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

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.”



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