Nursing homes cope with loss of power
There was a wild moment, as a result of Monday’s windstorm, when the doors of the secure memory unit at Avonlea Cottage in Milan, Ill., would not close properly because the long-term care facility had lost power.
“It was a little hairy yesterday,” Mary Moore, Avonlea’s executive director, said Tuesday. “This is a wild adventure we’re on.”
The fix came in the form of an emergency generator, trucked to Milan from Scott County’s Emergency Management Agency supplies. The unit’s 22 residents, all of whom have some form of dementia, cooperated by simply staying inside, Moore said.
Much of the Illinois Quad-Cities lost electricity as a result of the Monday morning storm, and restoration of service remained indefinite Tuesday.
Smaller generators were being used around the two-building Avonlea complex to provide power Tuesday. “We are sweating in one building and freezing in the other,” Moore said, adding that the residents have adapted relatively well.
Moore went home Monday to get a barbecue kettle and some charcoal, and then treated residents to grilled hamburgers. “The residents just loved that,” she said. “They had a picnic.”
A second large generator expected to be delivered today will help improve the situation, but Moore is also leaning on the Milan Police Department and Chief Mark Beckwith.
Beckwith and his officers have checked in many times over the past two days at Avonlea as well as Comfort Harbor Home, also in Milan. “We’ve gotten treats, and today we got a huge van of water,” Moore said, explaining that the facility’s water supply shut down early Tuesday and the toilets could not be flushed for a while.
The 19 residents at Comfort Harbor Home were doing just fine without power, said Iris Strickler, the assistant administrator. “We have plenty of food and lots of flashlights,” she said.
Comfort Harbor is keeping State of Illinois officials apprised of the emergency measures being taken. It is not anticipated that anyone will have to be moved to a shelter.
About 15 people who live at Rosewood Care Center in Moline did move Monday night to the Forest Hill Health and Rehab Center, also in Moline.
“We had full power and they had a generator, but it was getting warm and some people had concerns,” said Karen Leighty, Forest Hill’s administrator. Open rooms in the 137-bed facility provided space for the unexpected guests.
“It seemed to go very well,” she said. “One person said to me, ‘It was like a free night in a hotel.’ ”
The Rosewood visitors had breakfast and lunch at Forest Hill as they waited for their facility to cool down after its electrical system had been restored.
Oak Glen Home in Coal Valley, Ill., home to 170 people, was operating on emergency generators Tuesday, administrator Trudy Whittington said.
“There’s enough power to cook and for ancillary lighting,” she said. Critical medical equipment — such as oxygen and feeding machines — was up and running on generator power.
There was no air conditioning Tuesday, but Oak Glen set up several fans. It also ran drop cords to show movies on the television in the front lobby, and a banjo player came to entertain.
It was dark in the offices, and certain tasks could not be done, Whittington said. “I hope it won’t be a whole lot longer before the power comes back on,” she added.
Deirdre Cox Baker can be contacted at (563) 383-2492 or dbaker@qctimes.com.