Sandy causes massive backup power failures at NYC hospitals

Posted by Leigh Dow on Tue, Oct 30, 2012

Sandy hit the East Coast hard this week, causing power failures across the Eastern Seaboard. You may have noticed the story of a backup generator failure at a New York City hospital Monday night. The images shared through media show the power failure forcing the hospital to move out more than 200 patients, including 20 babies from the neonatal intensive care unit. The images include dozens of ambulances lined up around the block outside New York University Tisch Hospital. The doctors and nurses on duty executed the slow process of evacuation. They started with the sickest and youngest. Some were on respirators operating on battery power.

What if that was your child? How frightened would you be? Can these power failures be avoided with better planning and back up power?

The superstorm, Sandy, a storm of the century hybrid sweeping across the Eastern U.S. caused a wide swath of power outages in lower Manhattan where the hospital is located. The outages1a2 resized 600 were cause by an explosion in an electrical substation, which Consolidated Edison (ConEd) fully expected to happen at some stations during the storm and did their best to prepare for that outcome. Without power, the patients needed to be evacuated to safer locations with the power supply to keep their treatment plans active. 

The Tisch failure is just one of many. The failure of generators at New York hospitals during Hurricane Sandy has raised concerns that U.S. hospitals are vulnerable to the collapse of outdated emergency backup power systems. In a Bloomberg Businessweek article written by Stephanie Armour, Meg Tirrell, and Shannon Pettypiece today, they point out one in 20 hospitals are unprepared for power disruptions, and an incident may result in more than $1 million in lost revenue and other costs, according to Lawrence Associates LLC, a Bridgewater, New Jersey-based consulting company that focuses on economic justification for technology spending.

They also state in their article, the board knew the facilities’ generators were outdated and at risk, Gary Cohn, a trustee who is also president of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said today in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

If your child was in one of these hopsitals, you would want to know the hospitals life support systems would remain ready and available even in times of crisis. When a power outage occurs, the vital power needed to keep life support machines and healthcare tools up and running to sustain human life. THIS is why generators are mission critical to hospitals and healthcare. Even when the power is out, hospitals must have backup power generation to make sure everything remains on and running.

The types of generators used for this type of power generation can be either natural gas or diesel fueled combustion engines. At Depco Power Systems, we buy new, used and rebuilt equipment, including Caterpillar engines, Cummins generators, used diesel generators and more. As an independent company in business for more than 20 years, we find the best products at the best prices and guarantee first-rate customer service. If you need to upgrade your backup power or implement a backup power plan, please get in touch with one of our experts at 800.723.3726 before your business makes the news for a weak back up plan. 

Tags: buy power equipment, Buy Used Equipment, contingency generator, Hurricanes, backup power, Diesel Generators, backup generator

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