One of the great challenges for a community impacted by disaster is addressing the needs of at-risk citizens who may be especially vulnerable to the impacts of disaster. Loss of power is one of the greatest threats to citizens who use electric-powered medical equipment in their homes. During extended power outages, if these citizens don’t have access to backup power, they often flood hospital emergency rooms that are already severely overburdened by the disaster.
Powered for Patients is evaluating the following initiatives to address this challenge:
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- Developing a Helping Your Neighbor Pilot Program with local health departments, home health providers, patient advocacy organizations and power generation companies through which neighbors with backup generators would be encouraged to help neighbors relying on electric-powered medical equipment.
- Developing a Backup Battery Recharging Pilot Program with utilities, power generation companies, pharmacies, retailers and community based organizations to establish mobile charging stations for use by at-risk citizens needing to recharge backup batteries in electric powered medical devices.