When the power goes out, the house does not send a warning. The problem shows up later, sometimes hours later: the clock on the stove is blinking, the cordless phone base is silent, the bed does not respond when pressed, the refrigerator has been warm for a while, and the hall light does not come on when someone walks through the dark. Often the first person to notice is the one who needs something.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Find the parts of her day that run on power
Walk the house with a family member or someone from the care team and list every electric item she relies on: the lights along the route to the bathroom, the bed controls, a lift chair, the refrigerator, the phone, the heating or cooling unit, and any device the care team has said needs electricity. Ask the care team which of these must keep running and for how long. Do not guess, and do not assume a backup will cover something it was never built to cover.
Test the phone before you need it
Many cordless phones stop working in an outage because the base needs the house current. Ask yourself whether she could make a call if the power went off right now. Keep a phone that works without the house current, keep it charged, and place it where she can reach it from her chair and her bed. Test it once a month so you know it works before the night you need it.
Check the routes in the dark
Walk from her bed to the bathroom with every light off. Note where a light would be needed, where a cord or loose rug sits in the way, and whether a flashlight is always in the same place. A route that is lit only by the grid is not a plan for the night the grid fails. Make the route plain enough that a helper or a family member could walk it without thinking.
Name who checks the house after an outage
Decide who calls whom when the lights come back. The checks are simple: the refrigerator temperature, the clocks, the bed and chair movement, and the phone. Write the names and numbers on a card near the phone. Do not let the whole check fall to the person who is most tired or who lives the farthest away.
Know when to call for help
If any powered item does not come back on, or if she is alone when the outage starts, call the care team's contact line right away rather than waiting to see whether it resolves. Write down what you saw and when you saw it, because that note is what the next person needs. Local help for keeping her home lists the people who can help you sort out the next step.