JUNE EDITION, VOLUME 2019, NO. 6
“PAM, YOU HAVE A SWIMMING POOL IN YOUR BASEMENT” By Pam Irwin, CMS Executive Director January 2, 2019 was just supposed to be the first day back to work after the holidays. We’d scheduled a handyman to come by that morning to change out some fluorescent bulbs that are stored in the basement, which is affectionately referred to as “the Abyss.” One hour into Work Year 2019, Keith Greer from KMN Services, Inc., trudged back up the stairs to say, “Pam, you have a swimming pool in your basement.” Now, many of you probably didn’t know that Capital Medical Society has a basement. Some might even wonder why on earth anyone in Florida would EVER have a basement. My thoughts, exactly! Be that as it may, we have one. Before my tenure at CMS, a sump pump was installed to help keep water from flooding the basement during Florida’s many rainstorms. When properly working and power in operation, the sump pump evacuates the water from the basement outside of the building before it exceeds the depth of the sump pump well.
On January 2, the most wonderful Keith Greer strapped on his waders and installed a new sump pump for us. We allowed 36 hours for the water to be pumped elsewhere. Ok, that wasn’t too bad. And then, I had to enter the basement to take a little look around. Since time began and Tallahassee was first placed on the map, it appears as if the basement has been used as the place to store everything you’re not quite sure you are ready to get rid of or might come in handy if the world as we know it comes to an end. All of that debris was now coated in mold. The doors were damaged up to the water mark, and the walls had a glossy wet look since we’d basically created a terrarium in our basement. There was also a faint hint of mold coming through the AC vents upstairs.
Disaster Planning 101 Pre-planning is EVERYTHING. There has been some history of the sump pump not operating if the power goes out, but, thankfully, that has not caused a substantial issue in the past. However, I, for one, never contemplated an outright sump pump motor failure over our 2018 Winter Break when the holidays were filled with precipitation. Had I thought of that possibility, I might have run the idea by the CMSF Board of Directors to install a warning system that would send a text message to my iPhone if the sump pump stopped working for any reason. This little system could have prompted a phone call to the aforementioned handyman to come replace the dead sump pump before we needed a canoe to get to it.
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CAPITAL MEDICAL SOCIETY 2019 MEETINGS CALENDAR June 6, 2019 CMS Doctor/Son Event 6:00 pm Northside Community Center (8005 Oak Grove Road)
August 24, 2019 Connect the Docs CMS/CMSA Family Picnic 11:00 am – 2:00 pm Maclay Gardens ($6 entrance fee)
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