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About half of responding assisted living facilities and most nursing homes have a generator to keep critical electricity flowing, a new report found.
About half of responding assisted living facilities and most nursing homes have a generator to keep critical electricity flowing, a new report found.
AUSTIN — About half of responding assisted living facilities and most nursing homes have a generator to keep critical electricity flowing, a new report found.
A survey conducted by the Texas Health and Human Service Commission released in late August found that about 47% of responding assisted living facilities and 99% of nursing homes said they had a generator, a piece of information that previously was unknown.
Patty Ducayet, state long-term care ombudsman, said she was excited by the report and its findings. The ombudsman works separately from state regulatory agencies and is in more of an advocate role.
“I think it's going to really help us understand the scope of who had generators, what they can do, whether it's feasible for a provider to purchase and use a generator, and whether there's some kind of legislation that can be built around ensuring that we have generators in place to protect the lives of residents,” Ducayet said.
Texas has approximately 2,025 assisted living facilities and 1,217 nursing homes. Of those, about 75% of assisted living facilities and 94% of nursing homes responded to the survey.
The survey was part of a legislative effort to better understand how many of the state’s long-term care facilities had a generator that could power at least portions of their building should there be a loss in electricity.
Current state laws and regulations do not require assisted living facilities to have a generator, while new nursing homes and existing facilities that relocated to new buildings have been required to have a generator since 1996, the report said. Federal law made the same requirement of nursing homes in 2016.
State regulators only require nursing homes to have a generator that powers alarm systems, some lighting, exit signs, electrical receptacles, the nurse call system, telephone equipment and the public address systems, if used in an emergency communication plan.
Not included are heating and cooling requirements, an issue Ducayet said is becoming increasingly concerning as Texas has faced several extreme weather events in the past couple of years. That includes the 2021 winter storm, during which a near collapse of the state’s power grid led to rolling blackouts for days amid freezing temperatures. During the storm, dozens of senior living facilities were forced to evacuate, previous reports showed.
This summer alone, Texas has faced extreme heat, which has put increased pressure on the electric grid, as well as several large wildfires and flash flooding events, which have the potential to cut power access.
This is something state Rep. Ed Thompson, R-Pearland, attempted to fix last legislative session with a bill that would have required facilities to have an emergency generator that could maintain the air temperature at not less than 68 degrees and not more than 81 degrees for a minimum of 72 hours during a power outage. The bill died in committee as many long-term care facility lobbyists said it would be too expensive.
Even so, about 56% of nursing home and 67% of assisted living center respondents said their generator can provide heat to at least part of the facility during a power outage, while 51% of nursing homes and 63% of assisted living facilities said the same for cooling, the survey said.
“Our weather events should absolutely be reason enough for why we need to do this,” Ducayet said. “We can anticipate more super hot or super cold weather events, and it's more evident to me that we've got to respond to that in Texas.”
Tiffany Young, assistant press officer for HHS, agreed, adding that the state agency hopes the information that comes from the survey will help lawmakers and the public make informed public policy decisions.
“Recent disasters have brought attention to the need for ongoing power in long-term care settings during disasters,” Young said.
Thompson said he plans to introduce similar generator requirement legislation this coming session, using the data to back up his claims. He added that he understands a blanket requirement can be difficult, as facility size ranges from a few beds to more than 100.
“I'm not trying to overregulate anyone. I really don't want to,” Thompson said. “I want to try and work with (long-term care facilities) as best I can on it, but by the same token, I think it's important that these facilities are in a position where they can care for these folks.”
Ducayet added that because continued power access and temperature control are important, another possible solution could be to ensure that all nursing homes and assisted living centers are connected to uninterrupted power supplies, similar to hospitals and other emergency management operations.
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