Wednesday, May 09, 2007

5/9 Well worth it

Even though I was away from the office for two full days, it was well worth it. I made so many contacts--great people involved in disaster work. Plus I learned so much. The EOC is awesome and it's good to know we'll be in good hands should another disaster strike.

In a real emergency I wouldn't be at the EOC in Jackson...I'd be implementing our own Hurricane Response Plan in Biloxi. We'd have to evacuate all our volunteers first, then staff who aren't "mission critical." Other staff would be deployed with our trucks and other vehicles to a staging area further north. Additional folks would "batten down the hatches" in Biloxi and Ocean Springs, doing the best we could to ensure our property would remain safe. It's very serious business, but I'm so confident with the great staff we have that we will do the best we can.

I'd be the last to go. And because of that, I'll make sure everyone else gets the hell out of Dodge, so I could leave too. (Of course, this is only in case of a severe hurricane.)

There is one very small cool thing about all of this: I get to use a satellite phone. Oh, sure, I'm immature, but can any of you say that you wouldn't love to use a satellite phone. C'mon now. Be honest. (Not you, Rob. You get to use them all the time.)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

ok...zi'll go first. I hate the telephone...and the cell phone, so pretty sure I would not care that much for a satellite phone either....seriously, I would never answer the phone if I didn't feel forced....and when Joe answers, I am usually in the background shaking my head NO, just in case it is for me. Funny...I used to love the phone, could talk to Paulette for hours daily....NOW I much prefer to use email....so KEEP your phones..but be sure you "get out of Dodge" (or Biloxi) in time to use the damn thing!!!

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

I'm not a phone user either (although not quite as bad as you). But am impressed with the satellite phone thing. I know it's no big deal. Just sounds cool to me.

Anonymous said...

I don't even know what a satellite phone is....

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

Hi, Jessi. It's a phone that uses satellites to connect to other satellite phones. Not very practical for everyday use, but very cool when mobile phone towers are down and landline telephones are out of commission. They won't work well during the storm itself, but afterward they are invaluable. I'll have one to call our command vehicle to coordinate services.

Anonymous said...

Can you hear me now?

Guess who?

Anonymous said...

What? I must be a dolt! I didn't know what a satellite phone was either. Can you call overseas on that?