And so it starts...

Yesterday my neighbour got laid off.

GALVESTON —The University of Texas Medical Branch campus, where a chorus of ambulance sirens once was constant and thousands of workers conducted the daily business of keeping a 550-bed hospital running, was somber and quiet Tuesday as the first of 3,000 people learned they no longer had jobs.

Most had worked at John Sealy Hospital, where workers will take the brunt of the massive cut.

Many had never worked any place except the medical branch.

Some who had held out hope their jobs would be spared sat in disbelief at the news. Others, minutes after being dismissed, attended classes to brush up their job-seeking skills.

Then, there were those who didn’t yet know. They waited in dread to enter rooms where their supervisors would deliver the news.

The University of Texas System regents last week authorized cutting up to 3,800 full-time equivalent positions after Hurricane Ike devastated the island campus that had employed 8,000 people.

The storm, which struck Sept. 13, flooded campus buildings and severely damaged John Sealy Hospital, which likely will reopen with only 200 beds.

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