You take your resources where you find them and sometimes it's a surprise. An assistant hospital administrator proved adept at getting and moving supplies, directing helicopter landings and other tasks so efficiently, she ended up running the airport and bossing around the military staff. When Katrina was over, Finn said, she never set foot in her hospital again.

A surgeon with finely honed small-motor skills proved adept at opening padlocks at convenience and other stores to get supplies that were direly needed. They left notes, Finn said, and paid for things later. "Heroes and heroines were not the people you expected. They were all types of people who, when it got to the bottom line, did it."

He also told the hospitals to make sure they have weapons to protect the inhabitants and prevent looting of critical supplies. You don't have to shoot someone. But discharging a weapon at a ceiling is a great dissuader, he said.

The most important thing is maintaining flexibility and creativity. One hospital was able to get and give crucial information simply because a doctor decided to try the OnStar system in his vehicle. It worked.

At one point, Finn said, things were so dire and needs so great that his administrators created their own "state police" letterhead and documentation to allow their food and fuel trucks to move around as needed without being confiscated and obstructed by government agencies that were "helping."

Do what you need to do, he counseled. "Think what your purpose is. You're there to save lives."

In crisis, he added, forget rules in favor of principles.

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com