Blackouts Anger Dallas Hospitals

By Jay Gormley, CBS 11 News

February 2, 2011 11:59 PM

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – They are the critical care safety nets for North Texas: Parkland, Baylor, Methodist and Presbyterian Dallas. So, during Wednesday’s rolling outages, why was the power cut to these vital hospitals?

Jorie Klein runs disaster management for Parkland Hospital, and is still upset that her hospital was included in the rotating outages. “We were not happy,” she said. “You can’t just go down for 15 minutes and come back up. It really does disrupt hospital care.”

Because of the sensitive life-saving equipment, hospitals are considered “critical care facilities,” and supposed to be exempt from rolling blackouts. That’s exactly what Presbyterian Dallas was led to believe. “We were of the understanding that hospitals and other critical-care providers were not supposed to be affected by planned outages,” said hospital spokesman Stephen O’Brien.

Oncor admits that a mistake was made. “We are sorry this happened. We are in a process of refining our processes, so in the unlikely event of future mandates for rotating outages, hospitals will be excluded,” said Oncor spokeswoman Catherine Cuellar.

Although Oncor is taking responsibility, the company is asking for some understanding. Oncor said that the state-mandated ERCOT blackouts were outages of historic proportion. “We were following protocols that have never been tested to this degree. This was the widest number of rotating outages for the longest period of time, ever!” said Cuellar.

Klein said that there has to be a better way to assure hospitals that there won’t be a next time. “I do believe that if there’s not legislation and regulations to protect hospitals, there should be,” Klein said. “We are a trauma center and a safety net for our community.”

Klein said that all of the elective surgeries the hospital had set for Thursday are being re-scheduled. Parkland Hospital officials will continue to evaluate the situation, but expect things to be back to normal on Friday.

All of the hospitals that lost power had back-up generators that kicked in minutes later. But that still did not stop computers and medical equipment from being disrupted, and ultimately causing great concern among hospital administrators.

Donnie

I agree , I guess Jerry Jones money speaks pretty loud !

whatelsecanJerrybuy

I’ll second that. With everything that’s affected with this ice storm, I look at Jerry’s and city leaders’ greed regarding this entire Superbowl – and it screams pure justice. Visitors who came early can’t spend money because they’re stranded in hotels. Tens of thousands of fans and VIPs coming in for the game have had flights cancelled. Power’s out periodically all over the metroplex, so cash registers are silent. I find this whole thing …aka Jerry’s nightmare… to be freaking hilarious!

Have fun on Sunday, Jer. Hope YOU’RE warm in your box.

TO SUPPORT WRONG IS TO SIT BACK AND DO NOTHING

Tony Fay, the Vice President of the Superbowl committte requested that the rolling blackouts WOULD NOT prevent Superbowl venues from happening. As we all see the request was granted…..However the plea of the elderly on oxygen went without electricity. The elderly living assisted apartment complex across the street from the Stadium endured the hardships of being without electricity yet Superbowl venues and Cowboy Stadium remain suppled with electricity…..Hospital that care for many critically ill patients came second to the Superbowl. THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE, THE PRIORITY OF A HUMAN LIFE IS PUT SECOND TO THE ALL MIGHTY DOLLAR…..For this hardship, when the Superbowl is over, electric customers might pay dearly in rate increases…..THIS IS AN INJUSTICE, News reporters should report a stoy with the HEADLINE, UNANSWERED QUESTION, WHY DID HUMAN LIFE BECOME A MISPLACED PRIORITY DURING THE SUPEBOW.?………My heart broke when I heard the story of the 18 year old that went without breathing during the blackout. The power went off for 20 minutes through 1 hour and restored for 30 minutes. The cycle continued for 8 hours. I AM IN SHOCK, IN, 2011 INJUSTICES SUCH AS THESE SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING,

tom Griffin

Oncor and TXU have a black eye on this…
mitch

Hospitals are required to be ready for ANY emergency and to have back up generators (power sources). This hospital could have opted to participate in shedding its electrical load so as to contribute to EPCOT’s request to curtail electrical demand. The big question is “Why is this hospital not ready for an emergency?”.

