S is for SOAP Notes
Maru had some amazing skills but making a proper first impression was not one of them. Even though Dottie had chatted with the Piston Peak Air Attack Team's mechanic over the phone and radio more times than she dared to admit during the last couple of days and had mostly grown to trust him, actually meeting the tug in person had her second guessing herself. The tug in front of her eye's were pinched and slightly red around the edges, and if she took a close enough look at his blue and grey paint she could see speckles of red, white, and black paint on his skin. In short, the tug in front of her was making Chug look sophisticated.
The way he downed pint of oil that she had given him upon entry hadn't particularly made a good impression on her either. But when he gently set the oil down next to him and gave her a sheepish smile, Dottie found herself relaxing slightly.
"You have no idea just how much I needed that." Maru said frankly. "I still haven't fully gotten my bearings back from the whole park's on fire fiasco."
"I can only imagine." Dottie did her best to sound sympathetic. "It must have been challenging it was to get Dusty back in working order with as many upgrades he has had."
"It would have been so much easier if it had just been the Champ, but alas, when it rains it pours, which as a mechanic I am sure you are familiar with." As Maru muttered Dottie couldn't help but give him a somewhat incredulous look. Keeping up with Dusty's need for speed had almost become a full-time job when he was in town so Dottie wasn't exactly sure what Maru meant by saying 'if it had just been Champ' luckily Maru picked up on her cue and elaborated. "Blade, the Chief, managed to get himself cooked medium well and had a rotor strike a couple hours before the Champ went down, and Cabbie, that big C-119 managed to nearly suffocate on ash when a less than scruples mechanic removed his air filters after he made an emergency landing at a nearby airfield the following day. Believe me, I would not wish a WASP Major realignment on my worst enemy and Cabbie insisted on handing me two of them that day."
"I see…" Dottie said as she fiddled with her tea. She had no idea where Maru was taking this conversation.
"But I am rambling." Maru signed heavily. "I am here to make sure that you have everything you need to update Crophopper's medical files. I have brought along a copy of his SOAP Notes, but I know that SOAPs sometimes leave room for questions so feel free to ask about anything you need a little more details on."
The mechanic then slid over a folder that was far thicker than Dottie had initially expected. Flipping through it she noticed that file didn't just include information about the types/locations of injuries and a record of the medications Dusty had taken…it also included all of Maru's meticulous manufacturing notes on how he had built a gear box from scratch.
"I thought it might be particularly useful for you all to have those notes on file. Gearboxes don't last forever, and the way the Champ flies it will be only a matter of time before he chews through another one. Getting his next custom built one will be pricy, but when those specs, he should be able to go to any custom aircraft part manufactures and have a new one made."
Dottie looked at mechanic sitting across from her and she had a hard time keeping the tears from forming at the corner of her eyes. Dottie was a darned good mechanic and an even shrewder businesses woman. She had successfully thrown her weight around on an international stage to make sure that her friend got the resources he needed to win…but despite all of her skills and experience she hadn't been able to solve this problem. The fact that Dusty had managed to crash land into the care of one of the only tugs on the planet that could solve his gear box issue had been a complete and utter miracle.
"Where in the world did you learn how to do this?" Dottie asked in awe.
That got a hardy laugh from Maru. "The movies. I was a set mechanic for many, many years before I started my second career with the National Park."
"Sounds like there is a story behind that." She pushed, genuinely wanting, no needing to know the domino of events that had led to Dusty being able to once again fly strong.
"There is, and I promise to tell it to you over a tin of high grade sometime. But first we need to plow through this paperwork so that we can both enjoy tomorrow's Corn Festival festivities."
The two tugs talked through medical notes late into the night, but Maru stated true to his word and before the Air Attack Team winged their way back to Piston Peaks he treated Dottie to a tin of high grade and a story at the local bar. Once the story was done, even Dottie had to admit that it was quite a tale to tell.
Term- SOAP Notes- SOAP stands for Subject, Objective, Assessment, and Plan. SOAP Notes is a documentation system used by health care providers track a patient's care. While SOAP Notes might have small differences in structure from one health professional to another, they are relatively standardized. This standardization allows them to be a good way of quickly bringing a fellow health professional up to speed on current treatments.