When the power went
out at Vicky Jaque’s house in Santa Clarita last month, she found herself
desperately scrambling to save the life of her son.
It was the height of
California’s fire season, when dozens of fires raged across the state in a
matter of weeks and power companies imposed widespread electricity shutoffs in
an attempt to prevent their equipment from sparking blazes. For most people
affected, these shutoffs where a huge inconvenience. But for Jaque and her son
Cameron, 20, they were a matter of life or death.
Cameron, 20, has mitochondrial
disease, among other health diagnoses, and is dependent on intravenous fluids
to keep him alive. His environment requires careful temperature control and his
intravenous medicines, food and liquids must be stored in the refrigerator so
they don’t go bad. His survival requires electricity.
Jaque and her husband
have a back-up generator, but when the power went out, the machine unexpectedly
failed. In a panic, Jaque started calling all the hotels in the region, trying
to find one with a full-size refrigerator where they could bring their son and
all his equipment so he wouldn’t have to be hospitalized.
“It was really
very scary,” she said. “If we don’t have those IV fluids, he’s in the
hospital … I don’t think (power companies) understand what it takes to get somebody
with medical instability and disability out and into a different
environment.”
A state auditor’s report released this week found that California is unprepared to protect its most vulnerable residents during natural disasters, including those who have disabilities or are medically fragile. That’s despite the fact that a quarter of the state’s population lives in an area at risk of wildfire, and 20 percent of Californians are either over the age of 65 or have a disability.
The auditor reviewed
emergency procedures in three counties at elevated risk for wildfires: Butte,
Sonoma and Ventura. None of the counties had adequate plans for alerting,
evacuating and sheltering residents during an emergency, particularly people
with disabilities. Additionally, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services failed
to support counties in coming up with strategies to help these vulnerable
people when a natural disaster strikes, the auditor found.
Californians who are
medically fragile and have disabilities are among the most vulnerable groups of
people during power outages and wildfire evacuations. Lauren Giardina, a
managing attorney with Disability Rights California, which
provides legal help to people with disabilities, said she’s heard alarming
stories of people losing the means to power ventilators and other critical
medical equipment during outages, or being stuck without temperature controls
or access to refrigerated medicines and special foods.
Some
people with disabilities can’t even leave their buildings because they depend
on electricity-powered elevators to get them outside, Giardina added.
“It’s hard
enough to evacuate and go somewhere in any circumstance, but when you’re also
thinking about dietary needs, medication, equipment—you’re just making it that
much more challenging,” she said. “It’s just very, very difficult for
a lot of people.”
Thankfully for the Jaque family, a neighbor was able to help
fix their backup generator four hours after the power went out. That saved the
family from having to evacuate, and was just enough time to prevent Cameron’s
$10,000-worth of refrigerated medicines and food from going bad. The family is
also planning to buy yet another generator, just in case their current one
fails again.
But Jaque said she worries about other families that are caring
for medically fragile people who may not have the resources to find and book an
appropriate hotel in an emergency, or can’t afford backup power.
“We’re
the lucky ones,” she said. The authorities “have to figure something
out, because I think this really puts people with disabilities—many of whom
live on disability (benefits) and have very limited means—in a really tough
spot.”
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This article first appeared on California Health Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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