Tag: back-up systems

Do you or family members depend on electricity-powered medical devices?

Before you jump ahead, or jump off altogether because you think you don’t need “medical device back-up power,” please think again.

You may not use a medical device right now, but it’s certainly possible that at some point you, your parent, or a neighbor will look forward to having one of these very common “devices:”

• Motorized scooter or wheel chair
• Tilt-up recliner chair
• Adjustable bed

It’s also very possible that family members and neighbors already have devices you don’t even know about, like . . .

• Humidifier
• CPAP machine
• Oxygen concentrator

What will happen to these machines when the power goes out?

Unless the device has some sort of back-up power, it will stop working. End of story.

So imagine your aging father in his recliner, stuck half-up and half down! Or your husband who can’t sleep a wink without his CPAP machine! These are examples from real life.

Do you have a plan for your own medical device back-up power?

That power could come from a gasoline-driven generator – but that’s really overkill (and potentially dangerous) for a simple device like a humidifier.

Power could come from a solar generator – but only if that generator has been set up with a battery to store electricity during the day so it can be fed to your device at night.

Power could come from the right sized battery backup.  Here’s a sample of what I have found out.

Electric beds

Adjustable beds are plugged into the wall and their motor is operated with a hand-held remote. These beds should have an “emergency power down” function. If power goes out, the power-down function can be activated. All it takes are 2 or 3 small batteries inserted specially into the power-down device. The bed will come down until it is flat. The batteries will be exhausted. So, the question for you: if you have or are considering an electric bed, WHERE is the power-down controller and WHERE are the appropriate batteries for it? And if someone is trapped in the bed, could that person activate the power-down safety feature? (If you’re worried, be sure you get answers before you buy!)

Lift chairs and recliners

Tilt-up chairs also seem to have a battery back-up feature that can plug into the wall for charging. (Some people use the battery all the time to avoid having visible cords.) Again, the question. Does your chair have back-up power and do you know how it works? If it doesn’t have a back-up, what size/type does the manufacturer recommend? (Prices for these back-ups seem to hover around $100.)

Portable battery-back-ups for CPAP and other smaller machines

The back-up batteries for these devices are really just oversized “power banks,” designed so you can take them camping or traveling. Of course, you can use them when the power goes out, too.

But they are amazingly expensive! I saw prices starting at $200 and heading quickly up to $600. Still, if you need the CPAP machine, you need the battery back-up! Here are a couple of examples to get you started shopping. The first is sturdy and flexible with three ways to charge (plug into the wall when you have electricity, use a solar panel – not included – or plug into your car’s dashboard). The second example, smaller and more compact, weighs half as much – and costs around 3 times as much at Amazon. Click on the images or links to see details.

200W Peak Power Station, Flashfish CPAP Battery 166Wh 45000mAh Backup Power Pack 110V 150W Lithium Battery Pack Camping Solar Generator for CPAP Camping Home Emergency Power Supply

This second model, below, provides important information about exactly which models of CPAP machines it will work for. As you shop, be sure you are looking for back-ups that will fit your own product.

CPAP Battery/Backup Power Supply for Philips Dream Station, System One and other 12V Devices. Pilot12 Lite is the Smallest, Lightest and Longest Lasting Battery on the Market Today!

Since your utility is responsible for the outage, what will it do for you while the power is out?

This is the question that actually kicked off this whole Advisory. I was invited to attend a webinar about the subject. And after that webinar and some wide-ranging research, my answer is, “Not a lot.”

I searched out and reviewed a dozen or so “programs” offered by utilities across the country. The programs have names like “Medical Baseline Allowance Program” (CA), “Medical Support with Devices” (AZ), “Lifelight Service” (MA), “Medically Essential Service” (FL), and “Life Support Equipment Program” (WA).  I couldn’t find programs at all in several states.

Here are typical services. Not all programs offer them all.

1. Extra notifications (when possible) in advance of a shut-off (email, phone call, letter)
2. A lower monthly energy bill (extra kilowatt-hours every month and/or a discount on the bill)
3. Extra grace time before power is shut off due to bill not being paid

And here’s a statement that I saw, in one form or another, on nearly every site.

