Developing a Theme

Decoration/Stage Idea

Decorate the stage like a nurse’s station or triage center. Use hospital water pitchers and spitting dishes for center pieces (many of these hospital items can be found at thrift stores). Use the blue hospital pads as table cloths. Have a corner where “patients” can received free blood pressure readings. Have your main hostesses wearing nursing or doctor uniforms. Purchase hats with sirens so some ladies can be “ambulances.”

Name Tag Idea

Get large band aids and put them on the front of nametags. Have ladies be “admitted” and have to wear hospital bands instead of name tags. To make the admittance seem real, have clipboards where ladies have to fill out questions and give information (could be effective for future follow up or encouragement ideas).

Activity/Game Idea

Door prizes can be medical supplies like a box of band aids, gauze, cotton balls, etc. Play a timed event where ladies have to take an “injured leg” and get it splinted and bandaged the fastest. Winners could earn status points that would give them a title: LPN would be beginning level, RN would be second level, intern would be third level, doctor, surgeon, and so on. A possible skit would involve an ER catastrophe where an injured person is brought in on a stretcher and placed on a table behind a white sheet hanging from the ceiling. The lights are dimmed in the building and spotlights are shining on the sheet to give a “shadow” effect as the audience views the “curtain.” A doctor comes to determine the problems, and he uses non-medical tools to fix the problems. A chainsaw could be turned on to saw off an injured leg. A big axe could be used to fix an arm. A hammer could be pounded on the table making it look like it is checking the patient’s reflexes. Ketchup could fly onto the sheet to show that the tools seem to be penetrating. But keep in mind…all the audience sees are shadows behind a curtain; so it is fun to make the “tools” seem like they are actually being used on the patient.

Icebreaker Idea

Ladies come to the event with a “fake but visible” injury. Ask for volunteers to share how they got their injury. Ask a few “worst case scenario” questions to see if the speaker and/or audience members know their emergency skills. Another icebreaker approach would be to ask “How many broken bones have you had, including the where and how” or “Tell us about your most embarrassing injury.”

Devotional/Object Lesson Idea

The stethoscope makes a great object lesson — “How strong is your heart beat for God?” Talk about vitamin deficiencies like when you were low on Vitamin E (encouragement), Vitamin D (diligence), or Vitamin C (contentment). Use Scripture that talks about how God heals the brokenhearted and wounded. Use the term inoculations and talk about how we need to protect ourselves from certain viruses and bacteria (sin). See the Idea Share below for medical and spiritual comparisons using the concept of The Triage Center.

Refreshment Ideas

Beverage: Bleeding Punch (anything red will do); Blue Blood (koolaid and prepared drinks come in blue colors); I.V. Fluid (koolaid comes in clear flavors) ; Barium Drink (pina colada flavored)

Entrees: Pumped Stomach (soup/stew); Motorcycle Wreck (meatloaf w/catsup—can be individual mini meatloaves or a dramatically served representation of a body or body part); 3rd Degree Burn (anything grilled); Road Pizza (if seriously challenged for time, pizza wins)

Sides: Heart Attack Jello (heart-shaped jello mold filled with red jello surrounding a plump ziploc snack bag of red-dyed corn syrup; stab the heart to release the blood at serving time; then have open heart surgery to remove the obstruction [a.k.a. Ziploc bag] before serving the remaining mess); Pumped Stomach (pasta salad ); Rash (French bread with some sort of butter/cheese spread and sprinkled w/paprika – broil)

Appetizers: Black eyes (olives); Bloodshot eyes (red grapes); Broken bones (rod pretzels with optional red dip); Lost fingers (cheese sticks, which can be halved crosswise; insert almond [halved lengthwise] into end to represent fingernail); or use variation: baked/fried mozzarella sticks w/marinara sauce)

The Triage Center

Meaning “to sort” in French, the triage center in a hospital or clinic has one main responsibility: to prioritize patients into
categories so clinicians and doctors know who needs to be treated first. Through this entire process, triage nurses ask a
lot of questions, take vital signs, record symptoms, get basic identification and family history. Although each hospital
uses different terminology, there are four basic categories in describing the condition or needs of a patient. In
order to diagnose certain conditions, blood work or x-rays are necessary. This investigating is crucial to the initial
diagnosis and ongoing treatment. In the Bible, we are also given many commands that often times seem hard to sort
through. God has “prioritized” many of these commands so we can know what is most important to Him.