Health Department Wants Committee to Support Bill Requiring Alternative Power Sources At Skilled Nursing Facilities

The city’s Public Health Department is recommending the City Council’s Legislative Policy Committee support Senate Bill 1207, which would require every skilled nursing facility in the state to have an alternative source of power to protect the health of residents.

The meeting begins at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

“The loss of power at skilled nursing facilities can pose a severe threat to residents in their care,” according to a memo from city Health Department Deputy Director Manuel Carmona. 

“Residents are extraordinarily vulnerable and some rely on electric-powered life support systems to stay alive,” Carmona wrote. “Unsafe temperatures, unrefrigerated medications, and medical devices without power can have deadly consequences. Pasadena is home to 15 skilled nursing facilities.”

The bill by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) also requires facilities to maintain safe temperatures for residents and staff.

The city’s COVID-19 crisis initially broke out in long-term health care facilities.  

The act, which is co-sponsored by California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) and Long- Term Care Ombudsman Services of San Luis Obispo County, was created in part due to blackouts caused by massive wildfires that have erupted over the past several years, leading to widespread power outages.

“California’s nursing home residents have always faced serious risks from disaster-related emergencies, such as earthquakes, floods, mudslides and wildfires,” states a factsheet on the proposed legislation.

“Today, however, the dangers they face have magnified exponentially due to massive blackouts triggered by PG&E and other utility companies to prevent wildfires. In 2019, dozens of California nursing homes lost power – sometimes for days – due to these Public Safety Power Outages (PSPS). Public officials are warning that the dangerous blackouts are likely to continue for a decade or more.”

“It is of great concern that few California nursing homes are prepared to keep residents safe during emergencies and extended power outages,” the fact sheet states, adding, “… nursing home residents are at an increased risk of injury or death during emergencies because all of the nursing homes… in high-risk areas of the state repeatedly violated critical emergency preparedness standards.”