Robert C

What an idiot. The hospital is ready. There are back up generators. Big diesel ones. When power is lost the engines start and within 30 seconds to a minute critical systems power is back on. That is state of the art emergency power generation, Those 30 seconds without power at a level 1 trauma center like Parkland can cost someone their life.
penster

Hospitals should remain exempt from rolling blackouts. Repeated activation of generators and equipment surging on and off is not good. Hospitals test their generators on a monthly basis, and all critical equipment is plugged into generator supplied outlets. However the 10-30 seconds it takes for generators to kick in can indeed be life-threatening–cardiac monitors, ventilators, some types of life-saving ICU equipment that does not have battery backup–unless you’ve worked there and experienced loss of power, you can’t begin to understand.
Chad Darnell

most health care faciilties have generators that run on prpane gas in the even the diesel generators malfunction,so they are prepared but why should a healthcare facility be included in a rolling blackout? Peoples lives are at stake without a doublt. This is a greedy stupid move by the power companies.
Frog Nurse

I was working in one of the ICU’s when the power went out last week. Immediately we all went in to check our ventilators. We lost monitors for almost two minutes, some patients had to be bagged until ventilators came back on. Full power was not restored for almost 10 minutes. We are trained to know exactly what to do, but when something like that happens without warning and we come to find out that it was easily preventable, that’s when we get frustrated. Yes, storms cause power outages, which is what generators are for, and what we’re trained for. But to find out that ONCOR’s lack of forethought could have seriously endangered the life of my patients…THAT is why we’re upset. ESPECIALLY considering Cowboys Stadium was exempt from blackout when it was probably using the MOST electricity in the city at that point!
mitch

Adding to this comment, in reflection of the comments below, there is criteria set for hospitals by DHS, CMS and verified by JCAHO, and DMS, and others. This criteria is a MINIMUM criteria, not a best practice criteria.

Each hospital employee must know the emergency system, i.e. which plugs are on emergency power, are the batteries fresh in the BioMed regulated machine and what to do if there is a sudden emergency situation. It is imperative that each employee, especially nurses and nursing staff, know their hospital’s equipment limitations, what to do –as well as HOW THINGS WORK in an emergency so that a clear understanding of the new emergency environment’s capabilities is quickly understood. Through complete contingency planning a seamless transition from grid to backup power can be accomplished provided that the hospital has an adequate backup power system that works .

shane

Maybe they’ll be the next hospital to coolapse under weight of illegal immigration.
bojangles

maybe the hospital should have a BACKUP GENERATOR?

tomhoser

Most hospitals have backup generators. The problem is depending on size and fuel they need several minutes to start, then they need to be maintained more often if they are used more often.

Kenny in MT.

Since this was just built maybe they planned it to be hooked to multiple grids? Sounds like Mr. Jones hired the best to design this state of the art stadium! The construction alone created many jobs, and sold alot of product to build it. Think of the economic impact the construction of this stadium had, and all those paychecks that were payed to YOUR local economy. Sounds like everyone is whining about a properly designed stadium. WHY?
Kathleen Whitten

The basic problem is lack of power generating capacity. We need to build more electrical plants. Save for anger for the environmentalists who block construction of power plants.

Rhino Texas

I agree a foot ball game and the party are not worth 1 second of power that can be better used else where. Some thing is very wrong here.
Eddie

Um, no, Texas Stadium went dark last year.

