CARE - Power Or Lack Thereof
I was asleep when the power went out, by the time I woke and ran to his room, his inflatable mattress had deflated and he was lying on the bars of the hospital bed frame. Power outages were always one of my biggest fears. My Dad used a stair chair to get up and down the steps, he had a lift chair that at any given moment could be fully reclined or standing straight up. Later he was on oxygen and on an inflatable mattress that had baffles that constantly shifted his body weight to avoid bed sores. I had a plan, as soon as the power went out I would disconnect the mattress from the pump and seal it, to prevent air loss. The mattress should stay inflated for a few hours like that, but I had a hoyer lift and a regular hospital bed mattress. If the power did not come back on in a few hours I would hoist my Dad up in the hoyer sling and swap out the mattress and down he would go safe and sound. I even would move the spare mattress into the hallway when it stormed along with lanterns, flash lights and every thing else for my power outage emergency plan. I did not plan on sleeping 3 hours into an outage.
Before the oxygen and air mattress, if we lost power during the night, my Dad would just stay upstairs in bed until the power came back on, and I had an SOP (standard operating procedure for that) but if he was downstairs it was a crap shoot. I had a plan for when it started storming. Many nights I tracked storms and got him upstairs before the worst of it hit. I would tell him not to recline his lift chair, and if he needed to go to the bathroom, I would help him up instead of using the chair. But you can’t plan ahead for the unexpected outages, like when a squirrel eats through just enough of the wire to the house causing a drop in the wattage just enough that the stair chair only worked when no one is sitting in it, or another squirrel one bites all the way through and kills itself and the power to the neighborhood.
I learned just a couple of things from all the years of facing down power outages.
If you have a place to store it, a place to set it up and can afford it, buy a generator. Power goes out you can run the oxygen machine because those back up cylinders won’t last too long. Get an outdoor extension cord and make sure it is long enough to go from the generator outside to whatever you need it to power. Get the requirements for wattage, how much power you need for each item you will be plugging into the generator. Make sure it has enough and the right kind of plugs you need, since you it will be running outside make sure it has GFCI protected outlets. Fuel and the size of the tank, matter. Gas is easier to find then Diesel, but diesel will give you better fuel efficiency, however, diesel generators cost more. The bigger the tank the longer it runs between refueling, go big. If you buy a gas generator be sure to add a gas stabilizer to the tank, if you are storing gas in the tank and in your gas container to negate the effects of ethanol. Also keep a can of Gum Out around if you buy a gas generator, the carburetor gets clogged now and then and spraying Gum Out in it gets it running. Never keep a plastic gas container on concrete, it will crack, if you need to store it on your concrete garage floor, sit it on a couple scrap 2x4’s. It has exhaust just like a car or truck, whatever kind you buy do not run it in an enclosed area. If you enjoy pulling a recoil cord, knock yourself out, my two cents, spend a few dollars extra and buy the electric starter. Most generators can be left plugged in to keep the starter battery fully changed for when you need it. If you can’t store it where you can keep the battery changed, opt for the recoil cord.
Call your power company and ask them to send you the form for your doctor to fill out that states a patient lives at your address who relies on medical equipment that runs on electricity. If the doctor’s office will send it directly to the power company, that’s great, but ask them to send you a copy and follow up with the power company to make sure they got it and your house is now on a priority list. If they get multiple grids down teams go first to grids that have a house on the priority list.
If you need to be alerted if the power goes out in the middle of the night, there are alerts for that. If a text does not wake you, don’t get the kind that send you a text. For about $25 you can get an alarm that will go off and wake you if you lose power. If you are using a monitor already, audio or video, some of them have an outage alarm, check to see if yours has one before you buy something you don’t need.
If all you need is to get the stair chair working so you can get your loved one safely up or down the stairs, call the Fire Department. A fire truck is a big generator on wheels. Let them know it is not an emergency but you need help and explain. They will run an extension (you should keep one in the house that is long enough) to the stair chair. If your loved one was on their way up or down the stairs when the power went, call the Fire Department, don’t try and get them out of the chair and on to the steps. They can get to you in minutes, don’t risk it, call them.
If you have solar, then you don’t have to worry about power outages, if you don’t at least buy a solar charger for your phone and tables and keep it charged. TV is going to be down and once everyone is safe and you are over the panic phase, you’ll want to watch a movie on your phone.
AFTER - Pies
I don’t think the people in stores on Friday will be this orderly
I will be writing my next post on Friday, I will let you know if I take that leap and head into the crowds, if I’m ok or snacking on Xanax. Tomorrow I have a lot of work I need to get done and pies to bake, plus five days a week might be a bit too much for me right now. I will see how it goes if I cut back to 2 or 3 posts a week. I also want some time to work on the “year in-between” post. I have to find the rhythm that works for me. I don’t know if anyone out there is reading these posts, but I know writing is helping me work through these past few years. In someways this blog is easier then I thought it would be, in others, it’s harder.
Denise
