DTEK Odesa Grids to adjust the routine maintenance schedule to ensure that Covid-19 patients connected to oxygen machines at home have a stable power supply

Thermal power generation01 November 2021

Because of the new pandemic wave, hospitals in Odesa and Odesa region do not have enough beds and rooms to treat seriously ill patients. For these people there is an option of being connected to oxygen concentrators at home. In such situations, it is crucial that there is a stable power supply at home. DTEK Odesa Grids understands this, and thus came up with an initiative to adjust the routine maintenance schedule and postpone them in areas where such patients live. To this end, the company began to interact with the Monsters Corporation charitable foundation and receives information daily about where people who are connected to oxygen concentrators live in Odesa and the region. The company plans to pursue such an initiative until the situation with the lack of rooms for critically ill patients gets better in hospitals across the Odesa region.

“DTEK is a reliable and responsible company. We understand the current situation in our region due to the high coronavirus incidence among the population. Since there are no hospital beds available for seriously ill patients in medical centers, doctors recommend undergoing treatment at home. We understand that stable power supply is extremely valuable for these patients. Therefore, we are adjusting the routine maintenance schedule to avoid power outages where such people live,” says Oleksandr Fomenko, General Director for DTEK Odesa Grids.

The Monsters Corporation charitable foundation, which helps citizens with oxygen concentrators, sends us a list of addresses where it is needed to ensure an uninterrupted power supply for patients daily.

“On October 27, the head of DTEK Odesa Grids turned to us with a proposal for cooperation. An hour later, a working group was established to hand over information. In the morning, the company excluded the addresses where seriously ill patients live from the routine maintenance schedule,” says Ekaterina Nozhevnikova, Head of the Monsters Corporation charitable foundation.

At the same time, the General Director of DTEK Odesa Grids underlined that routine maintenance is an important step to ensure a stable power supply for residents in Odesa and the region. After all, such works (wires and poles replacement, reconstruction and maintenance of transformers and distribution points, etc.) are needed to avoid power cuts, especially in bad weather. Therefore, adjusting the maintenance schedule is a temporary measure for the sake of the health and life of seriously ill citizens.

Moreover, there still could be power cuts for various reasons, including due to malfunction of intra-house networks. Owners of detached houses are responsible for them, and management companies, housing services, condominiums, and other service organizations bear responsibility for network system in high-rise buildings. Therefore, DTEK Odesa Grids advises customers to check the electrical equipment in advance, especially if there are residents connected to an oxygen concentrator in the house, and, if possible, take care of a backup power source, such as a diesel generator, etc.

Let us recall that in the morning of October 29, DTEK Odesa Grids promptly resumed power supply in Odesa hospitals, including the Odesa City Clinical Hospital No. 11, the Odesa Regional Children's Clinical Hospital, the Odesa Regional Center for Socially Significant Diseases, where seriously ill COVID-19 patients were recently transported.