Sherri V

COWBOY Stadium (not to be confused with Texas Stadium) did go dark last year, but it was their own stupidity, not Oncors.

http://fortworthinsight.com/news/blackouts-anger-dallas-hospitals/ Blackouts Anger Dallas Hospitals « Fort Worth News Feeds

[...] Blackouts Anger Dallas Hospitals They are the critical care safety nets for North Texas: Parkland, Baylor, Methodist, and Presbyterian Dallas. So why was the power cut to these vital hospitals? Go to News Source [...]
Magalie Hall

why are they not closing the malls to conserve energy? they rather make us suffer at home in the cold with no electricity but yet let the malls waste electricity and power.

Anthony Madrid

You’re talking about 3, maybe more, different authorities here. The malls are all privately held and would require an emergency declaration by the city to be shut down, at which point all non-emergency places would be required to shut down, least the city appear to be unfair and liable for a lawsuit. The rolling blackouts were issued by a state-independent agency for power management (ERCOT) because two power plants failed do to the cold. ERCOT has no control over where the power goes or doesn’t go to, that’s up to the local distributor (TXU, Oncor, ect). Unless there is a deal between the malls, cities, and power distributors that says they’ll close when an event happens like this, there is no easy way to close a mall down. Though I do agree, they should have been shut down.

John Smith

Nice explanation, Anthony; I agree with you both.
yoyo

It is “We the People of the United States” NOT “We the Corporations or Special Interests”

The people should be number 1 All else is secondary…To supply electricity for a family stranded in their home or supply electricity to a mall…What is to decide?
M. A.

Magalie, good question.
YOYO, that’s a point I agree with.
Anthony, good explanation.

JOSHUA

WHAT….AND ENDANGER OUR FAMOUS ECONOMIC RECOVERY BY DENYING CONSUMERS A VENUE TO SPEND SPEND SPEND????

GIVES NEW MEANING TO THE CONCEPT OF “DEATH PANELS” DOESN’T IT….DON’T HAVE TO DENY MEDICAL TREATMENT VIA INSURANCE, JUST SHUT POWER DOWN TO THE HOSPITALS AND OLD FOLKS HOMES….INSTANT EUTHANASIA…..THESE CHICAGO THUG POLITICIANS JUST THINK OF EVERYTHING, DON’T THEY.

BET OLD EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON DEMANDS SPECIAL GENERATORS FOR THE SOUTH DALLAS SLUMS, BEFORE THE HOSPITALS…CAN’T LET A PUBLICITY MOMENT OR CRISIS GO TO WASTE WHEN YOU ARE OPERATING WITH A GOD-GIVEN CRIMINAL MIND LIKE HERS.

John Smith

Idiot.
Jason

I agree with John. This guy is a delusional paranoid fool.
Deaf Mute

Holy smoke this guy must really be angry and on some wicked go juice. I mean seriously did you have to resort to Caps Lock, that was a bit harsh (my ears are still ringing)
Craig Thomas

I will third that. Idiot

Matthew Bruce

this is the biggest bunch of bull ive ever heard. whoever put that monstocity of a stadium before a hospital should be arrested for public endangerment. could u imagine being admitted into the ICU or in the middle of child birth and have the power go out? Their excuse “oh were sorry but we had to keep the lights on for jerry land because we dont want the little children kicking the football to get bored”. Tell that to the ladys life you endangered but cutting the power to her life support.

Big

if it makes you feel better, most CC medical equipment have their own backup batteries designed to run whatever its purpose is until the backup generator spins up (20 seconds)

JOSHUA

WELL HECK…THAT MAKES ME JUST WANT TO RUN OUT AND GET AN IMMEDIATE HEART TRANSPLANT DURING THE NEXT SNOW STORM! GUESS THAT MEANS I HAVE TIME ENOUGH FOR A SHORT PRAYER BEFORE YOU HEAR THE FAMOUS PRE-BLUE SCREEN ANNOUNCEMENT, “WINDOWS IS POWERING DOWN”.
Retired CBET

Well all the ventilators I worked on for the last 15 years don’t have any battery backup power.

You have to hope that the emergency generators both start up AND the transfer switch works. I was working at a hospital where they generators did start as required BUT the transfer switch failed due to improper maintenance.

