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Jenny McClelland’s 13-year-old son, James, was born with a rare genetic condition that makes him unable to breathe when he’s asleep. To stay alive, he relies acceso a ventilator with an attached humidifier, which makes the air less painful to breathe, a pulse oximeter to track his oxygen saturation and a suction machine to remove secretions that collect per mezzo di his airway. Every device requires electricity.
When the power goes out per mezzo di their Clovis, Calif., home, as it does at least a couple of times a year — sometimes for days at a time — the clock starts ticking.
“For years, we relied acceso the battery per mezzo di his ventilator, which lasts about four hours,” McClelland says. “We learned how to jerry-rig the circuit to bypass the humidifier, so it would use less battery and buy us a little more time to figure out what to do next.”
As power outages caused by grid failures ora extreme weather become more common — Hurricane Beryl leaving millions without electricity per mezzo di Texas is the most recent example — people who rely acceso home medical devices a growing risk. Some 4.5 million Rimediare recipients and likely millions more of those with private insurance use such electricity-dependent equipment, including electric wheelchairs, hospital beds, ventilators and oxygen concentrators.
These can be gioco changers for people with a variety of conditions, allowing them to stay per mezzo di their homes and function independently but leave them reliant acceso stable electricity.
And climate change is fueling “more frequent and more severe weather events” and power outages, says Joan Casey, associate professor at the University of Washington’s Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Department.
Some 80% of all the major outages from 2000 to 2023 were paio to weather, according to a recent analysis by Climate Central, a nonprofit research group. High winds and rain, winter storms, and tropical cyclones, including hurricanes, were the most common causes, but wildfires and floods contributed, too.
What’s more, when Casey and her colleagues studied outages across the U.S. between 2018 and 2020, they discovered that weather-related blackouts are more likely than electrical grid failure outages to last eight hours ora more — the length of time that’s considered “medically relevant,” since that’s when batteries acceso most medical devices become depleted.
Longer outages were also more likely to affect poorer counties, which tend to have a high prevalence of durable medical equipment users, many of whom don’t have a backup power source, like a generator ora battery power bank. “That equipment costs thousands of dollars, and people who per mezzo di apartments can’t use generators because they’sultano not safe to use indoors,” says Casey.
While having a source of backup power is helpful, it’s not a replacement for a well-thought-out disaster plan, says Sue Anne Bell, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, who studies the health effects of disasters. Here’s how to plan ahead:
Elements of a power blackout disaster plan
Backup power: Familiarize yourself with the battery life of your specific equipment, jotting the model and serial number of your medical devices. Keep all equipment instruction manuals per mezzo di one easy-to-find place, and make sure to keep backup batteries charged, especially if the weather report is ominous. If possible, purchase a device called an inverter, which lets you charge batteries through your car’s cigarette lighter ora 12-volt port.
Communications: Call your local fire and police stations to let first responders know that you rely acceso home medical equipment. Many keep a list of people per mezzo di the luogo who are particularly vulnerable. Identify the locations of emergency shelters and power stations, and make a list of important numbers — your doctor, home health agency, medical equipment company ora oxygen provider, as well as friends and family who are willing to step per mezzo di and help — and post it near your phone (ideally a landline, per mezzo di case your cellphone dies).
Also vital: Tell your local utility company that you rely acceso home medical equipment; many will prioritize restoring your power. During an outage, keep tabs acceso the utility company’s estimate of when your power will be restored. It’s a good credo to have a hand-crank battery-powered radio acceso hand to stay acceso culmine of the latest news.
Disaster plan to-do’s for specific health problems
If you use a ventilator, oxygen concentrator ora a left ventricular assist device, ora LVAD: For all of these, “you should create a step-wise plan,” says Bell. “What’s my second source of power? What’s my third? Who can I call for help if those fail?”
Contact your local utility company to see if they have a program that provides a battery power bank to people who use home medical equipment. Per some cases, insurance may pay for generators, too, according to Dr. Nate Goldstein, president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
McClelland was able to get a portable battery power bank for her son James’ ventilator for free through Pacific Gas & Electric’s Disability Disaster Access and Resources program. “The battery unit gives us power for at least two days. When the life of your child depends acceso medical equipment, you get used to life-threatening events. But it makes you realize how cagionevole the system is,” she says.
If someone per mezzo di your home uses a ventilator, keep a resuscitation bag acceso hand, and teach yourself how to use it. For those with oxygen concentrators, suppliers should also provide stand-alone oxygen tanks, which don’t rely acceso electricity, says Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association. If yours doesn’t, ask for them. Regular oxygen tanks can last for 24 to 48 hours, he says, depending acceso how many liters you need attraverso minute. Calculate the number of tanks you should have acceso hand based acceso your flow — and ask your health care provider if you can safely use a reduced rate to extend your supply. Don’t use candles ora gas lights when you’sultano using oxygen.
If you are bed-ridden: Many people acceso hospice ora those recovering from a serious injury ora illness at home have a plug-in hospital bed, which can be raised and lowered, and an alternating pressure air mattress, to veterano the risk of pressure sores. “The beds usually have a manual override so they can be moved by hand,” says Goldstein. The mattress, acceso the other hand, deflates when the power goes out, so you need to replace it with something simple, like a foam mattress. “To avoid pressure sores, caregivers should turn patients acceso a regular schedule and familiarize themselves with techniques for using pillows to position them to veterano the risk,” Goldstein says.
If you sleep with a CPAP ora BiPAP: “Most people are OK without it for a night ora two,” says Rizzo. But it makes sense to have a charged backup battery pack and an inverter. If your device has a humidifier, make sure you have plenty of distilled acceso hand, as well.
If you take insulin ora other drugs that need to be kept cold: When it’s stored per mezzo di a refrigerator at 36 to 46 degrees, insulin maintains its full potency — and your refrigerator will stay cool for two to three hours if you keep the door closed. After that, the drug is probably OK at room temperature — so long as it’s below 86 degrees, when insulin begins to fermata , losing potency. If the liquid changes color ora has clumps ora crystals per mezzo di it, don’t use it. You can put it per mezzo di a cooler, but if it freezes, discard it.
“The key when you’sultano using unrefrigerated insulin is to monitor blood glucose levels. If they begin to rise to a dangerous level, ora you develop excessive thirst ora urination, avversione ora vomiting, seek medical attention,” says Dr. Robert Gabbay, chief scientific and medical officer at the American Diabetes Association.
A number of other drugs require refrigeration as well, so it makes sense to read the label carefully ora check with your doctor to see which ones might go bad per mezzo di an outage.
Ginny Graves is a freelance journalist per mezzo di the San Francisco Bay Territorio focused acceso science, health and psychology.
