Over the Fence: The Importance of Experts in Crises

Over the Fence: The Importance of Experts in Crises By Brandon Dyer, Executive Director of Community Renewal of Pottawatomie County

It’s springtime in Oklahoma. Which means it’s time to refresh our memory on phrases like “hook echo,” “Val Castor,” “wind shear” and my personal favorite, “The Gentner.” We Okies suddenly become armchair meteorological experts and seem to know more about “Those Terrible Twisters” than the trained professionals themselves.

I remember when I was in the fifth grade at Washington School south of Farrall that Gary England came to our school to talk twisters. It was a big deal. There was no voice trusted more by Oklahomans than Gary’s when it came to severe weather. If Gary said it, it was true. If he said take shelter now, we ran to the cellar. It didn’t matter if the sirens were blowing or not.

Tornadoes are easy to take seriously because we can see them. We can see the direct result of their destruction instantly. Prior to multiple news stations having high definition cameras attached to helicopters showing live footage of tornadoes and destruction, we had to trust a trained professional that danger was at hand. We had to trust that precaution was indeed necessary. The truth is, each spring the odds are greatly in our favor that a tornado is not going to cause damage to our own home, but the danger is still real. We pay close attention to the experts, and we take necessary precautions, no matter how over-the-top their coverage appears at times.

Why do we do it? Why do we listen, even if from a distance, and take necessary precautions? Because their expertise saves lives. Only God knows how many Oklahomans would have perished over the past 40 years if it weren’t for the early warning systems put in place by experts like Gary England.

By now, we have all become fa

Brandon Dyer

miliar with terms like “COVID-19,” “pandemic,” “flatten the curve” and “social distancing.” But it seems like we are having trouble finding a single voice we can all trust. By my observation, some of us are taking this pandemic quite seriously, maybe even to a panic level, while others do not seem to be concerned at all.

To some degree it makes sense. We cannot see this threat with our eyes. Cause and effect are more difficult to link together for the casual observer like myself. The good news is we have trained professionals in this field of study as well. We have doctors, scientists and epidemiologists who spend their entire careers studying disease and disease mitigation protocols. Yes, it’s true. Much like our local meteorologists, they do not always agree on the finer points of the danger. They do not always precisely agree on the severity of the situation or exactly how many people are likely to become infected. However, there is no one better to trust in times like this with our health than the professionals in this field.

When I was in Mrs. Karen Wall’s microbiology class as a junior at Shawnee High School, I learned a valuable lesson. To be honest with you, she tricked us. We came to class like normal and carried on with our learning like it was a typical day. What we didn’t know was that she had sprinkled invisible dust all over our tables. After about 15 minutes of class, she turned out the classroom lights and turned on the black lights. Suddenly everyone’s hands, clothes and faces glowed with the now, not-so-invisible dust. You see, unknowingly, we had come in contact with the dust and spread it all over ourselves and to each other without even knowing what we had done.

Now at that time, Warner Bros. had just released “Outbreak” starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Patrick Dempsey (Dr. McDreamy for “Grey’s Anatomy” fans) about an Ebola outbreak in 1989. Many of us had seen the movie and had been scared to death by the reality of such an epidemic occurring in our lifetime. Mrs. Wall didn’t need to say another word. We got it. In fact, I became a pseudo-germa

phobe for several years as a result.

Countless times, I have gone to my shelter when Gary told me to or when I heard the sirens. Very few times did I actually feel like my family was in immediate, critical danger, but I listened to the experts and we were safe.

In such an unprecedented time as this, let’s listen to the experts. If they tell us to stay home as much as possible, let’s do it. If they tell us to wash our hands a seemingly absurd amount of times, let’s do it. If they tell us to practice social distancing, let’s do it. Does it seem over the top at times? Does it seem awkward? Yes. However, the thing about prevention is, you can never really prove it worked. You just get to the end, shrug your shoulders and enjoy the outcome you were hoping for. Crisis averted. You might even feel like it was unnecessary because the tragedy didn’t occur. That’s the outcome we are hoping for. That’s what success looks like in these trying times.

May we all heed the warnings of the experts. It could save lives. Maybe even your own.