[But AOC said green...] Nursing and assisted living facilities in danger of losing power

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.kxan.com/investigations/nursing-and-assisted-living-
facilities-in-danger-of-losing-power/

AUSTIN (KXAN) – If times weren’t hard enough for nursing and assisted
living facilities in Central Texas, the most severe winter weather in
living memory is throwing another obstacle–power outage–at these homes for
the most vulnerable.

KXAN has confirmed one assisted living facility has been in a power
outage, and we have received messages from families of another local
nursing home indicating it lost power within the past couple days.

Heather Hunter, a spokesperson for long-term care provider Brookdale,
confirmed its assisted living and memory care location in Northwest Hills
is part of numerous power outages throughout Austin.

Hunter said Brookdale has been communicating with the utility company, and
they are working to restore power.

“We remain focused on the safety and comfort of residents and our
associates who care for them. Based on the assessments of our team, the
community has reported to be doing well and continues providing services
and caring for the residents,” Hunter said in an email. “We have a storm
preparedness plan in place and our community is equipped with water, food,
a generator and supplies to care for residents.”

State rules require long-term care facilities to have emergency plans in
place and to evaluate those plans annually, according to HHSC. The
emergency plans should outline a method to communicate with outside
entities during an emergency and monitor news news and information.

“A facility’s plan must have a section for sheltering arrangements that
includes procedures for implementing a decision to shelter-in-place that
includes having access to medications, records, food, water, equipment and
supplies,” according to HHSC’s manual.

Facilities should have an emergency staffing plan and have a record of all
vital services–such as dialysis, oxygen or respirators—and plans to keep
those services available during an emergency.

You can find a copy of the state’s guide for emergency preparations here.

Families for Better Care Executive Director Brian Lee advocates for
elderly Texans living in skilled nursing facilities and assisted living
facilities.

He told KXAN that keeping the power on in these homes was a matter of
“life and death,” referencing a nursing home where 12 people died in 2017,
following a power outage during Hurricane Irma.

“Nursing homes and assisted living have got to be at the top of the list
as far as power restoration, and the rolling blackouts that are occurring
should not be affecting them,” he said. “We’re talking about medically
compromised individuals, elderly, very vulnerable. Anything that disrupts
their care services could result in people dying.”

He’s referring to the “rotating outages” called for by the Electric
Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT. The council manages the state’s
electrical grid, according to Austin Energy. KXAN has heard reports these
planned outages have lasted for hours for some Texans.

ERCOT has declared an Energy Emergency Alert (EEA), which it can do if
there aren’t enough power reserves. Rotating outages are a “last resort,”
according to Austin Energy. You can find out more about the outages from
Austin Energy here and from ERCOT here.

A spokesperson for Austin Energy told KXAN they make “every effort” not to
include customers on their critical load customers — a list of three tiers
of locations given priority during the rolling outages. Nursing homes are
included in the second tier.

“Because of the level of request, Tier 2 facilities were not excluded from
this event,” the spokesperson said. “We hope nursing homes enact the
emergency plans developed to assist residents during crisis situations.”

They noted that Austin Homeland Security and Emergency Management was also
available to provide assistance to nursing homes in crisis.

Lee argued the state of Texas and power companies should reevaluate how
nursing homes are prioritized.

“If the power companies don’t have them prioritized, people dying could
rest with them.”



--
"LOCKDOWN", left-wing COVID fearmongering. 95% of COVID infections
recover with no after effects.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.

Donald J. Trump, cheated out of a second term by fraudulent "mail-in"
ballots. Report voter fraud: sf.n...@mail.house.gov

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.