DOTmed.com, October 2008 UTMB's Marsha Canright and Dr. Karen Sexton are quoted in this article about lessons learned from Hurricane Rita in preparing for Hurricane Ike. "It looks like the emergency preparedness plans worked. Thank God we evacuated patients and weren't in the position of trying to care for really sick people with no power. Our leadership had a plan and stuck to it." Canright said. Sexton said she believes that specific factors are crucial for success, including identifying an incident commander with sole authority to make decisions, developing and communicating a set of guiding principles, setting patient safety as a top priority, establishing an incident command center that consolidates vital institution functions, avoiding delays in deciding to evacuate, identifying strategic partners, selecting essential personnel who are not distracted by personal concerns during the emergency and conducting periodic trial runs of emergency preparedness.