Live from Houston!

[Paul Farkas]

An on the scene report from ODwire.org Member Dr Allan Panzer...

"Been through lots of storms living all my life in Houston. Been a while since one got a direct hit on us. Really wasn't too bad. That translates to a lot of wind, not too very much rain. Rain is something you get used to in Houston. This was 5-10 inches and didn't even fill up the street in front of the house.

On the other hand, it came down sideways and did get through my front windows. I was fortunately awake hearing the pitter patter of little drops on the window sill and put some towels down.

I had my tree in the front yard and back yard trimmed two weeks ago, so I only had to contend with the neighbors leaves in my yard.
Power going out was a bit of a hassle ...it went out the night of the storm, so being awake was no big deal. It was the next night without power that was a bit of a difficulty.

The first morning after the storm I went to the office...no power. Down the walkway the guys at the health food place had a refrigerator truck full of food that they needed to get rid of...no gasoline to refuel the truck with. So, I called Fox news and offered to bring food...they were a bit perplexed, but thought it had to be better than peanut butter and jelly and granola bars. So off we all went to the TV station to deliver food to the workers...

I'll probably get some additional stories about my office after that bit of genius.

As some of you might or might not know, I have severe sleep apnea..yep, without my machine, I sort of die! (literally, not figuratively) and so I never go "camping".

So, to get power, I got an "inverter" from a friend and slept in my daughter's Ford Exploder...93 degrees is what the gage said it was outside...probably a tad warmer inside...but you got to breathe. Slept about two hours at a time...finally gave up at 7:00am and went out to survey the damage.

I had parked the other two cars in an office building garage. Keep that in mind if you ever endure the torrential rain we do here...lots of folks with the same idea.

So off I go in the exploder...kind of quiet the morning after the "big" one.

Darned if the first corner what do I see.......A doughnut shop open!
Apparently the light company wanted doughnuts...( Amazingly, there wasn't anyone there but ten employees..they knew what was coming.

So, I grab a quick dozen and go home....I thought, now, I know something no one else knows..well, for a while. Word about doughnuts travels fast and I think that there is probably still a line out the door..they were cooking and selling as fast as was humanly possible. I told George the owner that this was surely as close to Xmas as it came for a shop owner.

Once again, I called Fox and asked if they wanted Doughnuts...pretty shocked, they said..its you again..

Back I went, but this time, there was a huge line...someone had let the cat out of the bag! Darn!

So, I took four dozen to the station...I really think that they like me even more now..

That afternoon, we decided that another night sleeping in the car might not be that good...so off we went to beautiful downtown Lockhart Texas...got a room at the world famous Plum Creek Inn....their specialty it seems is a shower without hot water...if you like a refreshing morning, you'll want to frequent the Plum Creek...but they did have air conditioning and best of all...wireless internet!

For one night...it was fine.

Today...got a call at three o'clock that the power was back on...so much as I enjoy ice cold showers...I somehow found my way back to Houston.
Hit a bottleneck and so I asked my GPS for a back way...uuuuugggghhhhh!
Got home and forgot that there was now a Curfew in the Big H...so a quick trip to anywhere was a waste of time....Back home to actually prepare food. What a novel idea????

And so now you have heard the whole story...not much of it is there.
Tomorrow...well, we can just hope that they get my electricity working at the office. Dow Down 500 points today...but Houston will lose even more.

Apparently according to Gov "Good Hair" Rick Perry...Houston contributes a mere 10% of the State's entire income...so Houston without power is not good for the economy. And he seems to think (silly politician) that what's bad for Houston, is in turn bad for the whole country...we'll see...

Good night everyone out there who was kind enough to call and see if I was alive or dead...

I am still alive, but I am not sure just how much bad news the practice can take. If you see the Fox news with an Optometrist on the corner with a sign..

"Will check eyes for Food" and of course the obligatory..."G-d Bless"...you'll know it aint so good in Houston.

