Wow. I was in DC for the 1996 storm, this is wild. I shoveled out my house twice and you'd never know it.
At least I am fully stocked with Fresca and cat food.
Oh, and this is neither here nor there but I had some good personal news to report. Took my cat to the vet and she has a thyroid problem but it can be treated and she should be fine. She's 17 so trips to the vet always make me worried that I won't be bringing her home after.
Just got home from an evening’s work at the MICU…the hospital is less than a mile away from home and the driving wasn’t too bad, just deep and fluffy snow to go through. Some of the night shift nurses and staff drive in from over an hour away, but everyone made it in all right. Evening staff was officially dismissed, unit by unit, as the night shift came in fully to each unit.
During some past blizzards, doctors, nurses, and other staff, have stayed over…sometimes for a few days, continuing to work and sleeping in nursing school dorms, family waiting rooms, on-call rooms, etc. IOWs: wherever!
It’s snowing an inch per hour here and will probably get heavier after midnight…with the possibility of 30 - 36" accumulation. (Feels like Maine, sort of, or Rochester).
Ted shovelled our driveway three times all ready tonight. I work the evening shift tomorrow, so we’ll be shovelling out again and again. And again!
Take care everyone!
Hey Folks,
Just got done with 24 hours covering the Trauma-SICU and need to head back for another 12-hours. I got out of my house, got my car cleaned of 2 inches of ice and sleet only to find that someone had gotten stuck in the driveway of my subdivision. I had to call my chief and let him know that I will be there when I find out how to get around this car.
We have about 10 inches of snow and about 8 inches of sleet so there is ice, snow and then more sleet on top of the ice. When I left the hospital last night, a 15-minute trip took me about 45-minutes with a stop at the 7-11 to get some Diet Coke. I love Diet Coke in the snow. It always seems to taste best when there is weather outside. I didn’t have too much trouble as we have 4-wheel drive. There were cars in ditches stuck all around as I kept driving slowly. The 7-11 was the only store open in the entire city. They were doing a brisk business but there were very few people out and about. Most people stayed in for this one.
Last night when I left the hospital, about half of the employees were getting in. This morning, I suspect the situation is going to be pretty grim but I am going to make another stab at getting onto the road in about 30-minutes. Armed with my cell phone and my pager, I will try to get into the hospital so I can relieve the folks who have been on-call last night. My relief man was able to get in because he too, has 4-wheel drive. This is going to be fun.
Nat 
Hang in there everybody. Please stay safe!
I’m looking out my window at my small subdivision street that won’t get plowed for days; it has ~20" of snow in it. My husband thinks he can get through it in the Isuzu but I dunno. The Metrorail is only running to underground stations today; hopefully they’ll solve the issue of where to put all the snow that has collected on their outdoor platforms and we’ll have regular service tomorrow.
It’s looking like it will be a major adventure to get in tomorrow. Glad I have today off!
The snow is mounting by the minutes here in NY. It's a great day indoors with my girls. We read books, watched movies and had an early dinner. I am afraid to venture out there tomorrow. We live on a narrow one way street and the snow trucks never clear this street. Cars can skid down the hill and so the fear continues............. We have not had this much snow since 1996. I hope that everyone drives cautiously and is warm.
Remember it's a few more weeks till spring...............
I have to go someone's house is on fire and the fire trucks are outside my window.
Dawn
Hi folks,
I managed to make it into the hospital after some of my neighbors abandoned their cars in the front of the entrance to my little subdivision. We have 4-wheel drive so getting around was pretty good. Most folks stayed home today. We have about 10 inches of snow and about 4 to 5 inches of ice. We got more sleet overnight and into this morning. Instead of getting into the hospital at 0530h, I ended up getting in about 1000h.
There were volunteer drivers to haul folks to and from home. If you lived within the limits of Charlottesville, you were picked up. For some folks, that was not a welcome option. If you didn’t have 4-wheel drive, you should not have been on the roads. All of the grocery stores were closed and the restaurants looked like a ghost-town. The ambulances and firetrucks were getting around well.
I got to do a neat surgical case today with one of my favorite instructors. It was definitely worth the trip when I can get here and operate too!! There was no clinic because the patients couldn’t get here. All in all, it was a neat day. 
Natalie
Here in Maryland, they’ve been sending out National Guardsmen to pick up medical personnel in Hum Vees. They’ve also been picking up sick people to take them to the hospital in this weather. That’s damn amazing.
We’ve had several closings this winter, and “essential personnel” was never exempt. It just makes me realize how much of a commitment being medical personnel is–you can never take a holiday from it. Serious stuff.
–Vera
I was thinking about that very thing when my office was closed.
Funny, a few years ago a bunch of my friends worked on Capitol Hill when they had the 'train wreck' and only essential personnel were going in – they knew they all would get paid eventually but they weren't for a few weeks. My first thought was that it would be awesome to get a paid vacation during that time of the year but none of them felt that way – they all wanted to believe what they did was so important that Congress would stop without them. Not that what they did wasn't important (those were the words they used to describe how they felt). Other friends would say – and again I quote – they couln't imagine having a job where their work allowed them to go home (this was during the appropriations process when Hill staffers stay overnight to get the work done).
There may be no point to this post, sorry about that, just an observation (was going to write interesting oberservation but am not sure it is).
For me, still a student and not yet a member of the medical community, another day off was very needed. Though it took me almost two hours to get from Adams Morgan to 18th and K when I came in yesterday.
| QUOTE (Mary Renard @ Feb 17 2003, 01:56 PM) |
| it has ~20" of snow in it. My husband thinks he can get through it in the Isuzu but I dunno. |
Uhhh... hate to tell you this but the only vehicle that can make it thru 20" of snow is a snowmobile.
Almost 40" of snowfall here in Baltimore. They’re finally getting around to clearing some of the residential streets.
| QUOTE |
| the only vehicle that can make it thru 20" of snow is a snowmobile. |
it was probably somewhere around 16-18" (who's counting) but we did it. Wasn't pretty but no parked cars were damaged. Honestly we had no business trying, but now we know it can be done. It did prove to me that the (used) Subaru I hope to get myself as a graduation present will NOT be up to the task.