PLEASE NOTE: Backup generators and transportation services are not part of this program. Participation in this program does not mean your electric power will be restored sooner than others.

Now, if you do have medical equipment and would like to sign up, here’s how it works.

Go to your utility website and get the application. Basically, your doctor has to attest that you have a “qualifying medical condition” and require a “qualifying medical device” to treat your condition. (The application has to be renewed every year or every two years. Exceptions apply this year because of the Coronavirus.) Here are excerpts from the application site for the program where I live in California.

Some qualifying medical conditions include:

• Paraplegic, hemiplegic or quadriplegic condition
• Multiple sclerosis with special heating and/or cooling needs
• Scleroderma with special heating needs
• Life-threatening illness or compromised immune system, and special heating and/or cooling are needed to sustain life or prevent medical deterioration
• Asthma and/or sleep apnea

And, some qualifying medical devices include:

• Motorized wheelchair/scooter
• IPPB or CPAP machines
• Respirator (all types)
• Hemodialysis machine
• Iron lung

Here are examples of devices that do NOT qualify:

• Heating Pads
• Humidifiers
• Pool or Tank Heaters
• Saunas or Hot Tubs
• Vaporizers
• Whirlpool Pumps

(A link on this site leads to a list of 23 different devices that could qualify. It’s in the Find out if you qualify section.)

I did NOT see electric beds or chairs on any of these lists. Nor did I see any answer to the problem of needing to keep medicines refrigerated.

Since the utility can’t help with medical device back-up power, what do they suggest we do?

All the utilities stressed the importance of having a “personal emergency plan” for outages, and sharing that plan with family and friends.

Some specific recommendations included identifying people who will help if you need to evacuate, collecting names and locations of alternate doctors and pharmacies, and being sure you are signed up with any governmental and local programs that support people with disabilities.

We have addressed plans for people with disabilities and will be doing more. This Advisory on the topic was written for members of our local neighborhood emergency response group:

So should you sign up for a medical device program with your utility?

If you can save on your utility bill, why not? Just be sure you understand exactly how the program works before making any assumptions. And be sure whatever “medical devices” you have or are contemplating will qualify you.

Above all, program or not, it’s up to YOU to have a plan for medical device back-up power when the utility power shuts down. You’ll have to become the expert on your own equipment. Before you start shopping for a battery back-up or uninterruptible power supply (UPS) you need to know:

• Exactly how much current your equipment requires (amps and wattage)
• How long it has to run continuously (or how long you want it to run)

The more capacity you want, the bigger the unit (and the more expensive).  I’d recommend you get your specifications and then head to Amazon to see what is available. Below is a link to a medium-sized model (1500 VA) from APC, a well-known and respected manufacturer. This will get you started.

APC 1500VA UPS Battery Backup & Surge Protector with AVR, Back-UPS Pro Uninterruptible Power Supply (BR1500G)

And finally, don’t forget to have your device plugged in to the UPS so it can take over when the power goes out!

OK, that’s it for now. Summer is here, with a higher risk of power outages. Don’t overlook preparing for back-up power sources if you need them.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. What about Medicare/Medicaid? From the research I have done so far, it looks as though they won’t pay for back-up power supplies, even if they will pay for the medical device itself. What do you know about this?

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Just a month ago we exposed some “lies” about FEMA coming to the rescue in an emergency.

Today it’s the turn of employers, and the lies they tell you and themselves.

The biggest lie?

“In an emergency, we’ll just work from home.”

(Ha, ha! When you hear that, do you laugh along with me?)

It’s not that working from home is impossible. Many of us do it, some on a regular basis.

The ridiculous part is thinking that in a disaster you can save the business by working at home without having designed an emergency plan to do it.

Granted, every company is unique. But when it comes to operating by working at home, your company needs to have thought through and come up with answers to some essential questions.

Here are 7 of the issues you’ll want to consider beforehand.

1 – Who makes the decision? Who will decide that there is a disaster and that employees should stay home?

