Calif. Blackouts a Fear for Elderly

Thursday, January 18, 2001

By DANNY POLLOCK Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) - Nathaniel Goodwin has rearranged his life after learning that the power could go out in his tiny Compton apartment if rolling blackouts are ordered across Southern California. At 73, Goodwin has emphysema and he uses an electrical oxygen concentrator to help him breathe. These days, he is keeping a spare, battery-powered concentrator next to his sofa, along with his medicine and an ample supply of peanut butter, jelly and crackers.

``I live by myself and I've got to have my oxygen,'' he said Thursday as the northern two-thirds of California waded through a second straight day of rolling blackouts. Most hospitals are exempt from state-ordered blackouts and have backup generators in case of unexpected outages. Two hospitals - Valley Convalescent Hospital in Watsonville and Community Medical Centers in Fresno - both reported outages Wednesday but no major problems. Outages of an hour or two are little more than an inconvenience to most. But social service agencies have been scrambling to help prepare people whose health might be jeopardized in case of a blackout because they use electrical medical equipment.

The Watts Health Foundation in Los Angeles instructed social workers to contact hundreds of homebound clients like Goodwin living in areas served by Southern California Edison, which has struggled to find power. Similar precautions were being taken in cities served by Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

The state-funded foundation works with elderly homebound clients. Social worker Marguerite Hodge said Watts Health would make sure every client had a flashlight so they could take medication properly. ``It can be a very frightening thing for people to be in the dark,'' Hodge said. Katherine Ridgley suffers from lung disease and uses an oxygen concentrator more than 10 hours each day. In addition, she keeps a two-week supply of oxygen on hand in case of emergency. ``I could go without the concentrator in the short-term,'' she said. ``But if I exert myself, I get very short of breath and very panicky.'' Dr. Guy Soohoo, director of the medical intensive care unit at West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Health Center, believes most people with breathing aids have backup systems in place. Andrea Van Hook, a spokeswoman for the American Lung Association, said people who encounter unexpected problems should seek aid at hospital emergency rooms.

Hospitals larger than 100 beds and agencies involved in public health and safety are automatically exempt from blackouts, according to the California Public Utilities Commission.

Smaller facilities that provide long-term health care are required by law to have emergency generators in place to keep functioning through emergencies, said Ted Ndiyob, administrator of the Torrance Care Center, a convalescent home with nearly 200 residents. ``We are set up in a way that if there are power blackouts, generators will kick in immediately,'' he said. --- On the Web: Health Services agency: http://www.dhs.cahwnet.gov

http://news.lycos.com/headlines/TopNews/article.asp?docid=APV0303&date=20010118

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), January 18, 2001