Never short on words...

Allan"



Thank you for the update Allan. Our thoughts are with you.

 

[Kristin Bartlett]

So sorry to hear of the conditions there. Thoughts and prayers for you in Houston!

 

[Paul Farkas]

Follow up advice from Dr Allan Panzer

He writes in an e mail...

"I am writing to lots and lots of folks on my e-mail list. Some of you aren't even Optometrists....but this is not a chain mail letter.
What exactly is it? Information on what has happened in Houston and what you need to protect yourselves from.

I have lived in Houston for 52 years. I have seen lots and lots of Hurricaines come and go. Some of you I am writing to have no reason to ever concern yourselves about the possibility of a storm. You need this information non the less.

The worst storms in Houston have messed up this city for a few days. Even the dreaded tropical Storm Allison with 36 inches of rain right over my house didn't have the impact of this particular storm. But what do you care? You are in New York, New Mexico, California and so on....

I simply want to tell each and every one of you that you need to understand quite carefully your insurance. We constantly see commercials reminding us that home insurance isn't enough...we need flood insurance. And so we buy it.

What has happened in Houston to some of us is quite different. We think we have "business interuption" insurance. That heaven forbid, something happens, we have insurance. But what exactly happens if "nothing happens". By nothing I mean the biggest storm in history hits your city and your office is left in perfect condition.
Wow...dodged the bullet! WRONG!
When 5 million people are without power and you are one of them....you can't earn a living. They aren't coming in and you might just not have electricity, water, or maybe the all important internet.

But fear not...you have insurance. Well, you just might learn about something called an "exclusion". What this means is that if the electricity is non existant coming up to your door...your not covered! Did you read your 40 page policy? Did that worthless agent point out the things that are missing from your policy and try to sell you some extra coverage? Well why not? Because he/she makes money without even talking to you. Could he/she have made more. Sure, but that would take work and maybe take away from his/her golf game.

So, even though you may not be in hurricaine territory, maybe you are in earthquake area. Maybe you are in an area prone to tornados?
Whatever the case, I assure you that many of you have the same lousy boiler plate policy that I do. Maybe you'll be lucky like me and dodge any bullet for 29 years.
I hope you never go through what we are going through in Houston, but I think that each of you...my friends...need to contact your agent tomorrow and sit them down and say..."you had better tell me what is missing or I will hold you responsible in the event of any loss I incur due to your negligence." It is your job to inform me and I will hold you responsible and I am putting you on notice that I'll come after your insurance if you don't tell me what to expect.

I didn't even know my agent's name. Why? Because years ago I trusted my state organization to direct me to a reputable organization. But it was too easy for that firm to just take my money and not give me service. They would say...well we sent you the policy...didn't you read it?
NOPE...but from now on, I may very well "record" my meetings with whoever I switch my insurance to. Gonna put up a little video camera and tell the person that they will see themselves in court if they don't properly counsel me.

As optometrist, we have few choices in Malpractice coverage....but as consumers, we can cover our offices with whoever gives us the best service.

That's about it...just reflect on how fortunate you are not to be checking patients in an 86 degree room...but that's small potatoes compared to weeks without electricity..the mainstay of business.

I hope that with this e-mail I can just help one person avoid what many of us in Houston are enduring.

Allan"

 

[Paul Farkas]

Point of information

Take the advice of someone who has recently experienced first hand what can happen when there is an unexpected disaster in practice.

This topic was covered on the private finance forum of Proactive Optometric Physician (POP) on 9/28/05 after Hurricane Katrina. POP Insurance consultant Kenneth Rudzinki...http://www.proactod.org/consultants gave some very sound advice...
https://www.proactod.org/private/vfor/showthread.php?t=43

We can hope that our POP members took the consultant advice three years ago and are protected.

In private practice and not a POP Professional Member? You can benefit from consultant expertise for 55 cents per day. That is value!
Join today...http://www.proactod.org/join/