Generator saves the day
Elizabeth Schaper and her ill, elderly father got a much-needed break yesterday when the Harrison Fire Department delivered and installed a generator in their Clinton Lane home.
Armin Schaper, 88, has been unable to sit up or lie down flat because his electric hospital bed has been stuck in the same, slightly elevated position since the power went out Tuesday night.
Elizabeth Schaper called the county’s Office of Emergency Services, where staffer Linda Luddy remembered seeing Armin Schaper receive a veteran’s award on television. Later that afternoon, the fire department was at the house with the generator, which will power the hospital bed, refrigerator and a few lamps.
“It was amazing,� she said. “He’s sitting up. And he’s going to have a nice dinner for a change.�
August 5th, 2006 at 6:39 am
My father passed away on Tuesday evening, August 1st, and while I know that Linda Luddy and the rest of the staff at the office of EMS did an amazing job to assist my father during the power outage, I also know that it should never have taken Con Ed 4 1/2 days to fix the tiny problem that kept our power out. Once “J.T. Flick,” also with the office of EMS pulled Con ED onto our street to repair the wires, it toook a crew, from Syracuse, in a truck rented in Patchogue exactly 5 minutes to fix the problem….and my father’s health deteriorated during those days, dramatically-
yet WWII hero that he was, he never complained once. Internal communications at Con Ed were such a fiasco it was beyond comprehension. The Harrison Fire Dept. checked on us every day, and for that, I am eternally grateful. Thank you to the office of EMS, and the Fire Dept. But this power outage and Con Ed-I am sure you robbed my father of some days of his life, and that I will never forget—-because your company is so poorly managed, and the fish stinks from the head down.Get it together before more elderly people suffer as my father did during another blackout.Elizabeth Schaper