On any given day, thousands of vulnerable Mainers — frail seniors, people with physical or mental disabilities and those with a terminal illness — rely on in-home providers for such essential services as personal care, medication management, meal preparation and pain control.
Many live in Maine’s most rural areas and rely on electricity not just for heat, light, well water and refrigeration but also for medical equipment, such as intravenous infusion pumps and supplemental oxygen machines.
When nature serves up a powerful storm like the one that knocked out power across much of the state this week, these folks are hit especially hard.
“An event like this can disrupt services in many ways,” said Dale Hamilton, executive director of Community Health and Counseling Services, a Bangor-based agency that provides home health, hospice and other services across four counties. Hamilton said that because of the recent windstorm and the power outages it caused at least two rural hospice patients were moved into family members’ homes until power was restored.
CHCS works closely with every client to develop a contingency plan for staying safe if aides are unable to reach them, Hamilton said, and it partners with local emergency responders to identify those at greatest risk during a crisis.
At Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems’ VNA Home Health and Hospice Service, Joe Kellner said a “shelter-in-place” plan can help clients and their families ride out service disruptions safely. A tiered system helps the agency identify its most vulnerable clients and make sure those people are given top priority by agency staff, first responders and power-company crews in a crisis, he said.
Kellner and Hamilton both stressed that it isn’t just the most vulnerable Mainers who need to be prepared for emergencies. Having a basic contingency plan can make the difference between staying safely at home or suffering unduly through a prolonged power outage or other emergency, they said. Among their recommendations:
– Identify a small network of friends, family members or neighbors who will reliably check on you during an emergency and whom you can ask for help.
– Keep several gallons of drinking water and two weeks’ worth of ready-to-eat, non-perishable food on hand.
– Keep a current list of all your medications and have a two-week supply of medications and medical supplies.
– Have a stash of clean, warm clothes and blankets to keep you warm if temperatures drop inside your home. Dress in warm layers, from long underwear to sweaters, vests and coats. Wool, silk and synthetics perform better than cotton.
– A cell phone with a backup power pack can keep you in contact with loved ones and emergency responders when your landline phone fails.
– If you have a wood stove, keep it clean, know how to use it safely and keep a supply of dry wood on hand. Never use a kerosene heater or other unvented heating device indoors.A backup, outdoor power generator can make a huge difference. Generators big enough to power your entire house are great, but even a small machine can recharge the batteries of essential medical equipment, keep perishable food cold and power up a table lamp for taking medications safely. Keep a generator outside and well away from the house to avoid deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.
Bottom line? Don’t get caught unprepared by a storm or power outage.