The staff had to manually resperate the ventilator patients until the power was restored.

Beth Dawson

The strange thing is…
The elderly independent living apartment complex directly across the street from Cowboy Stadium… where half of the residents wear oxygen or use assistive devices but live alone… went through blackouts.
There is indeed something wrong with this picture.
Cut mom’s electricity so her respiratory equipment doesn’t work… but make sure the cowboys Stadium has power for their coolers.
Security measures my eye.

txteacher

Totally agree! Our elderly are being marginalized more and more everyday. The almighty dollar is what counts.

Dr. Bombay

“A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.” ~ Will Durant

http://911essentials.com

Lamar Calvin Bush

Sure.
Perfect example.
The formation of ERCOT what ever that is designed to shift responsibility from a person (the Governor) to a nameless bureaucracy. When power both physically and politically is concentrated and controlled centrally the public can be manipulated, tricked, and taken advantage of by an amorphous bunch of thugs until eventually the system of profiteering collapses and the civilization falls.
You have to grin how these mobsters have brought Mexico into the mix like the USA needs them so badly. Of course, the Mexican people must suffer for this farce. But, of course everybody just goes to the money-lenders and everybody is happy for a while. But this does not last forever and the longer the bill is put off the larger the interest and as often happens some crisis brings the hammer down since, it is after all the best time for the money lender to profit.

JOSHUA

FUNNY HOW THE USA SPENDS BILLIONS TO SUBSIDIZE TURNING CORN INTO ADDITION TO OUR GASOLINE…..TAKING THE CORN AWAY FROM FOOD, WHICH RESULTED IN MASSIVE FOOD SHORTAGES IN MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA WHOSE PRIMARY GRAIN NEEDS ARE CORN. THE COSTS OF TORTILLAS AND CORN MEAL SHOT OUT OF THE PURCHASING ABILITY OF MOST OF THE LOWER INCOME FOLKS THERE……BUT WHAT THEY HECK, THE GRAIN FARMERS ARE MAKING OUT LIKE A BANDIT ON FEDERAL SUBSIDIES PAID FOR WITH BORROWED MONEY….WHILE WE IMPORT A HUGE PART OF OUR OIL FROM OUR ENEMIES AT BLOATED PRICES.

SO WHO IS RUNNING AMERICA, AND WHO ARE THEY RUNNING IT FOR?
Joshua-Is-Annoying

Joshua, please stop writing in all CAPS. It was bad enough reading through part of your first comment…something about Chicago thugs shutting down power in Texas, but the caps are an eyesore, even if they are being studiously ignored.

I’m not sure if you’re a real ignoramus, or a liberal plant, but either way your comments are ridiculous.

Larrybud

Hospitals don’t have generators?

larrybud

I should say, generators that don’t kick in immediately…?

ironchefofmunchies

My work facility has generators Larry and they didn’t kick in either.

The truth is it was so cold that the our generators couldn’t fire up automatically. Hell, we couldn’t even access the generator because the lock on the panels to access it had the tumblers inside frozen shut.

This was a freak combination of a loss of power capacity (plants froze up) + huge increase in demand (0-20 degree weather for 3 days) + an ice storm that coated the entire region in about 3-6 inches of solid ice.

I understand people’s frustration-but it’s truly a unique situation. “Third World” is just the simplification of spoiled people who can’t take 2 days of hardship. Suck it up Texas-real Texans don’t whine, we just deal with it and move on.
Chad Darnell

The facilities i have worked at do and as i replied earlier have propane generator backups but there is no excuse for such a move,every room has at least two electrical outlets with a red casing designated for the generator power,but believe me it takes a lot of effort to unplug the oxygen generators and plug them into the red receptacltes not to mention respirators and other equipment..including iv medication pumps,heart monitors ect..

