Photo Credit: Gguy44

Physician’s Weekly (PW) recently polled our audience and asked them, “Have you experienced extreme weather events while working?”  

Below is what some of your peers told PW.  

• “Snowstorm made all of the doctors, nurses, and patients unable to leave hospital.” 
• “We worked through extended power outages.” 
• “During the 15 years I spent in pharmacy, we had tornadoes every summer (not uncommon in the Midwest). Twice though, the cone touched down nearby and rolled past our building. On multiple occasions (including the 2 touchdowns), I’ve had to direct staff and patients to shelter areas while staying out in the open/business areas of the building.” 
• “We had a derecho occur midday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 2020. We lost all power for 1 week.” 
• “I lived in the VA area and worked in DC. We had a blizzard and we picked up from our homes by our employer to come to work but was not returned by them. Staff slept on cots for days until they could finally return home. We were not paid extra to be available for work.”