Medical Equipment Safety

Don't let an outage become a medical emergency

To some, power outages are not just an inconvenience but may cause hardship, particularly for customers that use electrically-operated medical equipment in their homes. Edison is not able to guarantee uninterrupted service to our customers. As a result, all customers who depend upon electrically-operated medical equipment should be prepared at all times with a back-up power system or make other necessary plans to ensure health and welfare during outages. 

In the event of a rotating outage, SCE will make its best effort to notify our Medical Baseline customers via phone prior to the outage. The Medical Baseline program is a special program for customers or household members that use electrically-operated medical equipment in their home or have certain medical conditions. To learn more about this program, or request an application, visit www.sce.com/medicalbaseline or call SCE at (800) 655-4555. Customers that use TTY equipment may call SCE at (800) 352-8580.

Other things to consider if you use medical equipment in your home:

• If your medical equipment is supplied by a hospital or a durable medical equipment company, work with them to develop an emergency or back-up plan. Some companies may supply additional medical equipment and other services during emergency situations. 
• Contact your local fire department to identify whether they maintain a list of customers with special medical needs. Being on this list may help them better respond to you during emergencies. 
• Keep emergency telephone numbers handy, including your doctor, police, fire and durable medical equipment company, if you have one. 
• Develop plans to leave your home in the event of a lengthy outage, and share this plan with family, friends, and others that should be aware. 
• Keep a fully charged cell phone on hand. During outages, you may lose phone service, including services from your cordless phone. 
• Have a battery-operated radio or television available to keep abreast of changing conditions.