JF Cook

It all makes sense now. Jerry and the NFL want to sell 7,000 tickets to fools for $200 each for the privilege of standing outside of Jerry’s temple to watch a football game on TV. Most people being smart enough to realize they can watch the same game for free in the comfort of their own homes are not falling for the latest Jerry scam. So how do you make your last sales pitch to these hard sell folks, well you know now.
Hank Warren

No electricity for hospitals but plenty for Sports stadiums and the elite, yet another violation of our rights. Add it to the list of gov’t violations of our right:
They violate the 1st Amendment by placing protesters in cages, banning books like “America Deceived II” and censoring the internet.
They violate the 2nd Amendment by confiscating guns.
They violate the 4th and 5th Amendment by molesting airline passengers.
They violate the entire Constitution by starting undeclared wars for foreign countries.
Impeach Obama and sweep out the Congress, except Ron Paul.
(Last link of Banned Book):
http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000190526

DFWShook

A book that is for sale at Amazon isn’t what I would consider “banned”.

America Deceived II: Homeland Security Warning: Possession of this novel may result in enhanced interrogation.

Linda Bailey

Texas cares about the sick and inflicted?
wddb

Keep electing Republicans, who have zero loyalty to the citizenry and 100% fealty to corporations.

JOSHUA

You claim that Democrats are LOYAL to the citizens??? Only the Unions, lobbiests, environmentalists, and socialist campaign contributors.
Chris Corbett

Fact: Democrats get the lion’s share of big corporate donations, not Republicans.

wddb

Whatever! Texas is ruled by Republicans!

How’s that workin’ for ya?
RobertFrost

Its working real good.

mango

wddb: Suggest you look at what party the big corporations give the most money to and what the party affiliations are of the CEO”s of said companies. Also look at the top 10 richest members of Congress. Surprise not, 8 out of 10 are Democrats and the 2 Republicans are what real Republicans call RINOs. Welcome to reality.
txteacher

You’re an idiot. When have you ever seen elected Democrats standing in front of cameras offering to give up their paychecks?

wddb

Really? That’s your standard? Because I haven’t seen any Republican do that, either, so why vote for THEM?

Oh, and how’s that Mexican electricity? Too bad it’s an illegal immigrant!
Mike

Mexico backed out of sending the electricity to TX because they needed it for the cold weather there. TX didn’t need it because people did a better job of conserving more and some additional capacity came/stayed online.

Coolerking

You want power? Stop voting Democrat. They’ve been blocking real energy production for decades. We’ve got thousands of windmills up but not enough electricity. That money should have been spent on coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants. And if we don’t wise up, this will get much worse.

DavidA

How do you expect us to get natural gas? Our major source of it is being compromised as we speak. Coal is dangerous for the economy and we may have up to 350 years left of it. Nuclear power…well Chernobyl speaks for itself

JOSHUA

Chernobyl…..like construction an American Nuclear Generator using US UNION LAVOR….
Eric

Chernobyl has several major things different than a US Nuclear reactor, specifically single stage versus dual stage, reaction inhibition method (Water Vs Carbon Rods) and containment domes. I’ll grant 3 mile island but compared to what that could have been it was barely a blip thanks to the dome.

Nuclear’s safety record in the US is fantastic. Plus with certain technologies now used in France, Japan, and Germany (And developed in the US but not licensed thanks to the red tape), we can get energy out of destroying the fissile material while keeping the reaction below self-sustaining (1 MeV). This means we don’t have to store radioactive waste and get energy from doing it.

Nuclear is -the- way to oil independence.

wddb

Another know-nothing who never lived near Three-Mile Island.
Or a strip-mine.

RobertFrost

And you did?

