UPDATED: Residents Face Rescue Operation After Pawtucket Nursing Home Loses Power
GoLocalProv News Team
UPDATED: Residents Face Rescue Operation After Pawtucket Nursing Home Loses Power
The home, which features 44 skilled care nursing units and 26 assisted living units, also has 27 apartments for independent living.
The Little Sisters of the Poor live in the home and are available to the residents twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
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Public safety officials were on the scene still at 10:30 PM, with approximately 30 fire, police, and rescue vehicles from multiple municipalities on hand.
Nursing home representatives were not immediately available for comment.
RI Department of Health Responds
The Rhode Island Department of Health responded to questions about the situation Wednesday morning.
"Jeanne Jugan lost power yesterday around 4:30 pm, however, the generator turned on and no issues were noticed," said RIDOH spokesperson Joseph Wendelken. "There is no requirement that they inform RIDOH when they lose power. However, they did inform RIDOH."
The generator, however, failed -- prompting the relocations.
"Eleven residents were moved to hospital emergency departments or other nursing homes. These residents were moved because they were deemed medically fragile. These residents are now being transferred back to Jeanne Jugan," said Wendelken.
The power was restored around 3:00 a.m. this morning.
"We have a long-term mutual aid plan in place among all nursing homes and assisted livings in Rhode Island. If a facility reports an incident, we activate the plan. A notification goes out to all facilities. We ask facilities to report available beds and available transportation resources to help move residents. Then we work with the facility experiencing the problem to best match residents to other facilities," he added."
Updated Wednesday 12:04 PM