I Don't Like Ike
Once again another hurricane is bearing down on us. This the third major hurricane heading toward us this year and most people have become complacent about it. There has been dulsatory news coverage and most people have been saying "I'm ignoring it. It's not gonna hit us."
Then yesterday it became clear that it's heading straight for us and evacuations began. Special needs patients were evacuated yesterday.
Last night I was on call and I was chatting with my boss. She said that one of the major hospital systems will go on lockdown on noon Friday, and that they are asking our team to volunteer for the lockdown. That means we will be in the facilty, the doors will close at noon and no one can enter or leave for 24 hours. We will be given a place to sleep and free meals, and shower facilities. Our staff will be paid the whole time we are there, plus there is a nice juicy bonus tucked in besides. Hazard pay or something. Anyway, I know dialysis. We'll be working nonstop and we'll be limping out on bloody stumps early Sunday morning. There will be no watching TV or thumbing through magazines while we're there.
After talking to her I noticed a change in energy among the staff. People were scurrying around and talking in a loud and animated way. I finished up one patient and went to check on my next patient. I went to the unit where I was told he was and asked the nurses to point him out to me. She said "he's not here. Nobody's here." I looked around and sure enough every bed was empty. All the patients had been moved to another unit to make room for patients being evacuated from further south.
For the rest of the night as I ran my second patient, the building shook as helicopters, one after the other, delivered patients to the hospital. I drove home about 6 a.m. this morning and all was well. Things were calm and there was a beautiful foggy mist hugging the ground around our neighborhood.
I slept a few hours then woke up turned on the TV. While I slept armageddon had begun. J and I went out to buy gas - why oh why I didn't get gas on the way home I'll never know. We peeked out of the subdivision and looked at the freeway. It's jammed with people evacuating but still moving okay.
Just for fun we went to the gas station near the freeway and they were out of gas. We turned around and went a little farther "inland" and saw several gas stations that were nearly empty and headed to a major gas station that we usually use. We pulled up to find cars five deep at each pump. We turned around to go back to the other gas stations we passed and it turns out everyone else had the same idea. The cars were only two deep but it was quicly turning into chaos. It had been less than five minutes since we passed it the first time.
So now we're home, deciding what we can cook before the power fails. J just told me that they announced that power in our area will be cut for a week. Figures. There was a huge sale on baby back ribs last week and our freezer is full to bursting.
Listening to the news its frustrating to see how fast people forget. After the major evacuation 3 years ago, officials set up a system whereby people could sign up for assistance with evacuating in the event of a major hurricane. The following year several thousand signed up. This year, less than 200 did. Now the service is deluged with calls from people desperate to evacuate.
People are so frustrating.
Then yesterday it became clear that it's heading straight for us and evacuations began. Special needs patients were evacuated yesterday.
Last night I was on call and I was chatting with my boss. She said that one of the major hospital systems will go on lockdown on noon Friday, and that they are asking our team to volunteer for the lockdown. That means we will be in the facilty, the doors will close at noon and no one can enter or leave for 24 hours. We will be given a place to sleep and free meals, and shower facilities. Our staff will be paid the whole time we are there, plus there is a nice juicy bonus tucked in besides. Hazard pay or something. Anyway, I know dialysis. We'll be working nonstop and we'll be limping out on bloody stumps early Sunday morning. There will be no watching TV or thumbing through magazines while we're there.
After talking to her I noticed a change in energy among the staff. People were scurrying around and talking in a loud and animated way. I finished up one patient and went to check on my next patient. I went to the unit where I was told he was and asked the nurses to point him out to me. She said "he's not here. Nobody's here." I looked around and sure enough every bed was empty. All the patients had been moved to another unit to make room for patients being evacuated from further south.
For the rest of the night as I ran my second patient, the building shook as helicopters, one after the other, delivered patients to the hospital. I drove home about 6 a.m. this morning and all was well. Things were calm and there was a beautiful foggy mist hugging the ground around our neighborhood.
I slept a few hours then woke up turned on the TV. While I slept armageddon had begun. J and I went out to buy gas - why oh why I didn't get gas on the way home I'll never know. We peeked out of the subdivision and looked at the freeway. It's jammed with people evacuating but still moving okay.
Just for fun we went to the gas station near the freeway and they were out of gas. We turned around and went a little farther "inland" and saw several gas stations that were nearly empty and headed to a major gas station that we usually use. We pulled up to find cars five deep at each pump. We turned around to go back to the other gas stations we passed and it turns out everyone else had the same idea. The cars were only two deep but it was quicly turning into chaos. It had been less than five minutes since we passed it the first time.
So now we're home, deciding what we can cook before the power fails. J just told me that they announced that power in our area will be cut for a week. Figures. There was a huge sale on baby back ribs last week and our freezer is full to bursting.
Listening to the news its frustrating to see how fast people forget. After the major evacuation 3 years ago, officials set up a system whereby people could sign up for assistance with evacuating in the event of a major hurricane. The following year several thousand signed up. This year, less than 200 did. Now the service is deluged with calls from people desperate to evacuate.
People are so frustrating.