As Hurricane Isaac washed ashore Wednesday, many businesses closed and sent employees home to hunker down until the storm passed. But with some jobs, employees must come to work, no matter what the weather.
Emergency medical staff at Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center who must be on duty through the storm are a big concern for emergency room nurse manager Lisa Miller.
“My concern is for my staff members,” she said. “For some, the hospital has made accommodations in town, and some will be staying right here in the hospital.”
Lisa McDaniel, RN, said she is lucky because her family lives close by the hospital.
“I’m within three minutes of here,” she said. “My husband and I made arrangements yesterday so he could be home with the kids and I could be here. And that’s the thing, family does come first here at the hospital, but all of us who have to come in have made arrangements at home so we can be here to do our job.”
McDaniel said she feels more confident about Pike County’s preparedness.
“So much has been put in place now in the community,” she said. “We learned a lot from Katrina, and we are better prepared.”
Hotel clerks at the Best Western in McComb are going to stay on the job through the hurricane as well.
Hotel clerk Elease Gilks and her husband J.R. both work at the hotel and said they feel a degree of safety being there.
“We are staying in the hotel tonight,” Elease Gilks said.
On Tuesday, several guests waited in line at the front desk while Gilks and fellow hotel clerk Mallory Laird juggled phone calls and questions from guests.
“Saturday we started getting calls and it hasn’t stopped,” Gilks said.
Gilkes said she came down to the front desk to check on Laird at 4 a.m. Tuesday and she got so busy she couldn’t leave.
Tishera Weathersby, assistant manager of the B-Kwik Chevron on Delaware Avenue said not being able to leave work weighed heavily on her mind.
“It’s hard because I’m going to be worried about them,” she said. “Especially my grandmother and my aunt. “They are elderly and vulnerable, but I have to be here.”
Store manager Freda Morgan knows how Weathersby feels.
“My kids are grown, but I still worry,” she said. “I have two kids who live here in McComb and one in Amite. I wish we could all be together. I’m hoping it’s not going to be too bad.”
Morgan lives eight miles from work now, but said when Hurricane Katrina hit seven years ago Wednesday, she was living on the other side of Liberty.
“It was tedious driving all the way from Liberty, I remember that,” Morgan said. “It won’t be nearly as bad from where I live now. I’m hoping it’s not going to be a Katrina.”
