Health care sites handle power outage
PENN TWP — With about five gallons of water and a generator, administrator Bob Ross hopes the Shelbourne Personal Care home can hold out until electricity is restored.
“They seem to be in a good mood,” Ross said on Monday about the senior citizens living at the nursing home on Dinnerbell Road. “We've got everyone double blanketed.”
Most parts of the building don't have heat as a result of the power loss from Thursday's winter storm, but an area of the home with the social space is being kept warm with the use of the generator.
“This is bad,” Ross said about the cold.
He said that the building lost power Thursday night. The generator has been running nonstop since then.
“Some families are concerned, but we're doing what we can,” he said.
In Butler, another health facility took a different approach to the loss of power.
The Ellen O'Brien Gaiser Center houses 40 patients who are dealing with addiction habits, but on Thursday night the steady schedule of the inpatient center was disrupted when power was lost.
“We got the call at 5 a.m. (Friday) and we implemented our plan immediately,” said Becky Petsinger, of Butler, the facilities manager and residential aid coordinator.
The plan calls for evacuation to a nearby hotel, in this case to the Days Inn on Pittsburgh Road.
By Monday, power to the center was restored, but for two nights administrators set up the hotel to provide dosing and meals for all of the patients.
“We tried to make it as normal as possible,” said Linda Franiewski, of West Sunbury. “They were just very grateful and could tell that we really cared about them.”
Franiewski also stayed at the hotel since her home had lost power on Thursday.
On Monday, she remained hopeful that power would be restored soon, but she had booked a room for the night at another hotel, just in case.
The center's patients, on the other hand, were to be back to their normal sleeping arrangements Monday at the facility on Old Plank Road.
“The biggest thing is that we kept them fed, satisfied and sober,” said Kelly O'Connor, of Butler, the clinical supervisor. Franiewski, O'Connor and Petsinger noted that the event, while trying, provided some excitement for everyone.
“It was like a field trip for them,” Franiewski said, “We'll be talking about this forever.”
But Franiewski and the others are looking forward to things settling down.
“We all talked nonstop to each other Friday morning through the weekend,” Franiewski said. “I'm emotionally exhausted.”
