Following Monday’s significant snowstorm, traveling nurse Colleen Wright faced unshoveled roads, fallen trees and power lines, and massive snow piles across the Cape in order to arrive at her clients’ residences. Several of them are elderly individuals who depend on her for medicine and regular visits.
Her frequent check-ins ultimately prevented many residents from experiencing cold conditions, losing electricity, or losing contact with their families.
It’s becoming quite cold,” Wright said on Wednesday night. “Many people are weak and underweight, and it doesn’t take much for the cold to affect them, and they struggle to get warm.
This week, strong winds swept through the Cape and southeastern Massachusetts, causing damage to power lines, knocking out internet and cell towers, and forming hazardous snowdrifts that trapped people in their homes.
The severe weather created a particularly challenging scenario for the residents of the Cape. Cape Cod has a permanentpopulationapproximately 230,000, including over 40% who are 60 years or older.
According to EversourceAs of Thursday afternoon, fewer than 50,000 customers on the Cape were still without electricity, a major drop from earlier in the week when almost 160,000 people had no power.
Michael Dutton, the county administrator, stated that restoration work is still in progress, with four shelters located in Provincetown, Harwich, Mashpee, and Barnstable still operating, providing assistance to 200 individuals.
Dutton mentioned that the majority of people in the shelters are elderly and have related health conditions.
“That’s why we aim to assist individuals in leaving their homes when they lack electricity,” he stated.
Brewster Police Chief Heath Eldredge, who assists in managing Barnstable’s regional emergency response, mentioned in an email that the majority of calls his office received on Monday were related to trees, power poles, and wires blocking roadways.
Following the storm, almost all of Brewster lost electricity, Eldredge noted.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, he noted, the focus changed to a large number of wellness checks initiated by family members and neighbors of elderly individuals who had become unreachable.
Several nursing homes and assisted-living facilities on the Cape had restricted power using generators, according to Dutton. However, many were not built to operate for three or four days. On Wednesday, fuel shortages became a problem. Since then, emergency personnel managed to deliver fuel through a collaborative effort.
Eversource is also focusing on restoring those facilities to operation, he mentioned.
The snow, which measures between 18 and 20 inches, is dense, making it difficult for even heavy-duty pickup trucks equipped with plows to navigate through it, according to Dutton. However, there are still driveways and sidewalks to clear.
This is where you witness neighbors coming forward to assist one another,” he said, “which is truly moving.
That’s when Wright became involved. From Tuesday to Wednesday, she assisted two clients in reaching a nearby shelter and made numerous calls to check on others after she was unable to contact them at their homes.
Wright characterized the trip as avoiding fallen trees and power lines. One of the trees she went past was actually burning.
When she eventually connected with some of her clients, she was concerned about how first responders would access them if necessary.
Occasionally, her knocks remained unacknowledged, and she would later learn that they were at a nearby hotel or shelter. One customer was heating water on the stove merely to keep warm.
Occasionally, unexpected neighbors would come forward to assist her in entering clients’ homes or relocating them to safer locations.
The Cape is a truly special location,” remarked Wright. “It’s all about neighbors supporting each other.
Dutton agreed.
The number of people who rise to the occasion and ask how they can help is truly remarkable,” he said. “Individuals are ready to work nonstop to ensure that their neighbors and even those they don’t know are safe.
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The post What a traveling nurse went through in the heavily affected Cape following Monday’s snowstorm appeared first on MathHotels.com.
