Backup Power is a Critical Need for Texas’ Long-Term Care Facilities

After being hospitalized for seven weeks following a severe fall, 88-year-old Mike Eaker moved into an assisted living facility in Houston that he expected to be a comfortable place to rehabilitate.

That was the case until Hurricane Beryl blasted the Gulf Coast, knocking out power to the facility for eight days last year during mid-July’s hot and humid streak.

Eaker’s daughter lives nearby. So, he moved in with her during portions of the power outage. Others in the facility weren’t so fortunate, staying behind full time in a facility where indoor temperatures reached the high 80s. Eaker thinks it’s miraculous that the medically vulnerable residents didn’t expire in the heat.

“It’s a facility that’s supposed to be caring for people with special needs,” he said. “If you don’t have power and air conditioning, then there is a possibility that some of them are going to die.”

AARP Texas is calling on state lawmakers this year to support legislation that would require the state’s 2,004 assisted living facilities and 1,180 nursing homes to have adequate backup power that can help maintain safe temperatures during an outage.

Despite the uptick in severe storms over the last quarter century, the only requirement for nursing homes is that they have alternative power sources to keep medication refrigerated and lifesaving equipment like oxygen machines up and running.

And if a facility has a shelter-in-place plan, the type of plan and source of backup power can vary. Many assisted living facilities do as what happened at the one where Eaker lived. They simply move residents into a common area and use portable generators to power fans, portable air conditioning units or, in the cold, space heaters or blankets.

Extreme temperatures can be especially dangerous for older adults, particularly ones in long-term care facilities – whether it’s a nursing home that provides intensive attention to residents with complex needs or assisted living facilities that vary in their level of personal care.

Hot weather is a concern because older adults often have difficulty noticing when temperatures are dangerously high. Older adults may also have chronic health conditions or take medications that make it harder for the body to cool itself. Likewise, severe cold also poses a significant threat.

But for vulnerable residents of long-term care facilities, the absence of electricity, even for a short period on a pleasant spring day, can be unhealthy, if not catastrophic. Besides their bodies’ needs, there are medications that need to be kept cool and medical equipment that has to run.

AARP Texas is pressing for legislative action now. AARP Texas supports Senate Bill 481 by Sen. Carol Alvarado. The bill would require Texas nursing facilities and assisted living facilities to have functioning backup power that can maintain safe temperatures, essential equipment and normal operations for 48 to 72 hours after an outage.

Backup power in long-term care facilities is a critical need for Texas -- and it’s an achievable, affordable and reasonable solution to a growing healthcare emergency.

As Texas’ aging population increases, 70 percent of adults aged 65 and older will require long-term care services at some point. Other states, like Florida, already have backup power requirements. Texas can no longer remain complacent. We need backup power for all long-term care facilities.