You sure sound like you don’t know anything or else you work in a place run by complete idiots. Maybe both. My hospital has designated staff to work during weather emergencies. We get the notice each year as to who is required to report when a pending weather emergency is declared. The staff bring their suitcase with them to work and whatever food or extras they want to have on hand for themselves and are expected to work until the end of the emergency or until they can be replaced. If staff cannot be replaced after 7 days, the hospital will go into shutdown mode and the patients and staff are evacuated by National Guard troops or other emergency management support. It is ABSURD to expect staff who are off work to come and go from work on a normal schedule during a declared weather emergency when it is dangerous and in most places illegal to be driving during a weather emergency. Those who work during the weather emergency period do not have to work during the next declared weather emergency. This is how it works for all of the hospitals in our region.
Our hospital has a hotel up the street that they get rooms at reduced rates for those who need them when a big storm is expected. They don’t PAY for them, but it is better than nothing. A surprising number of people take advantage of them.
I tried sleeping on an empty stretcher one time, and nearly had a heart attack when someone woke me up thinking I was a patient, grabbing my shoulder and shaking it. “Sir...sir...are you okay?” The person thought I had been left there by accident...
I don’t sleep on stretchers anymore...:)