Not every disaster is as dramatic as a hurricane or earthquake. Something as simple as a construction bridge collapse or partial power outage might not make the emergency airwaves, but still could mean your business is shut down. Who makes the call? (And how does the word get out to every employee?)

2 – Who assigns roles? How will employees be notified about the disaster, who should be working from home that day, and who should be planning to take the day off?

And will it be with or without pay?

Not every employee may need or be able to work from home. But to counter concerns about what’s fair, employees need to know in advance what emergency policies are, how they will be activated – and how that will impact their particular job.

3 – What functions need to continue? A company that’s prepared may be able to limp along for some time before it experiences serious damage. Which functions are vital for that interim period?

You’ll only know the answer to this question if you plan ahead. That planning will identify jobs that can be performed by employees working at home and will determine what resources they need to perform them.

Your planning will also identify which jobs need to be able to be performed by more than just one person – i.e., where cross-training is called for.

4 – What resources do we need? Doing research, drafting a report or even responding to business emails or calls may be easy for an employee on the road or working at home.

Other jobs, however – such as customer service, accounting, project management, etc.— may be difficult if not impossible for an employee who doesn’t have full access to company files, the right software and hardware, appropriate communications lines and phones, and a stable internet connection with plenty of bandwidth.

Which employees would need these resources to be able to keep YOUR company afloat? Who will pay to have these resources in place, or put in place?

5 – What security will be required?

It’s relatively easy to control security within your organization. This can include restricting entrance to certain areas of the plant, restricting access to different areas within the company network, restricting what people can download and/or take home with them.

In an emergency, information may need to be accessed or manipulated at many different locations, all of them away from the office. Electronic files may need to be shared; paper files may end up being transported in private vehicles; laptops and tablets may be put to use in coffee shops or who knows where.

What level of security do you need to consider to safeguard your operations (and, perhaps, to meet legal requirements)?

6 – Will employees be accountable? During the regular workday, it’s pretty clear who is working and who is goofing off.

Employees working at home may need to track their own hours and progress, actively check in, and make the decision when to call for assistance or approvals. Understanding employees’ level of self-reliance will determine, in part, whether or not they belong on the “work-at-home emergency response team.”

7 – What about Plan C? While working from home may seem to be a reasonable Plan B, back-up to an anticipated power outage or short-lived storm, by definition a disaster causes “great damage or loss of life.” The “work from home” Plan B may not be adequate!

What if a number of your key employees have had to evacuate their entire families and are not at home at all? What if employees are at home, but power is out there just as it is at the downtown office? What if employees are safe at home but your entire office, and all the files the employees need to connect to, are still standing in 12 inches of floodwater?

Plan C can take different forms.

• Your Plan C might start, for example, with your committing some key operations and/or data to “the cloud,” which would make them accessible from anywhere by those displaced key employees. I found this overview of how small businesses might use the cloud for disaster recovery, from Network World.
• It might include a contractual arrangement with a disaster continuity company to replace or restore your flood-damaged equipment within 24 hours. Agility Recovery Solutions, a company we’ve followed and written about for several years, specializes in recovering four areas for small business: office space, power, communications, and computers. (Check out their videos.)
• Or Plan C might even require a service that is prepared to set up – or continually maintain – an off-site back-up office that mirrors your daily operation (a so-called “hot site”), where key employees could simply walk in and sit right down to work. You can get a good description of hot, warm and cold sites here.

As you may have gathered by now, Plan C could become costly! But . . .

If your Plan C keeps the business going, when otherwise it would collapse . . .

— well, then, you really must consider it.

 

This article is not meant to be a complete program for business continuity planning.

It’s goal is simple — to dispel the “myth” that working from home is an adequate back-up plan.

For most businesses, working from home will be a partial solution at best. Even then, it will require some serious pre-planning.

So don’t let your employer – and if that’s you, don’t let yourself! – be fooled by thinking, “We’ll just work from home.”

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

As they say on TV, “Watch this space.”  We’ll be back with another “lie” very soon! (It you don’t want to miss it, sign up below to get all our Advisories!)