Rita

For the second time this summer, my family is evacuating in the anticipation of a hurricane. It is an understatement to say that this time is a little different.

I found out yesterday that the hospital has activated its disaster plan for weather effective immediately. We are asking all staff who are able to come to work Friday to bring with them clothes and personal items to last three days. We are providing childcare in the hospital for those employees who need to bring their families with them. We are accepting patients from the Triumph Hospitals closer to the Gulf of Mexico, specifically Clearlake, Victoria, Baytown, Channelview and possibly Downtown. We are licensed for 115 patient beds, but may see 125 patients or more in the hospital this weekend. In addition to patients, we are anticipating dozens of staff and dozens of patients' family members and dozens of staff's family members in the hospital over the weekend.

We do not expect to be in store for major storm damage. The storm surge does not threaten this hospital, but does potentially threaten the ones I mentioned. We anticipate a loss of electricity and localized flooding or tree damage/debris which will make travel to and from the hospital too dangerous or perhaps impossible for our staff.

I was just notified that there is a Code Yellow in place, which means no employees may leave the hospital unless cleared through the command center. Patients are being transferred starting this morning, because the local authorities are expected to commandeer all ambulances later today for evacuations.

I want to stress that I am not expecting to be in any danger from Hurricane Rita. I am going to be spending the weekend at the hospital coordinating staffing and supervising the care for staff's family members. Since I have to be at the hospital this weekend, Shelley and I agreed last night that she and the boys should head north. We don't want either of the boys to have a childhood memory involving sitting in the dark for hours while 100 mph winds rage outside. She hasn't decided yet whether she's headed to Tyler or Fort Worth. She has her cell phone with her if you need to reach her. They are leaving early this afternoon to avoid getting stuck in heavy traffic with everyone who is having to leave Galveston. We packed precious baby clothes and pictures in the car last night just to be extra cautious.

Saying goodbye to them all this morning was really tough. Braden has no idea what's going on, which is exactly the way we want it. He's getting to go bye-bye to visit aunts or grandparents and that's all good. Austin was in tears when I hugged and kissed him goodbye. I'll keep everyone updated as I can.