Federal Guvmint, Steppin' Up!

You may have heard that Hurricane Hanna is supposed to meander through the state of Virginia sometime tonight and tomorrow. Well, let no one say that the Federal Government is not on alert and ready for action!

I manage a federally funded grant that provides support services for people with HIV/AIDS.

This afternoon, I got a call from my project officer, the lady who is my contact with the Federal Government (capitalized because they're IMPORTANT). She had been instructed by her superiors to call all of her grantees in the Eastern region to let them know that she would be sending out an email with information about an emergency plan for the hurricane. Huh? An emergency plan? For helping people with HIV get to their regularly scheduled doctor's appointments? On the weekend? Oh-kay...

Then we get the email, which is a pretty lengthy discussion entitled HURRICANE RESPONSE of generic hurricane safety, with some info about getting patient contact info into a safe place thrown in. Thank you, Federal Government, for that public service announcement.

And finally! She calls me again a few minutes later. "I just wanted to call and see if you guys are still open?"

Um, is it even raining?? I haven't seen out a window all day long, but my Firefox weather update thingy says it's 86 and mostly sunny. And she wants to know are we closed? I was like, "Honey, we're an inner city hospital. They will send boats out to get the doctors if they have to!"

I believe this is what's called "Post-Katrina Freak Out." Right now I'm kind of chuckling about it. I hope Ms. Hanna does not make me regret that! :)