Quintessential Me

2, 10, 15 minutes, an hour, or three? Notified or not?

Re: "If I die in a fire, sue M. D. Anderson."

I've decided that this occurs frequently enough that it should be noted. And while I'm joking at the moment, should it really occur, the constant fire alarm "drills" do nothing but desensitize employees to the alarm bell. This occurs because it is M. D. Anderson policy to hear the alarm and everyone must act as if nothing has happened and "wait" for the follow-up announcement with instructions.

Occasionally they should have drills where certain floors are instructed to take some action, but instead alarms run for often close to ten minutes and sometimes longer, and then silence greets employees for more minutes until the "all clear" --if it is not somehow overlooked- sounds.

I understand there are certain difficulties when it comes to patients, but practice runs with empty beds might be prudent. After all, the logistics of moving 100 patients' beds would be a more fair approximation than the general guidelines everyone is aware of. How do we know that the guidelines will work unless we attempt to measure them?

While I'm at it, let's discuss the "Emergency Broadcast System." Every now and again we hear obnoxious beeps announcing "a test." We are informed that in the event of an actual message, we will all be instructed to make final penance before God. I say this because anyone listening to a radio or watching TV during a major storm or Hurricane gets frequent, even frivolous information, about conditions and what to do.

The only conclusion that can be made is the only time the system would be used is in the last minutes of a catastrophic, surprise nuclear-assault, and we should be asking ourselves: "If we had only two minutes left to live, would we want them to be a frightened, stress-filled moment, or would we want to continue happily and ignorantly on towards our imminent, utter destruction?"

Let's say it was 15 minutes or an hour, that itself might not even be time to gather up your family around you. Not to mention the crippling traffic on ALL roads as nearly every driver attempts to find those closest to themselves.

And you are as likely as not to not be wrapped in either television or radio at any given point of any day. Sure we all watch more television than we should, but let's be completely honest. Even if a TV is on in your house most of the day, how much do you really "watch" it? We are truthfully as likely to be sleeping when such a message would be conveyed.

Given imminent and immutable destruction, to what extent would you really want to be informed?

posted by mokru @ 2:24 PM