JOAN’S BLOG – TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2011 – LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT A POWER OUTAGE AND MENTAL/PHYSICAL DISABILITES

Yesterday, I learned what a power outage means to a mentally and physically disabled adult.

At 8:30 Monday morning, I wheeled my cart filled with scarves and supplies to the ALF next door to set up my display for their Fall Bazaar. I made sure Sid’s breakfast was on his placemat; his daily reminder note was taped to his walker; and he was being picked up at 12:15 for his Alzheimer Buddies’ Dominoes Game. At 11:30 AM, imagine my shock, when I saw Sid, dripping in sweat, wheeling his walker in the door of the ALF. The path from my house to the ALF is a 2-3 minute walk for an able bodied individual, but he cannot walk without pain from the den to the living room. He was FURIOUS and exhausted, besides being wracked with knee and back pain. Apparently, my cell phone was not picking up service where my scarf table was located, as he said he had called me 3 times. He came with the message that the power went out in the house, and he had no idea what to do or who to call.

I alerted the maintenance man and ALF director, and they were investigating within minutes. I sent Sid back home – it took all of his energy and 20 minutes to walk the 3 minute path. Thankfully, he was picked up on time, and spent the day with friends, well supervised.

It is not necessary to go into detail. Suffice to say, we were one of two villas (out of 23) affected. The other is occupied by an 89 year old widow who lives alone. A small amount of blame could be attributed to the new company that bought the ALF/Independent Villas; but their end of the situation was fixed by 3:45 PM, at which point, Florida Power and Light SHOULD have flipped the switch in their office to restore the power. They did not. They said “by law”, they had 24 hours to restore power.

Sid arrived home at 5 PM to no air conditioning, no lights, no power lounge chair, no TV, and no supper. (The ALF delivered supper on time, but it needed heating, and it was not something Sid liked anyway, so we went out to eat.)  To his credit, he did not erupt in a rage, but he was in pain, soaked in sweat, and extremely confused. The ALF director gave me a choice – the company would pay for us to stay in a hotel for the night or the maintenance man could hook up a few main items to the power from our neighboring villas. I (mistakenly, but hindsight is 20/20) decided to stay home, because he was able to hook up the den TV and cable, the refrigerator, and a lamp in the master bedroom. I thought (again, mistakenly) that Sid would be better off in his own environment than in a hotel. I did not anticipate that after a week of cool, breezy nights, we would be hit with a stifling humid, stagnant air evening.

Sid was physically miserable because his power lounger was stuck in one uncomfortable position; he was hot; in extreme knee and back pain; and exhausted. But the mental confusion saddened and upset me more than the physical. As you can imagine, he could not remember why the power was out; could not remember where I placed a flashlight for him; could not figure out what to do next. There was plenty of light in the den from the large TV, but he needed the flashlight to travel the five steps to the bathroom. I made things as easy as possible for him by placing the flashlight on his walker, and TELLING him what to do and how to do it before he painfully hoisted himself up from a sitting position.

I guided him into the kitchen, gave him his night pills, shined the flashlight on his drink, so he could see it, and then guided him into the bedroom. There was a huge cable running across the floor in the bedroom that was providing electricity to the lamp on my nightstand. Because I was worried that he would never remember it was there, and fall over it, walker and all, if he had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I kept my lamp on low all night.

Luckily, I have hurricane supplies in the garage, so I set up a battery operated fan on each of our nightstands, and got him settled down for the night.

He was upset because he was aware of how confused he was; because he could be of no help to me; and overwhelmed with gratitude that I do so much for him. He is beginning to realize that he cannot mentally take care of himself beyond his regular routine, and cannot physically take care of himself without pain, effort, and exhaustion.

We did sleep peacefully all night, thanks to those battery fans.

The power was not restored until 10 AM, almost exactly 24 hours from the time it went out. What I have learned from this nightmare experience is that if we have a hurricane, there is no possible way we can stay in this house. The ALF will have power from large generators, and we could certainly eat and stay there during the day. But we cannot sleep there.  It often takes a week to restore power after a hurricane hits. There will be no power anywhere from which the maintenance man can draw. It is usually in the high 90’s and steam bath humid during hurricane season. That means I had better get cracking on an alternative plan “sooner rather than later” for next year’s hurricane season. I will most likely look into buying a small generator that will handle the major appliances.

My miserable 24 hour experience is a lesson for all of you too. Winter, snowstorms, and power outages are coming to your area. Check the “Disaster Preparation Guide” on the left side of this website, and MAKE A PLAN. NOW.  No matter how early in the disease or how capable you THINK your spouse may be, the unexpected and uncomfortable always throws them off their game, so be good Girl and Boy Scouts – BE PREPARED.

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