Hospitals Cope With Power Outage

Posted on: Friday, 25 July 2008, 15:01 CDT By MEG HASKELL; OF THE NEWS STAFF BANGOR - Thursday morning's power outage caused a flurry of cancellations and rescheduling at area hospitals, but it was business as usual at Eastern Maine Medical Center. "The lights didn't even flicker," said facilities administrator Joel Farley. That's because the hospital generates about 98 percent of the electricity it needs at its own co-generation plant, powered by natural gas, on the main campus. The plant was completed in August 2006 and was fully operational that October. Farley said his crew of electricians did a little "power shedding" in response to the outage - mostly turning off lights in nonpatient areas - but that no other adjustments were needed to keep the hospital running as usual. Emily Beamer, senior communications specialist at... [read full story]