Through It All

This has been an awful eight days. I know for many, you still have no power and are just beginning to figure out how to rebuild your lives. I don’t want this blog to diminish any of the pain you are going through. I want to provide an opportunity for people to share what they have been part of or have seen given during these last eight days.

Having a bird's eye view in the command center, I saw more than I wanted to at times! I saw amazing acts of generosity - Bobbi Jo Pansier organizing work crews at the homes of two staff members to pull out their carpets and get their stuff out of their homes before the mold set in.

I saw people take coworker’s cars to go sit in gas lines so they would have gas to get home. I saw Phd trained professionals vacuumed floors and clean bathrooms because it needed to be done. I saw people bring in food from home for our inpatient staff, so they didn’t have to eat sandwiches one more day. I saw people who stayed 48 hours straight, sleeping at the hospital so kids would have care. In the devastation we had some fun. Every baby they gave me to feed, I put to sleep before they finished their bottles! I saw Pastor Baker walk in to Stevens Road and then a miracle - the power came back on! Beth Anne M. Dobosh showed up on Halloween with the best looking witch hat I have ever seen!

And in it all, I saw love. Love for our children. Love for each other and a desire to give and do more. Please share you stories about what you experienced and how you are feeling through it all.

Always Prepared

I don't know about you, but I have been tied to my TV watching the weather radar. Truly, I keep hoping that Irene will hang a right and just go out into the ocean and all of this excitement will be for not.

To be honest, I wasn't as interested in the weather before I started working at Children's Specialized. For us when the basics go down and our kids literally live or die based upon electricity, roads being cleared and all the things that some people may just see as a minor inconvenience.

It’s been my experience at CSH, whether it is a snow storm, floods or the one tornado I was part of, that we always rise to the occasion and demonstrate the absolute best in our planning and teamwork.

Kevin Sullivan is our Emergency Management Expert and has done an amazing job with his committee making sure our emergency plans are always where they need to be. You will be getting an email from him today outlining our plans and also offering thoughts for you as well.

Our friends at Children's Hospital of Alabama sent us a list of tips for our personal use that they have refined from their vast experience managing unpredictable weather. It was so very nice for their CEO to send it, that I thought I should share it with you.

Add your own helpful safety tips in the comments below.

Suggestions from Children's Hospital Alabama for your personal homes:
- At least 18 hours prior, set your AC at 55 or 60 so your house cools down and has the ability to stay cooler if the power goes out.
- Put as many containers of water in the freezer as you can. You will be able to use them in the lower part of the fridge as cold packs if power goes out.
- Make sure you have Coleman ($9-10) battery operated camp lanterns (Target, Wal-Mart, etc) and plenty of batteries. They last a long time and are handy for reading!
- Charge your laptop computers, cell phones, etc.
- Make sure you have a battery-operated radio.
- If you have a grill, make sure you have charcoal or propane to use. A good way to cook ...including eggs and pizza!
- Cook as much food as possible in advance so that you only have to reheat and can do that easily on grill.
- If a storm does strike, move to the basement, if you have one.
- If you have gas hot water heaters, showers are still doable!

Good luck to all and please be safe.