Love the ad hominem attack.
Thats what my children do to each other when they are wrong and they know it.
You speak of that which you know nothing about, because if you knew even a little about Texas power generation, nuclear power, or Three Mile Island, you would have said something true about them.
So far you speak like you are an authority on everything. But you show yourself to be ignorant on the subject matter everytime you type.

http://topsy.com/dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/02/02/blackouts-anger-dallas-hospitals/?utm_source=pingback&utm_campaign=L2 Tweets that mention Dallas Hospitals Furious Over Rolling Blackouts — Topsy.com

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Conservative News , Major Hayden, Larry Thacker Jr., Drudge Report and others. Drudge Report said: Dallas Hospitals Furious Over Rolling Blackouts http://goo.gl/61IoP [...]
Maxwell

Why doesn’t Texas join either the Eastern or the Western power girds? ERCOT is simply too small to handle spikes in demand (or failed power plants). North Texas could then import power from Louisiana, Oklahoma, or Arkansas. I have always thought it strange that Texas has its own, independent grid. I understand the pride thing, but it’s not good for the local economy.

As for the stadium getting priority over a hospital or a nursing home, that’s just bizarre, and, frankly, embarrassing for the local business leaders. Who wants to move a business to a region that is so cavalier about the health and safety of its citizens?

D

Being a citizen of one of the states suggested to provide back-up for Texas, I hope it doesn’t happen. We left Texas for several reasons and one was that no one was keeping up with safety issues. After paying the price to start over elsewhere, I’d prefer you not import your problems to us…

ironcheofmunchies

At the risk of using actual FACTS-the reason Texas Stadium was not subject to the blackouts was because the FBI had other law enforcement DEMANDED the stadium be exempt. This is because law enforcement couldn’t “guarantee the safety of the players and others at the Super Bowl site” if the power was going to be going off and on.

There is a lot to blame Jerry Jones for-but i’m sorry you can’t blame Jerry Jones for what our federal law enforcement MANDATED.

PS: I still contend the source of the rolling blackouts is the fact that 7.8% of power ERCOT generates is from wind power. What do you think happens to 60 ft. tall windmills when they get covered by 3-6 inches of solid ice?

Mike

Agree with your explanation on why Jerryworld stayed lit. It’s a secured high risk terrorist target and Dept of Homeland Security needed power to maintain ongoing security measures. Fact is, Oncor failed with their rolling outage plan implementation when they impacted the hospitals. Disagree on wind; the west TX turbines saved our frozen buts yesterday when 2 of our newer coal plants failed and 50 3rd tier Nat Gas plants couldn’t get enough pressure and/or unfreeze valves to come online.
Mango

Perhaps the law enforcement people didn’t get the word that HRH Obama will not be attending the Super Bowl since his Chicago Bears did not win a spot.

How are those electric cars working in this cold? Oh maybe Texans are smart enough to not have fallen for that scam.

I would like to know where the money came from for the Mexican electric plants, what company built them and where the technology came from.

Marshall Carroll

The real story should be about how the hospitals are poorly managed and not prepared for a true emergency. The hospitals should be glad that there was a rolling blackout; it gives them an opportunity to test their systems. But instead, they are throwing a tantrum to cover up there incompetence. The hospitals should have a 2-stage backup. First, a battery based UPS should kick in for instant power when the blackout starts. The battery based UPS should have the capacity to run for at least 15-30 minutes. This is because it takes roughly 15 minutes to get the backup diesel power plant running at full power and switched over to run the hospital for the full duration of the blackout (Note: Battery based UPS are not practical for long duration power generation). If a hospital is complaining about rolling blackouts, this means they are not setup as described above, and patients are going to die in a long duration blackout. The reporter writing this story should be asking the hospital what is going to happen when there is a long duration blackout due to hurricanes, tornados, transformer failures, and etc.

JW

This is the real story here that should be answered!!!

egor5820

All you who are angry at Cowboys Stadium keeping its power through the rolling blackouts, get over it. This is a case of freedom of religion. The Temple Of Jerry needs the electricity for all its parishioners who are there this week worshiping the NFL God with their tithes and offerings.

JOSHUA

AMERICA…..ESPECIALLY TEXAS!! FRIDAY NITE LIGHTS TRUMPS REAL LIFE NEEDS EVERYTIME.

