Just a reminder to all staff readers while all is quiet, now is the time to consider all of your preparation plans. You may recall last year we introduced the back up care benefit that proved particularly handy during the storm season. Child care options generally become very limited during storms, particularly as the schools [...]
Hospitality
It is critical that a hospital remain a hospital during a crisis. A real hospital, not a warehouse, or a school gymnasium, or any other vacant space that converts to a general shelter. For better or worse, people see the hospital as a general community resource. We tacitly encourage this thinking, after all, think of [...]
Mass Communications
To kick off the season we sent out a hurricane communication/alert to all managers and above in Baptist Health. The message was a general reminder to review the hurricane plan and update communication lists. We utilized a notification system that has the capability to simultaneously reach out to all of our 12,000 plus employees [...]
Outliers
You think you know people. We work with each other everyday, sometimes for years or even decades. So what happens to us when we are put under pressure, sometimes extreme pressure? For the most part I think people act in a way that is reflective of the way we see them everyday…..but not always. There is [...]
All’s Quiet
All’s quiet in the tropics. I got an email early this morning that there was a tropical depression forming out there somewhere, but the somewhere turned out to be the Pacific. Lucky for us, we have more typical Miami weather, beautiful sunshine, beautiful people. It is a wonderful place to be and we are [...]
Great Expectations
When a storm approaches, there are certain people, outside of the normal acute care patients, who are allowed to stay in the hospital until the danger passes. Primarily these are patients who have respiratory issues and expectant moms. The moms are allocated space that frequently doesn’t meet their expectations. This is partly our fault [...]
Hurricane Preparedness Result Poll
Last week our neighbors at the International Hurricane Research Center at Florida International University revealed the results of a Mason Dixon poll on the hurricane preparedness of residents of hurricane threatened areas of the Gulf and Atlantic states. Among the alarming poll results‐
83% said they have not taken any steps in the [...]
Wishing on a Hurricane
When I first came to Miami, to be perfectly honest with you, I used to secretly wish for a hurricane. It seemed exciting and none of these locals seemed to be worried about it in the least. People had hurricane parties and preparations amounted to putting a big paper tape X across [...]
