I was given for the company in question, and you can work with them for the other software you'll need. Probably for the best, anyway, since I doubt you need to run three-shift maintenance crews or pilot hour tracking software, right? <3
Good luck!