Letters from NYC

A Sad Resignation

Today, I submitted my resignation for my seat on the Disaster Planning and Recovery committee of my firm to take effect on 9-30-05. I’ve been on that committee since before 9-11 at the urging of my friend and mentor, Rick.

Being on this committee meant that prior to, or during a natural or man-made disaster, we would be willing to work long hours from any location. All of us on that team are highly mobile except for me. As a single mom, my 1st job is my son and all my other commitments come 2nd. The good thing is that my firm supports my priorities and has enabled me to work as hard as my colleagues in a very different way.

Over the years I’ve put in many long hours at my home computer, ensuring that our firm, it’s staff and resources were made available to employees (and their families) from affected disaster areas around the globe. When I first took this job I never expected that this role would be as demanding or as rewarding as it has been. As a volunteer for this committee it means that these duties are performed in addition to our regular jobs. 9-11 was my first disaster and it not only tested all the plans our firm had in place, it tested the emotional and mental strength of those on the committee. On that day, though we lost a friend and great leader in Rick, we were able to forge ahead through his leadership, dedication and endless (and I truly mean endless war-game and) practice scenarios, able to save many lives.

In the last 10 months that strength has been greatly tested in a number of disasters; from the Tsunami after last Christmas. to earthquakes in the spring, and now 2 major hurricanes back to back. What many people don’t realize is that after any disaster it can take up to a year for lives to get back to normal. During that entire time we are there ensuring that our firms resources are available to employees and their families. That level of support and planning makes almost triple the work for us. Unfortunately, that is much more than I have to give right now, which is a double edged sword.

I have never compromised on taking care of my son and being totally available to him during his waking day. What has been sacrificed has been my sleep, which in the long run has affected my health. I'm extremely tired all the time. But it’s not that easy to walk away from a role in which your life makes a difference in someone else’s life on any given day. It’s also not easy to walk away from a group of equally caring and dedicated individuals whom I’ve worked with, gotten to know and am sorry to leave. So there you have it, my double edged sword which I was forced to swallow today in order to take care of me. I now that in time the guilt will pass it’s just that I was forced to make the decision as I was laying in the nurses office resting as a result of sleep deprivation from the latest crisis.

The crisis? Most of our Houston and Galveston employees had evacuated their homes and offices Wednesday morning. Of these just one third were still stuck on the highway and were running out of fuel and were concerned that the location of the hotels we selected could withstand flooding of a category 5 as Rita comes ashore. Luckily our committee always plans for absolute worse case scenario and so that issue had already been explored and considered. Worse case scenario is always our starting point and we work back from there. That’s what helped us on 9-11; and it’s that kind of planning that will help us get our employees through hurricane Rita.

It’s just too bad that New Orleans and Louisiana officials never planned for worst case scenario when they developed their plans and used their levee money on casinos instead of what it was supposed to go to - LEVEES. It’s too bad that they still can’t figure out what to do first and instead let their ego and ignorance get the best of them during press conferences. If they had been more responsible and had exercised better leadership maybe the 1,038+ people that died during Katrina might still be alive today.