As an aside on generators, we went thru H Katrina in New Orleans in the “sliver by the River” high ground zone, so we did not flood but lost power & land line day 1. Katrina was on a Mon & by Tues AM we had a gennie up, so refrig on, phones charged & fan running. Neighbor x street also and he had lights running across his double so there were lights at nite on our block. We had a neighborhood meeting on Tues & actually loads of folks w gennies, w supplies prepared to stay. Tues nite a home invasion couple blocks from us & home had a gennie running. Wed nite happened again but like 3 houses & all with gennies running. We left Thurs. Fun times.
Having generator made you an easily found target for thugs. Meant house had power, food, ice, charged electronics & most importantly gas, likely lots of gas. Gennies are noisy and pretty easy to determine which property has one going. It is something to consider if this could happen to you where you live. Disasters = chaos = desperate folks.
MAC, I tried the ER option when we had a massive power failure which lasted for several days. My father needed oxygen 24/7. There's no way I could have moved the stationary concentrator to take it to my house, so I had to look to other resources.
I called our preferred ER, AL facilities, and a variety of other sources, including the local PD and Fire Department. The latter advised that they could take him when oxygen was close to exhaustion, but I also learned from the ER that they do not provide that kind of service. Perhaps that's unique to that hospital, but for us it was no option at all.
I think the UPS issue raised is the best, but unfortunately generators are very, very expensive. You might contact your utility providers and see if there are any options, including for rentals of a generator, or if they have other options for older people, who in our area are considered high on the list in emergencies (at least that's what they tell us).
Eventually, a very kind, helpful and resourceful department head at the local Senior Center found an AL that would accommodate Dad for the duration of the outage. She was a lifesaver!
CareGvr32, I would raise this issue with your parents' pulmonary doctor(s) to see what suggestions and contacts they might have. I've found them to be very resourceful, and they may know of options that aren't normally known to nonpractitioners.
Having generator made you an easily found target for thugs. Meant house had power, food, ice, charged electronics & most importantly gas, likely lots of gas. Gennies are noisy and pretty easy to determine which property has one going. It is something to consider if this could happen to you where you live. Disasters = chaos = desperate folks.
I called our preferred ER, AL facilities, and a variety of other sources, including the local PD and Fire Department. The latter advised that they could take him when oxygen was close to exhaustion, but I also learned from the ER that they do not provide that kind of service. Perhaps that's unique to that hospital, but for us it was no option at all.
I think the UPS issue raised is the best, but unfortunately generators are very, very expensive. You might contact your utility providers and see if there are any options, including for rentals of a generator, or if they have other options for older people, who in our area are considered high on the list in emergencies (at least that's what they tell us).
Eventually, a very kind, helpful and resourceful department head at the local Senior Center found an AL that would accommodate Dad for the duration of the outage. She was a lifesaver!
CareGvr32, I would raise this issue with your parents' pulmonary doctor(s) to see what suggestions and contacts they might have. I've found them to be very resourceful, and they may know of options that aren't normally known to nonpractitioners.
https://www.agingcare.com/questions/does-medicare-pay-for-generator-for-oxygen-and-nebulizer-452823.htm?orderby=oldest
Kudos to you for finding it!