POWER OUTAGES MORE THAN INCONVENIENCE TO SOME

For most of us, spring electrical storms bring the potential annoyance of power outages. But what is inconvenient to one man can be life threatening to another.

Most people who rely on medical life-support equipment have adequate battery or generator auxiliary power sources in the event of a power outage.

But that doesn't mean the flicker of lights during a storm doesn't cause their heart to beat faster.

Bob Robins, office and sales supervisor at Union Electric Co., said the power company makes power restoration for people with medical equipment a priority.

"Their circuits are on our records, and their residence gets priority for restoration of power," he said. "But if a major line is out, there's nothing you can do until that's repaired.

"Most people can go some time without power, they just can't go without power indefinitely."

Union Electric also tries to first restore power to the city's two hospitals Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center and other medical offices.

Both hospitals, as well most medical offices, have auxiliary power that automatically takes over when the lights go out.

Those that don't go to great lengths to inform patients how to manage in a blackout.

Ron Wittmer, president of Doctors' Park Surgery, said that facility is equipped with an emergency generator.

"All of our critical stuff is on emergency generator and checked daily," he said. "Our state license requires us to have all of the safety measures.

"There is a flicker for the generator to go on, but we certainly can survive that, and we have."

Sarah Holt, administrator at Doctors' Park, said Union Electric is embarking on a project to enhance electrical power at Doctors' Park.

"We have had a lot of problems in the past with power outages," Holt said. "Doctors' Park is 25 years old, and the electrical system design in the park was on one huge loop.

"When one office was down, everyone would go down, and it took a lot of time to find out what the problem was and get it resolved."

But now the administration has negotiated with UE to replace the old electrical loop with a new, improved system.

Holt said the new system will be able to pinpoint the electrical problem, reducing the down time to the various offices at Doctors' Park.

Despite the safeguards, last week's storms ushered some anxious moments at some of the offices in Doctors' Park.

For example, persons connected to dialysis when the power goes down had to have their blood pumped manually back into their blood stream. And those with equipment at home were forced to manage without the aid of trained medical personnel.

But Robins said most people have some type of "backup arrangement."

He said the power company recommends customers with life-support and medical equipment have the manufacturer's telephone number handy and the name and number of a friend or relative who can help in the event of an emergency such as a power outage.

Robins said it rarely takes long to restore power once the problem is discovered. But therein lies the problem.

"The toughest part is getting out and getting some type of assessment of what the damage is," he said. "Where we know it's going to be five hours, we can tell people how long they'll be without power.

"But that's part of the problem you can't tell. You may clean up one tree from a lightning strike and find another tree down somewhere else on the line."