Most of what a home on hospice needs is ordinary: a bed that lowers, a chair, a lamp, a telephone. A smaller part runs on electricity and does not stop when the power does. If your parent uses a machine plugged into the wall, or a bed that needs power to move, a power outage is no longer an inconvenience. It is a question you need answered before it happens.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Find out what runs on the wall and what the battery promises
Walk the room once and list every powered item, the outlet it uses, and whether it has a battery. Ask the equipment supplier, in writing, how long the battery lasts on the setting in use, not the number printed on the box. Ask what the device does when the battery runs low, and whether it sounds an alarm. Ask who at the supplier answers on a weekend or at night, and which number to call. A supplier's office hours are not always the hours of a storm.
Give the outlet a rule
Do not plug a powered device into an extension cord or a power strip unless the supplier has said in writing that it is allowed. Ask whether the device can run from a generator, where the generator would sit, and what the supplier needs from you before anyone uses one. Ask these questions now, while nothing is wrong, because the answers are much harder to get in the dark.
Ask the utility what it keeps on file
Call your electric utility and ask whether it keeps a list of homes with power-dependent medical equipment, and how a home gets onto that list. Ask what the utility will tell you during an outage and how you would reach a person there. Write down the name of the person who answered and the reference number for the call, and keep them with the rest of your papers.
Ask the hospice team the questions they can answer
The hospice team knows the plan of care, and an outage question belongs in that plan. Ask them, and ask for the answer in writing: if the house has no power for a day, what do they want you to do, who do they want you called first, and at what point they would expect the family to talk with them about another place for your parent. Those are questions for the nurse and the team. Do not settle them alone at 2am on the strength of what a neighbor said.
Name the owner
A backup that nobody checks is probably a battery that is low. Name one person who knows where the charger lives, who checks that the battery is charging on the schedule the supplier gave you, and who calls the supplier when a device shows a warning nobody can read. Name a second person who knows the same things, in case the first is asleep, at work, or out of town. Put the supplier's number, the utility's number, the hospice after-hours number, the location of the breaker, and the device's serial number on one page and keep it near the telephone. The page is only useful if it stays current, so review it whenever equipment is added or removed or a phone number changes.
What to do when the power goes
When the lights go out, check the device first, then its battery indicator, then your phone page. Call the supplier before you try anything at the wall. If the device is failing and you cannot reach the supplier in time, call the hospice after-hours line and tell them exactly what has happened. Stay with your parent. Write down the time the power went out and the time it came back, and what you did in between, so the hospice team has the facts at the next visit.
The rest of the house can wait for daylight. The equipment in the room cannot. For the rules that govern home medical equipment and where to verify them, use the Sources page, and for local contacts in the area, use the Local Help for Hospice Families page.