Some might say Anne Miller’s career was fate. With the maiden name of Storms, it seems only fitting that she found her way to a profession that deals with hurricanes. Specifically, she tries to help people stay as safe as possible from the deadly effects of those storms. “Am I in the right business?” she says with a laugh.
The 37-year-old Sarasota native is one of four section chiefs – the only woman among them – in the county’s Emergency Management department.
Her passion for people led her first to a career in human resources. After graduating from the University of South Florida, she spent a year at Manatee Memorial Hospital. Then, she won a job as a recruiter for Sarasota County. She had been promoted to assistant to the county administrator about a year before she took time off for the birth of her second child.
“When I came back,” Anne says, “there was another opportunity for me, here in emergency management.”
Although she has been employed by the county for 15 years, attention to her line of work really has stepped up since 2004, when Florida suffered a devastating hurricane season – “when we got hit over and over and over again,” as Anne puts it.
As the person responsible for logistics, Anne oversees an abundance of activities that mean her usual day runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., frequently with no time for lunch. Add in speaking engagements before business and civic groups, conferences and preparedness training for residents, and it means she often doesn’t get home until 11 p.m.
When people ask what she does, she says, the most succinct response is, “sit around and wait for hurricanes.” Realistically, that involves “a lot of planning, a lot of refining and a lot of coordination.”
Recovery after disasters is one aspect of her job that has come to take up a lot of time. “It’s not just before the storm you need to be concerned with,” Anne points out.
To deal better with the aftermath of catastrophe, Anne has spearheaded an effort in her department to teach CERT courses. The acronym stands for Community Emergency Response Team. The program originated in Los Angeles after the massive 1994 earthquake, when people trying to help victims ended up endangering themselves. The federal government learned of CERT and refined it. Federal and state funding, along with grants, pay for the local course, which teaches basic survival skills.
“I put it together two years ago,” Anne says. Between 600 and 700 area residents have undergone the training, she notes. “It is an excellent package to deliver all disaster-preparedness messages.”
Along with the CERT program, Anne is responsible for making sure hurricane shelters are ready for the general population and special needs people, as well as dogs and cats. Additionally, she says, “I handle all of the brochures,” including the hurricane guides.
“I can honestly say the entire program is my passion,” she says when asked about her favorite aspect of work. “Everything we do is just so key to the survival of our communities.”
| The need for preparedness was underscored for Anne in the aftermath of 2004's Hurricane Charley. She worked for two weeks in Charlotte County's Emergency Operations Center after the Category 4 storm hit. “To go down there and work in a site where you have a missing roof" (It blew off during the storm's onslaught, as Anne and her co-workers were talking with Charlotte County officials.) “and fiberglass everywhere and no air conditioning, hot and humid, and it didn't smell good," she says, “… I learned a lot about how mutual aid works … and the purpose of the state when they come in."
When a storm appears to be a threat to Sarasota County, Anne says the county turns its Administration Center into a shelter for the families of its employees, so the workers won't have to worry about their loved ones at the same time they're looking out for area residents. Anne's two daughters, Savanna, 11, and Vanessa, 8 – along with Anne's parents, Bill and Claudia Storms – know what it's like to bunk down in the county building on Ringling Boulevard in downtown Sarasota.
Anne herself has an air mattress that she keeps in a cabinet in her office, along with a hard hat and a bottled water supply. “I've been in it once or twice," she says of her emergency sleeping accommodations.
In the midst of all the stress worrying about where the hurricane ultimately will come ashore, Anne points out, it's a comfort to be able to take a break “and get a hug from your kids … That's psychologically a huge benefit to our workers here."
She adds, “There's really no time to be scared, and scared's not really an efficient use of your time."
The bond with her girls is vital in helping Anne deal with the day-to-day stresses of her job. “They are very enthusiastic and proud of what I do," she says. They do get “a little grumpy," she concedes, when she has to be away for several days, but her parents' involvement with the children softens the impact considerably. “I couldn't do this job without my parents, as a divorced and single mom," Anne points out.
Her bagpipes help a lot, too, she says.
As a teenager at Riverview High School, Anne mastered the daunting feat of learning how to play that instrument, and she became a member of the school's prestigious Kilties Band. Music “touches my core," she says, “and I just love it."
Another big factor in handling stress is her faith. Sundays find her and the girls at Suncoast Community Church, where she's the youth leader. That facet of her life, she says, “brings me a kind of peace."
While Anne didn't imagine a career in emergency management when she graduated from USF, she sees her job as a natural progression from her work in human resources. “All of my skills and abilities, both innate and learned … they just kind of end up in the right spot in this job."
Anne readily adds, “There isn't a better job in the world for those things than the one I'm in."
How long does she foresee staying in this job? Without hesitation, she responds, “Till they don't want me around any more, I'll be here."
STORY: Rachel Hackney
Photos: Barbara Banks
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