Lee County manager treated for exhaustion after days at the helm of Hurricane Irma response

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Lee County Manager Roger Desjarlais was taken to the hospital Wednesday morning after spending several long days supervising county preparation and response to Hurricane Irma.

County Commissioner Larry Kiker confirmed that after several days leading the county's emergency operations center, Desjarlais fell ill, showing signs of exhaustion and dehydration.

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Kiker said operations at the county's emergency operations center off Ortiz Boulevard continued in Desjarlais' absence.

"Everybody has done as much as they can, I'm proud of them," Kiker said. "Roger may not be in that chair, but those guys know what needs to be done. "

Desjarlais, 67, was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Desjarlais has long been an advocate for building stronger emergency response operations for natural disasters.

While serving in the county public services department in 1992, he was sent to Florida City to become co-director of emergency response after that Miami-Dade community was dealt catastrophic damage by Hurricane Andrew.

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His experiences during that crisis led Desjarlais to plead for public officials to "take emergency management seriously," and to warn fellow Lee County residents to prepare for a serious hurricane because "our turn will come."

Much of Desjarlais' career in Lee County was spent in emergency services positions ranging from ambulance attendant trainee to assistant county administrator for public service agencies.

He later served as Broward County manager, and deputy to Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson, before being selected as Lee's county manager in June 2013.