AND YOU BLAME THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR STUPID ADULTS????
Corn

Your absolutely right….Sports is the God of America even more so than money!

Talisman

Hospitals have generators but only for critical load and generators do not kick in instantly. Switchgear must detect low or no voltage on at least one phase and then start the generator. It cranks, comes up to speed, and will not pick up load until it reaches 60 Hz. That can take from 15 seconds to more than a minute.

Most hospitals do not run their critical load on a UPS, which continues to supply power for minutes or hours until the generator kicks in, charging the UPS and running other load.

Lots of important systems are wtihout power or have to be reset or rebooted.

It’s disruptive to hospitals, police stations, fire stations, etc.

Rolling blackouts involve taking substation feeders out of service. Each feeder could have hundreds or even thousands of customers on them. The utility knows what customers are connected to its feeders. Feeders with critical load on them can be exempted from manual and automatice load shedding. This never should have happened.

Corn

Get the names of the people who made this decision, and then prosecute to the full intent of the law……Go straight to jail, do not pass Go and collect 200,000!

M T

I remember when I was researching electric plans, there were a lot of choices that included certain percentages of wind power. I wondered why, exactly, do I want to sign up for a plan that was dependent on wind?

And I agree, build enough more real power plants, before rushing into unreliable wind farms.

Mike

Umm. Might want to do some more research. Even w/ a 100% wind plan, you get the same grid power as your TXU neighbor gets. You just pay more for it per kWh and use wind credits.

Barb Hammerbeck

Thye need to have backup power generators that don’t take minutes to take up the slack. Where I worked they were instantous so the power outage wasn’t even noticed. They can install a system that only takes care of the computers and they will never have this loss of power.
Bill

Get ready for more blackouts. Where do you think the electric cars—that our brilliant folks in DC decided to give 7500.00 to everyone who buys one—will get their power? Hey, Mexico, can you spare a kilowatt? Hey, China, can you spare a dime?

JOSHUA

GOOD POINT…..NOT LIKE WAITING IN LINE AT A GAS STATION LIKE IN THE PRESIDENT CARTER 1970S…..YOUR LITTLE 40 MILE RANGE ELECTRIC GOLF CARD VEHICLE IS GOING TO WIND UP STALLED ON THE CHICAGO FREEWAY WITH NOTHING TO HEAT THE VEHICLE……STUPID STUPID STUPID….

snickers

Joshua-why do you yell online? IS THE CAPS BUTTON STUCK ON YOUR COMPUTER?

corn

Give me a break…If Americans will put a Kenyan into the office of President, and not hold the treasonous Congress and Senate responsible for checking out his birth…..then Americans are only to blame

Tony

If hospitals do not have immediate back-up power in the event of a power failure, sufficient to supply full power for a couple of hours, shame on them.

JOSHUA

You have NO CLUE what the FULL power requirements of a multi facilities, several hundred bed medical complex are. They DO have emergency diesel fired generators to take care of ICU and surgery, but they cannot heat and run all of the hospital and clinical equipment in the complex…..this isn’t like powering a backup generator for your computer facility. ADD TO THAT, THEY WERE TOLD THAT THEY WERE NOT SUBJECT TO ANY ROLLING BLACKOUTS….THAT IS PURELY ON THE POWER REGULATORS!!!

Mike

Not the power regulator, the transmission and distribution company. In this case it is Oncor. They’ve admitted they made a mistake shutting off the hospitals.

Mark Douglas

Tony, it would be very expensive to install and maintain that kind of equipment.

You dont seem to grasp how much power “full power” is. Plus, it depends on the heating and coolilng system.

I worked in power plants connected to hospital systems, for 32 years. I actually had to supply power in emergency situations. The hospital would need 40 milllion dollars worth of equipment to do full power. Maybe more.

Just because its “a couple hours” makes little difference. You either can meet the load demand, or not.